Blue and Gold Illustrated

kept telling me to just go out there and play my game. Don't get too hyped up, it's just another game for you." That advice was sound, although the last part turned out to be inaccurate. It was not just another game for Prosise, who set a career high with 155 rush- ing yards on 17 carries. With the pass game off early, head coach Brian Kelly turned to his senior back, and Prosise answered the bell. "I thought he did well. There were a couple things he's still feeling his way through — a couple cuts here and there," Kelly noted. "I thought he ran the ball effectively." By the end of the first quarter, Pro- sise already had 64 yards on seven carries, despite Virginia loading the box with defenders. "After I got all the touches early in the game, I started feeling a lot better and my emotions calmed down a bit," said Prosise, who racked up 107 yards on 11 carries in the first half. "I felt like I got into the flow pretty quick. My offensive line did a great job, always cleaning it out for me, and I had holes to run through." In the second half, with Virginia fo- cusing heavily on slowing down Pro- sise and quarterback Malik Zaire, the Irish were finally able to strike deep in the pass game. Prosise also came up big there, making a 17-yard reception on Notre Dame's final drive, which set up Will Fuller 's 39-yard TD two plays later. It was a hard-fought game, which is exactly what Prosise expected. "We knew Virginia wasn't going to lay down and just let us win," he said. THIRD DOWN STRUGGLES In Notre Dame's 38-3 season-open- ing victory over Texas, the Irish of- fense seemingly could do no wrong. Third down proved to be good for • Notre Dame now holds a 2-0 advantage in the series with Virginia. The Irish lead the all-time se- ries against 10 of the 13 ACC teams that the school has played and stands at 135-58-3 all time against the league's current roster. • Virginia became the 36th state in which Notre Dame has played a football game. The list is not expected to grow again until 2019 when the Irish are scheduled to play in Kentucky for the first time (at Louisville). • Virginia announced the game as a sellout. The Irish have played before a sellout in 276 of their last 325 games (84.9 percent). • Through two weeks, Notre Dame was the only team in the country with two wins this year over teams from "Power Five" conferences. • Notre Dame is now 7-14 when trailing at half- time under Brian Kelly. The Irish last overcame a halftime deficit on Nov. 2, 2013, when the team trailed Navy 20-17 at the break before winning 38-34 at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish last ral- lied from a halftime deficit to win on the road on Sept. 14, 2013, when Notre Dame beat Purdue 31-24 at Ross-Ade Stadium after trailing 10-3 at halftime. • DeShone Kizer's first-quarter touchdown pass to junior tight end Durham Smythe on the fake field goal was the first of his career. It also marked Smythe's first venture into the end zone. • The last time Notre Dame had two quarter- backs throw a TD pass in the same game came on Oct. 13, 2012, when both Tommy Rees and Everett Golson threw one in a 20-13 overtime win over Stanford at Notre Dame Stadium. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

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