Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 NOV. 16, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: VIRGINIA his own until Notre Dame's sixth game of the sea- son against the Cardinal. But then he did it again against Georgia Tech. And he would have done it again against Navy if he played a down in the fourth quarter. Angeli took over to mop up again and got the Irish over 200 as a team. The numbers still aren't huge — 190.5 yards per game through eight games, 106th out of 134 teams in the FBS. But you've got to understand where the Irish were as a passing team early in the year and where they are now. It's night and day. L e o n a rd i s b e tte r, h av i n g re g i ste re d a touchdown:interception ratio of 8:1 over a five- game stretch. He's elusive, and by way of that the Irish offensive line only allowed 10 sacks in the first eight games of the year. The pass catchers, none of them on a prolific pace, are still better than the group the Irish were working with a year ago. Put all of that promise up against a Virginia passing defense that ranked 126th in the FBS through Week 10 for allowing 275.1 passing yards per game — including 403 to Wake Forest, 302 to Coastal Carolina and 345 to Clemson — and who has the edge here, at home, is obvious. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. VIRGINIA RUN DEFENSE You could pull all kinds of metrics to detail just how good Leonard, Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price have been as runners this season, but at this point in the year the eye test and simple statistics are enough. Watch Love carry the football a few times and you quickly realize he's one of the best overall players in every game he appears in. Watch Leonard take off and you quickly realize he's one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country; there aren't many signal- callers who move, shed tackles and have a nose for the end zone like him. Watch Price back Love up and you quickly realize he could start at so many other places in the coun- try — but there are no other places in the country that have Love. It 's a three-headed monster Notre Dame would put up against any other in the nation. Through eight games, Love led the Irish with 89 carries for 564 yards and 9 touchdowns. He was one of five players in the FBS with a touchdown in every game he played in through Week 10. Even with that stat, Leonard had more rushing touchdowns than Love at that point in the season with 11. He logged 85 carries for 539 yards in eight games. Price put forth 54 carries for 348 yards and 3 touchdowns. That's 1,451 yards and 23 touchdowns on 6.4 yards per carry in eight games between the trio. There are some defenses in America that have the power up front to stymie Notre Dame's ground game efforts. Virginia, while not as bad as some Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 8 Malachi Fields 6-4 220 Sr. 6 JR Wilson 6-4 212 Jr. LT 52 McKale Boley 6-5 313 Jr. 68 Jack Witmer 6-7 298 Sr. LG 77 Noah Josey 6-5 318 Sr. 71 Ugonna Nnanna 6-4 310 Gr. C 55 Brian Stevens 6-2 300 Gr. 65 Grant Ellinger 6-4 290 Fr. RG 51 Ty Furnish 6-3 293 Sr. 60 Charlie Patterson 6-6 297 Sr. RT 54 Blake Steen 6-5 328 Jr. 50 Jimmy Christ 6-7 303 Gr. TE 16 Tyler Neville 6-4 248 Gr. 44 Sackett Wood Jr. 6-4 240 Gr. or 83 Dakota Twitty 6-4 239 Jr. QB 10 Anthony Colandrea 6-0 183 So. 7 Tony Muskett 6-2 213 Gr. TB 5 Kobe Pace 5-10 215 Gr. 0 Xavier Brown 5-9 196 Jr. 28 Noah Vaughn 5-8 199 So. WR 4 Chris Tyree 5-10 190 Gr. 85 Kam Courtney 5-10 193 Fr. WR 11 Trell Harris 6-0 198 Jr. 2 Andre Greene Jr. 6-2 202 Jr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. DE 82 Kam Butler 6-3 256 Gr. 10 Ben Smiley III 6-4 308 Gr. 25 Terrell Jones 6-4 273 Jr. NT 55 Anthony Britton 6-3 311 So. 18 Mike Diatta 6-4 292 Sr. DT 90 Jahmeer Carter 6-2 309 Gr. 96 Bryce Carter 6-3 272 Sr. Bandit 15 Chico Bennett Jr. 6-4 256 Gr. 25 Terrell Jones 6-4 273 Jr. 93 Billy Koudelka 6-8 247 Fr. WILL 7 James Jackson 6-3 236 Sr. or 11 Dorian Jones 6-0 235 Gr. MIKE 5 Kam Robinson 6-2 234 So. 8 Trey McDonald 6-3 232 Jr. LC 29 Kempton Shine 5-11 191 Gr. 4 Kendren Smith 6-1 207 Gr. RC 9 Jam Jackson 6-2 187 Jr. 6 Dre Walker 6-1 192 So. SPUR 3 Corey Thomas Jr. 6-4 221 Gr. 31 Micah Gaffney 5-11 199 Sr. FS 20 Jonas Sanker 6-1 210 Sr. 30 Ethan Minter 6-0 201 Fr. SS 0 Antonio Clary 6-0 203 Gr. 2 Caleb Hardy 6-3 207 So. Special Teams Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. P 38 Daniel Sparks 6-6 214 Gr. 99 Elijah Slibeck 6-5 234 So. PK 41 Will Bettridge 5-10 180 Jr. 36 Max Prozny 5-8 174 Fr. KO 38 Daniel Sparks 6-6 214 Gr. 36 Max Prozny 5-8 174 Fr. H 38 Daniel Sparks 6-6 214 Gr. 99 Elijah Slibeck 6-5 234 So. LS 81 Payton Bunch 6-2 220 Gr. 94 Hayden Rollison 6-3 237 So. PR 4 Chris Tyree 5-10 190 Gr. 0 Antonio Clary 6-0 203 Gr. 1 Suderian Harrison 5-9 181 So. KR 4 Chris Tyree 5-10 190 Gr. 11 Trell Harris 6-0 198 Jr. 26 Ethan Davies 5-10 187 Sr. VIRGINIA CAVALIERS DEPTH CHART Through eight games, senior safety Jonas Sanker — who was an All-ACC performer in 2023 — had a team-high 64 tackles with 5 for loss and 1 sack. PHOTO COURTESY VIRGINIA ATHLETICS