Tag: Hokies

Notre Dame can spoil Virginia Tech’s dance plans tonight

How many teams will the ACC ultimately get in the dance?

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Welcome to March where college basketball takes over and filling out brackets becomes as normal as refilling your coffee.

Tonight’s Notre Dame-Virginia Tech matchup in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals presents a possible elimination game for the Hokies, not just for the ACC Tournament but for the NCAA Tournament.

Virginia Tech started the year just 10-10 but rallied to go 9-2 their last 11 and are now very much on the tournament bubble.  Just how close?

Thursday’s updated USA TODAY Sports projections have Virginia Tech out of the dance but listed as one of the “next four out”.  What that translates to is that the Hokies really need to win tonight and could certainly use a few other bubble teams to lose throughout the country.

Either way, Virginia Tech is firmly on the bubble right now and appears to need the win much more than Notre Dame in terms of making the NCAA Tournament.

The USA TODAY Sports projection also had Wake Forest missing the NCAA Tournament but listed them in their “first four out” after the Demon Deacons were upset by Boston College on Wednesday.  In total the projection had four ACC teams in the field, Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Miami, but only the Blue Devils (2) had higher than a nine-seed.

Notre Dame and Virginia Tech tipoff from Brooklyn at 7 p.m. EST Thursday night.

Notre Dame in ACC Tournament: Everything to know about Virginia Tech

Should Notre Dame be an underdog tonight?

Notre Dame started the 2021-22 basketball season rather slow but turned things around starting in December.  Mike Brey’s Fighting Irish started just 4-5 but went on to get hot in the ACC season going as they ended the regular season 22-9 and 15-5 in conference play.

Now what can Notre Dame do in the postseason?

The Irish seem fairly safe in getting in the NCAA Tournament although stranger things have happened.  A win in Notre Dame’s ACC Tournament opener would go a long way in eliminating any doubt.

Here is what you need to know about Notre Dame’s quarterfinal ACC Tournament opponent, Virginia Tech.Virgini

2021 Notre Dame opponent parts ways with football coach

Where does this one rank on the tiers of college coaching jobs?

There is a new job opening in the ACC and the only thing particularly surprising about it is the timing, not so much that it happened.

Virginia Tech announced on Tuesday morning that the school and head football coach Justin Fuente had mutually agreed to part ways.  The Hokies started the season with a bang as they upset then-No. 10 North Carolina in their opener, but have struggled to just a 5-5 mark since which has included last-second defeats at the hands of West Virginia, Notre Dame, and Syracuse this season.

Related: Best images from Notre Dame’s stunning 2021 win at Virginia Tech

Fuente and Virginia Tech did just beat Duke 48-17 this past weekend.

Fuente was hired from Memphis and took over for the legendary Frank Beamer in 2016.  In nearly six full seasons at Virginia Tech, Fuente led the Hokies to a 43-31 record that started with a 10-4 record and ACC Championship game appearance that first season, but the Hokies never won ten games again under Fuente again.   With games against Miami and Virginia remaining this fall, Virginia Tech is in serious jeopardy of failing to qualify for a bowl game for a second-straight season.

Defensive line coach J.C. Price will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.  Athletic director Whit Babcock will head a national search to find Fuente’s full-time replacement.

Related:

How can Notre Dame still get to the College Football Playoff?

Notre Dame’s all-time results vs. each ACC team

Notre Dame stagnant in latest USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll

The Irish are steady in the same spot as last week but plenty of movement around them

What a night that was, with Irish quarterback Jack Coan going from the goat to the hero in a matter of a few quarters and Notre Dame retained their ranking from last week in the updated USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll.

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It wasn’t easy for the Irish last night, they had to battle all 40-minutes but it was worth it. Kicker Jonathan Doerer was clutch once again, nailing the game-winning field goal with under a minute remaining in the contest.

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Around the country there were some big time upsets, No. 1 Alabama lost to unranked Texas, A&M, No. 10 BYU did the same falling at home to Boise State. The Red River Rivalry was another fantastic game, that saw Spencer Rattle getting replaced and true freshman Caleb Williams engineering a comeback victory for the Sooners over Texas.

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In the top-5 matchup of Big Ten teams, No. 3 Iowa came back at home to defeat No. 4 Penn State. Even though some of the teams inside the top-10 lost, they didn’t drop enough for Notre Dame to really make a move north in the polls. There was however a new No. 1 team.

Here is the latest Coaches Poll, with last week’s ranking in parenthesis.

1 – Georgia (2)

2 – Iowa (3)

3 – Oklahoma (5)

4 – Cincinnati (6)

5 – Alabama (1)

6 – Ohio State (7)

7 – Michigan (8)

8 – Penn State (4)

9 – Michigan State (11)

10 – Oregon (9)

11 – Kentucky (14)

12 – Oklahoma State (12)

13 – Notre Dame (13)

14 – Ole Miss (17)

15 – Coastal Carolina (15)

16 – Wake Forest (20)

17 – Florida (18)

18 – Texas A&M (NR)

19 – Arkansas (16)

20 – BYU (10)

21 –  NC State (22)

22 – Arizona State (25)

23 –  SMU (24)

24 – San Diego State (NR)

25 – Clemson (21)

Notre Dame rallies past Virginia Tech: The Morning After

What happened last night?

Last night was crazy for Notre Dame fans as the Irish came back from down eight with under five minutes to play to rally and tie Virginia Tech before winning in the final seconds thanks to kicker Jonathan Doerer’s heroics.

I had initial thoughts from the game last night but have more I felt the need to share on this Sunday morning as 5-1 Notre Dame now heads to their bye week before taking on USC to start the season’s second half.

Related: Saturday was one of the best days of college football I’ve seen

Here are a few morning after thoughts about what happened last night…

Tyler Buchner accomplishes a Notre Dame first

How had this never happened in the history of Notre Dame football before Saturday night?

Notre Dame has been playing football for a very long time and has had some quarterbacks wear the famous gold helmets over the years.  Even with all those greats, none of them ever accomplished what Tyler Buchner did as a true freshman on Saturday night at Virginia Tech.

Buchner became Notre Dame’s first true-freshman quarterback to throw for a touchdown and run for a touchdown in the same game.

That’s one of those things I wouldn’t have believed if anyone besides the Notre Dame Football PR Team put out there.

All of the young quarterbacks Notre Dame has seen play as true freshman and none of them ever ran for and threw for a touchdown in the same game.

Not Ron Powlus, not Matt LoVecchio, not Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clausen. or Tommy Rees.

It’s not as much an indication as greatness to come to me as much as it is seemingly insane that it hadn’t happened before Saturday night.  Buchner clearly has a lot of work left to do but congrats on the accomplishment that somehow took Notre Dame this long to attain.

Related:

Notre Dame comes back to stun Virginia Tech: 5 instant takeaways

5 stars: the best and worst from Notre Dame’s win at Virginia Tech

Doerer gets praise after kicking Irish to win at Virginia Tech

 

5 Stars: The best and worst of Notre Dame’s comeback win over Virginia Tech

If you didn’t think this game was a dog fight waiting to happen, you haven’t see enough of both Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. The two teams are similar, both hit hard and make plays on defense to keep them in games while having average offenses. The …

If you didn’t think this game was a dog fight waiting to happen, you haven’t see enough of both Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. The two teams are similar, both hit hard and make plays on defense to keep them in games while having average offenses. The two teams slugged it out over four quarters but the Irish prevailed with a quality and exciting, 32-29 road victory. Here are the best, 5 stars, and worst, 1 star, performances from the Irish this week.

 

Watch: Jonathan Doerer’s kick sends Notre Dame to victory over Virginia Tech

So clutch by everyone in the fourth quarter

It didn’t look promising. Tyler Buchner, who came in to replace starting quarterback Jack Coan, went down with an injury after throwing his second interception. Virginia Tech would then score a few plays later and take a 29-21 lead with 3:55 left in the game.

The momentum was clearly in the Hokies favor but that wouldn’t be for long. Coan came back into the game on fire, going 7-for-9 and 93-yard with this touchdown.

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There was an encore to his heroics, not just tying the game but leading the Irish into field goal range with under two-minutes left in the game. Kicker Jonathan Doerer came in, and after a lengthy pause where Brian Kelly asked the referee’s to get a laser pointer out of the stands, come on and gave the Irish an impressive comeback victory, 32-29.

Watch: Notre Dame QB Coan returns and finds Davis for score vs. VT

It’s getting close in Blacksburg

Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan started this game against Virginia Tech and for much of the second half, it didn’t seem like he would have a chance to finish it. True freshman Tyler Buchner took over mid-way through the second quarter and wasn’t  great but died enough for Brian Kelly to stay with him.

Buchner would later injure his knee on a non-contact reaction after he threw his second interception of the game. Coan started the next drive and in 7-plays then went 75-yards and scored on this pass to Avery Davis to give the Irish life, still trailing the Hokies 27-29 before the extra point.

Watch: Kevin Austin makes a wild catch to tie game for Notre Dame vs VT

WOW

The Irish just scored a touchdown and with under 3-minutes left in the game, Brian Kelly’s squad trailing by 2-points, there was no option. They had to go for the tie on the road and potentially send the game to over time.

It wasn’t a pretty play, as Jack Coan, who entered at the beginning of the series for an injured Tyler Buchner, rolled to his right to but time after his first options weren’t open. He was flushed further to the sideline and had to just throw the ball up and hope on of his receiver could come down with it. Superman, er, Kevin Austin was that guy as he made this catch out of know where and helped the Irish tie the game at 29.