Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 28, 2016 29 team's position despite going into the break trailing 24-14. "We felt like we had a little some- thing going there offensively heading into the half, even though we were down and it hadn't been particularly pretty," said Fuente, who is now 8-3 in his first season at Virginia Tech. "I felt like we had a decent handle on their adjustments and what our answers were going to be." Like the offensive struggles, the prob- lems were varied for the Irish defense. "It's not just one thing," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly explained. "It's a jump off side here. It's 'I have the quarterback — I didn't pick up the quarterback in zone read.' It's just a little bit of everything, unfortunately." Facing a talented receivers corps, Notre Dame chose to play its cor- nerbacks in off coverage much of the game. Once Virginia Tech got a read on that, Fuente called on junior quar- terback Jerod Evans to attack the pe- rimeter with quick throws. Eighteen of Evans' 22 completions were quick throws or screens, which led to him completing 76.8 percent of his passes for 267 yards. Virginia Tech was incredibly efficient, averag- ing 9.2 yards per attempt. The Hokies were also able to get some catch-and- run opportunities with their quick game, including a 21-yard touch- down on a hitch route from the slot. Too make matters worse, outside of a James Onwualu sack on the open- ing defense possession — which led to an Evans fumble — the Irish de- fense was unable to put any pressure on the Hokies backfield. "We weren't able to get to him. It was catch and release," Kelly said of his team's inability to pressure Ev- ans. "Then there were some match- ups which we didn't quite like. … They got some favorable matchups, and they were able to exploit that a couple of times." Despite Notre Dame's inability to stop the quick game or pressure Ev- ans, the Irish coaches were unwilling to bring their corners closer to the line because of the matchups Kelly referred to. Virginia Tech was also able to get its slot receivers matched up on junior strong safety Drue Tranquill in man coverage in a few instances, and when that happened Tranquill had issues. Redshirt sophomore C.J. Carroll — a former walk-on — beat Tranquill on a quick slant route for a 62-yard gain. Junior wide receiver Cam Phil- lips beat Tranquill on a deep in route for a 17-yard gain. When the game was on the line, Notre Dame was unable to make stops, which has been the case for much of the 2016 season. SENIORS PLAY WELL IN HOME FINALE A number of Notre Dame seniors had strong performances in their fi- nal game in Notre Dame Stadium. Fifth-year senior nose guard Jarron Jones and senior linebacker James Onwualu tied with sophomore line- backer Te'von Coney and junior safety Drue Tranquill for the team lead in tackles with 10 apiece. For Jones, the 10 tackles set a career high. He added a key tackle for loss on a third-and-goal from the 3-yard line that forced a Hokies field goal. Onwualu's 10 tackles were the sec- ond-best performance of his career, and his six solo stops set a new career high. His first-quarter sack of Evans forced a fumble that Jones recovered. Onwualu and Jones both recorded a tackle for loss, which pushes their season totals to 10.5 and 9.5, respec- NOTRE DAME VS. VIRGINIA TECH QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 12:29 5:04 5:25 4:17 17:33 9:42 27:15 Third-Down Conversions 2-4 1-3 1-3 0-4 3-7 1-7 4-14 Fourth-Down Conversions 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 1-1 1-1 2-2 Average Field Position ND-31 ND-25 ND-20 ND-22 ND-28 ND-21 ND-24 Virginia Tech 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 2:31 9:56 9:35 10:43 12:27 20:18 32:45 Third-Down Conversions 0-2 3-4 1-3 2-5 3-6 3-8 6-14 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 1-1 Average Field Position VT-43 VT-30 VT-31 VT-45 VT-34 VT-37 VT-36 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards VT ND (-) Yards 8 5 0-5 Yards 35 42 6-9 Yards 10 17 10-19 Yards 9 8 20-29 Yards 6 3 30-39 Yards 1 0 40-49 Yards 0 0 50 or more Yards 1 1 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 3 2 1 0 Virginia Tech 5 3 2 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 1-15 ND17 Kizer pass complete to St. Brown for 29 yards to the ND46 • 1-10 VT31 Kizer pass complete to Finke for 31 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 ND33 Adams rush for 67 yards and a touchdown Virginia Tech • 3-3 VT32 Evans pass complete to Carroll for 62 yards to the ND6 Senior cornerback Cole Luke played well in his final home game for the Irish, displaying good in pass coverage and sure tackling with six stops (five solo). PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA