Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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18 NOV. 20, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA I t was over before it started. Vi rg i n i a j u n i o r q u a r te rba c k Brennan Armstrong walked onto David. A Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium in a sweatsuit. He grabbed a ball and a throwing mate. When he started to toss it, he did so like many fathers and their young sons did outside the confines of the stadium hours ear- lier: casually. Without any zip. Simple pitch and catch. Armstrong didn't look like the quar- terback with more passing yards than all but one signal-caller in college foot- ball. He didn't look like someone who was about to start against No. 9 Notre Dame. That's because he wasn't. Armstrong went to the locker room shortly after his 10-minute warm-up session. Rather, trial session. He was simply testing if he could play with in- jured ribs. He couldn't. True freshman Jay Woolfolk started in his place, and it went about how anyone could have guessed: Notre Dame 28, Virginia 3. "I'm really proud of them to get a vic- tory on the road this late in the season and to have some individuals step up and play their best football was really impressive," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. Notre Dame graduate student quar- terback Jack Coan only threw for 132 yards, but he had three touchdown passes. The third pushed Notre Dame's advantage to 28-0 late in the third quar- ter and effectively put the game away. The Irish didn't need anything past its first touchdown, actually. That came on a six-yard pass from Coan to sophomore tight end Michael Mayer with 4:53 left in the first quarter. Coan's other pass- ing score went to senior wide receiver Braden Lenzy on another short strike of four yards. Junior running back Kyren Williams ran for 70 yards, 22 of which came on a touchdown carry. Freshman running back Logan Diggs added 64 yards on the ground. In all, Notre Dame out- gained Virginia 423-278 in total yards. The Cavaliers came in as the country's No. 1 total offense with 545.2 yards per game. That's how much of a difference Armstrong's absence made. No t re Da m e d e fe n d e rs te e d o f f on Woolfolk and company. The Irish sacked Woolfolk seven times. Sopho- more defensive lineman Rylie Mills had two, while senior linebacker Bo Bauer and senior defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola had 1.5 apiece. Bauer started in place of graduate student Drew White, who was battling an illness. Senior defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa also sat out with an illness. Mills shifted from tackle to end to give the team depth there. Junior safety Kyle Hamilton missed his third game in a row with an injured knee. Virginia wasn't the only team missing a key player. Notre Dame was without multiple. And yet, the Fighting Irish kept fighting and notched their ninth win of the season, on the road, on a chilly night in Charlottesville. "Any time you're trying to put a ré- sumé together, it's about how you're playing later in the year," Kelly said. "The eye test is this football team is playing better defensively, offensively. We're sitting here at 9-1." FIRST QUARTER NOTRE DAME 7, VIRGINIA 0 Top Moment: Diggs ran track in high school and excelled in hurdles. He put that experience to good use in jumping right over Virginia cornerback Anthony Johnson on a 26-yard rush down the left sideline. Feature Performer: Mayer had three catches for 36 yards and a touchdown. It was his first score since Week 2 against Toledo. Stats: Notre Dame gained 151 yards and held Virginia to nine. The Irish were balanced in gaining 73 yards on the ground and 78 through the air. All nine of Virginia's yards came through the air. Items: Notre Dame only ran two plays after the Diggs run; a 16-yard passing play to Mayer and a four-yard rush from sophomore running back Chris Tyree took the ball down to the Virginia 6-yard line … Bauer picked up a key third-down sack … Notre Dame failed to convert on fourth-and-one from the Virginia 20-yard line on its first possession … Virginia went three- and-out on its first two possessions. SECOND QUARTER NOTRE DAME 21, VIRGINIA 0 Top Moment: Williams once again defied the laws of physics and the prin- ciple of gravity on a 22-yard touchdown run. He broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage. That sprung him to the out- side. He outran defenders and somehow didn't fall to the ground short of the end zone pylon. Feature Performer: Williams ran five times for 38 yards and a touchdown. He brought his halftime totals to 11 car- ries for 68 yards and the score. Stats: Notre Dame gained 113 yards to Virginia's 83, and 90 of the Irish's yards came on the ground. Notre Dame aver- aged 8.1 yards per play, while Virginia averaged 5.2. Items: Virginia went for it on fourth- and-12 from the Notre Dame 30 and only gained 10 yards … Freshman wide receiver Lorenzo Styles scored on a 52- yard end-around, but a holding penalty on freshman wide receiver Deion Colzie negated the score; the play went for 37 yards instead … Sophomore safety Ra- mon Henderson recorded the first inter- ception of his career late in the quarter. THIRD QUARTER NOTRE DAME 28, VIRGINIA 0 Top Moment: The back-shoulder fade from Coan to Austin has worked quite well this season. It was on display BOO HOO Virginia was no match for visiting Notre Dame without starting quarter- back Brennan Armstrong, who was held out of the 28-3 loss due to injury Senior wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. caught his sixth touchdown pass of the season in Notre Dame's 28-3 victory over Virginia. PHOTO BY KEITH LUCAS/SIDELINE MEDIA