Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1426496
34 NOV. 13, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: VIRGINIA do in the passing game. Running lanes get much narrower and perhaps closed entirely when the passing game isn't much of a threat. So if called upon, could Woolfolk pick up where Armstrong left off? Proba- bly not to the full extent, no. The 5-11, 200-pounder didn't play in his senior season of high school because of the COVID-19 pandemic. How about making your first colle- giate start and first start overall since 2019 against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish? Football might not even be his No. 1 sport either. He was the Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year in baseball as a sophomore. He's got a 93-mile- per-hour fastball and was ranked as the nation's No. 35 prospect by Baseball America for the class of 2021. All that said, it'd be a great story of the two-sport star came off the bench and put Notre Dame on the ropes. But it sure would be a lot to ask. All Men- denhall wants from his team is the same sort of fight the Cavaliers displayed in coming back from a 21-0 deficit to take a 42-38 halftime lead over BYU Oct. 30. No, Virginia didn't win. But it displayed a lot of mettle. And whether or not Arm- strong is on the field, Mendenhall knows it will need that same sort of fight to com- pete with a ranked Notre Dame team. "My team, they love to play football. And they love each other," Mendenhall said. "They're not perfect. And I'm not perfect. But they hang together. And they keep fighting, and they keep trying. And they keep fighting, and they keep trying. "With all of our flaws collectively, they keep going. I'm proud of them for that." DEFENSE 'HAS TO GET BETTER' It won't matter how hard Virginia fights and tries if its defense doesn't play better. 2021 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 at Florida State W, 41-38 (OT) Sept. 11 Toledo W, 32-29 Sept. 18 Purdue W, 27-13 Sept. 25 vs. Wisconsin* W, 41-13 Oct. 2 Cincinnati L, 24-13 Oct. 9 at Virginia Tech W, 32-29 Oct. 23 USC W, 31-16 Oct. 30 North Carolina W, 44-34 Nov. 6 Navy W, 34-6 Nov. 13 at Virginia (ABC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20 Georgia Tech (NBC) 2:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at Stanford TBA * at Soldier Field in Chicago 2021 VIRGINIA SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 4 William & Mary W, 43-0 Sept. 11 Illinois W, 42-14 Sept. 18 at North Carolina L, 59-39 Sept. 24 Wake Forest L, 37-17 Sept. 30 at Miami W, 30-28 Oct. 9 at Louisville W, 34-33 Oct. 16 Duke W, 48-0 Oct. 23 Georgia Tech W, 48-40 Oct. 30 at BYU L, 66-49 Nov. 13 Notre Dame (ABC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at Pittsburgh TBA Nov. 27 Virginia Tech TBA Virginia wide receiver/running back Keytaon Thompson, a former Mississippi State quarterback, has 646 receiving yards and 216 rushing yards this season. PHOTO COURTESY VIRGINIA ATHLETICS