The Virginia game will show who Notre Dame really is

After taking Georgia down to the wire, how will Notre Dame respond when it faces a tough Virginia team at home this Saturday?

Right after a heartbreaker against Georgia, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has to rally his troops and head back home to face a Virginia squad who will be eager to hand the Irish their second loss of the season.

Virginia boasts a very dangerous squad that can cause the Irish major problems this Saturday. Coming in this week at No.18, Virginia is the definition of a trap game. That is back-to-back ranked games for Notre Dame, which always proves difficult no matter the team.

It will help that Notre Dame takes on Virginia at home, but this will still be a very true test of what this 2019 Notre Dame team is really made of. In the past, after a letdown like losing a tough game to Georgia, Notre Dame has crumbled and collapsed.

This team seems to be determined to not let that happen.

Khalid Kareem and other leaders came out and said they would be scared to be anyone on Notre Dame’s schedule the rest of the season. That is the kind of quote you want from the leaders and captains of your football team who are determined to make this season a success.

We will see just how true that is going to ring on Saturday. Virginia is going to come out swinging and Notre Dame is going to need to swing right back.

Going 11-1 now is absolutely vital if this team wants to make the College Football Playoff —  and it needs happen in convincing fashion. That means welcoming Virginia into South Bend and beating them by 2-3 scores. That means being efficient on offense and creating turnovers on defense. That means blowing the doors off Virginia.

Notre Dame earned some respect with how well they played against Georgia this past week, but if the Irish get embarrassed against Virginia; that respect is immediately gone and the game against Georgia becomes a ‘fluke.’

That is the reality of what is on the line on Saturday afternoon.