Tag: Hokies

Watch: Notre Dame retakes the lead on Williams touchdown run vs VT

Two scores for Williams

The Irish needed some momentum after giving up the lead out of halftime against the host Hokies. Well, Virginia Tech obliged as Braxton Burmeister faced a third-and-long. The Irish played it perfectly and TaRiq Bracy picked off the pass.

That gave the Notre Dame offense a short field and they made the Hokies pay. The Irish only needed to go 29-yards on four-play in just under 2-minutes to retake the lead over VT. It happened as running back Kyren Williams found the endzone for the second time today, first on the ground. His 10-yard scamper gave the Irish the lead once again, 21-16 in the 3rd quarter.

Watch: Notre Dame takes lead as Buchner finds Williams against Virginia Tech

The Irish take the lead!

Who know which back-up quarterback will be the spark each week. The last few weeks, it’s been Drew Pyne. That might have been because Tyler Buchner was a bit dinged up.

What we saw in the first reps early this season saw the true freshman running all over the place, mixing in a solid pass. Well, the Buchner that we saw before his soft tissue injury is back. He looks like he belongs, even though he’s didn’t play his senior year due to COVID-19.

He again engineered a drive that gave Notre Dame the lead, 14-10, in the hostile road environment of Virginia Tech got a bit quieter as the Irish scored.  Buchner to Williams isn’t just a hand-off play.

Watch: Notre Dame answers as Buchner’s long pass leads to his rush TD vs VT

The Irish strike back

Once again, Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan struggled against an above average defense. This time Virginia Tech has made his life uneasy and he was sacked in two of the three series he started.

On the fourth series, in came true freshman Tyler Buchner who has been nursing a soft tissue leg injury. He came in and did what Coan couldn’t, engineered an Irish scoring drive as they marched down the field 75-yards in 7 plays. The biggest play was when Buchner found wide receiver Kevin Austin for a 46-yard gain and putting the Irish inside the Hokie 4-yard line.

Two plays later Buchner ran it in from 3-yards away as the Irish got close to the hosts, 10-7, as the Irish trail midway through the second quarter.

Watch: Notre Dame hype video for Virginia Tech

Will a trip to Blacksburg be what the doctor ordered for Notre Dame?

If you’re looking for inside information as to who will start at quarterback for Notre Dame on Saturday night at Virginia Tech you’ve come to the wrong place.  We speculated early in the week that it’d be Drew Pyne based off things Brian Kelly said but the closer to gametime we get the more aware we become that we really don’t know who will start.

What we do have for you however is Notre Dame’s freshly released hype tape for the Virginia Tech game.  The last time the Irish lost a regular season contest they bounced back with a last-second win over Virginia Tech.

Will the Hokies be the medicine this Notre Dame squad needs entering their bye week at the season’s halfway point?

Enjoy the hype video and check out our links to get you ready for everything related to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech on the following page.

NEXT – NOTRE DAME-VIRGINIA TECH PREVIEW LINKS

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Know your foe, Virginia Tech: Five Hokies who could give Notre Dame problems

These Hokies will make some noise

Although the Hokies dropped out of the rankings after week 3’s action, they’re still a formidable opponent for the Irish. They will trot out a very impressive defense, a home field advantage and nothing to loose. This could equate to some trouble for the Irish, as Virginia Tech won’t be a push over Saturday night. Here are five Hokies that could the Irish problems when they hit the field.

ESPN FPI Projects Notre Dame-Virginia Tech

What gives you the most hope for Notre Dame’s chances on Saturday night?

I’ve long discussed my love-hate relationship with ESPN’s Football Power Index here and that continues yet another week.  In short, I love there being more information and samples that help project what may happen, but hate that development, such a huge part of college football, doesn’t get represented.

With that in mind I present to you the latest Notre Dame FPI game projection as we’re a day away from the Irish and Hokies doing battle at Virginia Tech.

ESPN FPI currently gives Notre Dame a 53.1% chance to win at Virginia Tech.

If you’re looking for hope Notre Dame fans, there a little bit more is as the formula likes the Irish by a hair more than a coin-flip.

If you’re stuck in believing the Irish are doomed, you may be happy to know ESPN’s FPI favored Wisconsin over the Domers two weeks ago and Notre Dame last week against Cincinnati.

Related:

Staff Predictions for Notre Dame-Virginia Tech

Brian Kelly’s final quarterback comments before Virginia Tech game

Notre Dame releases first depth chart for Virginia Tech game

College football experts make Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech predictions

Notre Dame loses wide receiver for rest of season

Tale of the Tape: Starting Quarterbacks in Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech

Tale of the Tape: Starting Running Backs in Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech

Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech: All-time head-to-head results

Let’s get wild Virginia Tech! Predictions for Notre Dame vs the Hokies

Five predictions for Notre Dame football they get set to visit Virginia Tech Saturday evening.

It didn’t go the way many of us would have liked it to last week, but the season rolls on. Up next, the Irish travel to Virginia Tech to take on the Hokies in a raucous night environment. This contest won’t be easy by any means, as VT was once ranked before losing on the road to West Virginia in their third game. They rebounded two weeks ago beating Richmond, but not very convincingly, 21-10. The bye week bodes well for the Hokies but the Irish are hungry after the loss to the Bearcats. Here are five bold predictions for the Irish on Saturday night.

Notre Dame-Virginia Tech: Staff Predictions

Whats your prediction for Saturday night? Here’s what @gfclark, @mikefchen, @jf_fey, & @nickshepkowski see happening…

The last time Notre Dame lost a regular season game before their defeat at the hands of Cincinnati the Irish were greeted with a meeting against Virginia Tech (2019).  Ian Book’s last minute heroics saved the Irish that afternoon as Notre Dame wouldn’t lose again that year.

Is the same story going to be written in 2021?  A ton of questions linger for Notre Dame as they hit the road to take on a Virginia Tech team that has been defensively sound so far this fall.

What happens Saturday night after “Enter Sandman” rips through the Lane Stadium speakers?

Here is how the Fighting Irish Wire staff sees things going:

Michael Mayer injury update ahead of Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech

How important is Mayer against this Virginia Tech defense?

Notre Dame makes just their second trip in program history to Blacksburg, Virginia this weekend as a date with Virginia Tech awaits.  Will one of the nation’s finest tight ends be available for the Irish?

Related: Brian Kelly’s final quarterback comments before Virginia Tech game

Here is what Brian Kelly said about Mayer’s hamstring injury on Thursday ahead of the game:

“We’ve added to his workload and when I say workload, I mean in terms of what we want him to do for us, because we’re managing him so we can get him to Saturday and so he can play at the level that he’s capable of playing at.

We’ve done a little bit each day. We’ll do a little bit more today in the red zone with him and in third down, which are obviously key components to his effectiveness for us.

It’s been a good progression for us and we feel pretty optimistic that he’s going to be able to help us on Saturday.”

– Brian Kelly on Michael Mayer

It sounds like Mayer is going to be able to go against the Hokies.  Here’s hoping he’s able to run like he did the first four games of the season and not so much how he looked in the second half against Cincinnati.

Related:

Notre Dame releases first depth chart for Virginia Tech game

College football experts make Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech predictions

Notre Dame loses wide receiver for rest of season

Tale of the Tape: Starting Quarterbacks in Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech

Tale of the Tape: Starting Running Backs in Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech

Notre Dame Football: Cincinnati fallout after humbling defeat

What are you most looking forward to the rest of this season?

We knew going into this season that Notre Dame was going to make several overhauls but after last week’s 24-13 loss to Cincinnati the Irish left many with more questions than answers, even if they are 4-1.

With a trip to Virginia Tech this Saturday before a bye week there are tons of questions.  Who starts at quarterback, is the offensive line going to improve at some point, and why couldn’t any receiver get open against Cincinnati?

Those are just a few of the many.

Ultimately how good can this Notre Dame squad end up?  Could they still crash the New Year’s Six party?  Or are things going to get worse before they get better?

I discussed all of that with Ben Belden and Michael Palkovics on the latest episode of the “Under the Golden Dome” podcast.  Check it out in full here.

Related:

Related:

Notre Dame releases depth chart for Virginia Tech game

Stop overthinking things and start Drew Pyne

Reading between the lines it sure seems like Pyne will start at Virginia Tech

40 Notre Dame players on NFL rosters to start 2021

Current NFL receiver shares why he de-commited from Notre Dame

Cowboys release a former Notre Dame great