If you were hoping for more action between Notre Dame and Virginia in the second quarter, you would have gotten some. In a quarter that lasted over an hour in real time, the Irish had one crazy moment after another, and it ended with them holding a 28-0 halftime lead.
Both teams continued to struggle offensively for the first few minutes. After [autotag]Max Hurleman[/autotag] muffed a punt and the Cavaliers recovered, the Irish’s 7-0 lead appeared to be in jeopardy. But the Irish took the ball right back a few plays later when [autotag]Rod Heard II[/autotag] forced a Kobe Pace fumble that was recovered by [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag].
The difference between the two turnovers is that the Irish took advantage. Their offense had its most productive drive of the day, and it culminated when [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] hit [autotag]Jayden Harrison[/autotag] for an 8-yard touchdown.
On the next possession, Leonard fired another apparent touchdown pass to Harrison from 78 yards out, but it was wiped out when [autotag]Pat Coogan[/autotag] was penalized for illegal hands to the face.
Another apparent touchdown then was wiped out after a very confusing sequence. Faced with fourth-and-11, the Irish opted to fake a punt and try a fumblerooski, and [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] ran the ball 73 yards to the house. However, the officials called it back for illegal formation, much to the chagrin of the Notre Dame Stadium fans and the NBC announcers.
But that touchdown was dying to be scored, and it finally was after [autotag]Adon Shuler[/autotag] returned an interception 46 yards and Leonard immediately faked a handoff before firing to an open [autotag]Cooper Flanagan[/autotag] in the end zone from 2 yards out.
The Irish weren’t finished though. Anthony Colandrea threw another interception, this one to [autotag]Leonard Moore[/autotag]. On the final of three subsequent passes, [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag] had a 16-yard touchdown.
Colandrea kept feeling generous though because Watts picked off another one of his passes in the waning seconds of the quarter. Although [autotag]Mitch Jeter[/autotag] missed a 54-yard field goal as time expired, the Irish still deserved a rest in the locker room after everything that had just happened.
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