Notre Dame vs. Virginia Gameday Preview and Primer

Everything you need to know before No.10 Notre Dame takes on No.18 Virginia.

After a heartbreaker in Athens last Saturday, Notre Dame comes home to face yet another difficult, ranked foe in Virginia.

The Irish will come in looking to take out some anger and pent-up aggression from losing to Georgia in a game that not many expected them to be able to compete in. Notre Dame has another chance to prove itself today against another tough squad.

Will  the Irish out and beat the Cavaliers handily, or will this become the trap game many think it could be? Let’s look at the specifics and find out.

Kickoff: 3:30 pm EST

Channel: NBC

Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN

Line: Notre Dame -12.5

Weather: At kickoff it will be 68 degrees with 84 percent humidity. The forecast shows the chance of rain at 50 percent with winds coming out of the NNW at 9 mph.

Series history: Notre Dame leads 2-0. The teams met in Notre Dame’s home opener in 1989 and most recently in Week 2 of 2015.

Top storylines: There are many storylines heading into the week, but not many have been about Virginia. Everyone still wants to talk about Georgia — and rightly so — but Notre Dame needs to shift its focus to Virginia or it will be get upset.

Virginia has a dangerous squad with a very good dual-threat QB. Notre Dame traditionally struggles with QBs that can run just as well as they can throw, so it will be interesting to see what Clark Lea and Brian Kelly draw up to stop Virginia’s Bryce Perkins.

Another huge storyline for Notre Dame this week is the return of junior WR Michael Young and sophomore RB Jahmir Smith. Both were missed against Georgia and it left many fans wondering if the Irish may have just won the game if they had their full offensive arsenal ready to go.

Of course starting RB Jafar Armstrong was also missing against Georgia, but he is not expected back for some time. Regardless, this is as healthy of a Notre Dame offense as we have seen thus far in the season and that is something to be excited about.

Cole Kmet came back to the offense in a big way against Georgia and hopefully the same will be said about Young and Smith after the game.

Injury report: 

• Notre Dame junior RB Jafar Armstrong is still nursing a groin injury. The timetable for Armstrong’s return to the team looks like USC week.
• Notre Dame redshirt freshman WR Braden Lenzy went into concussion protocol last week and missed the Georgia game, but he is now back healthy and will be ready if needed against UVA.

Key Offensive Player for Virginia: Bryce Perkins, QB

Anytime you find yourself on both the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien preseason watch lists, you’re probably pretty good. Bryce Perkins is really good.

So far on the season, Perkins is 81-of-124 for 843 yards, 6 TDs and 4 INTs through the air. He has been very dangerous on the ground as well, racking up 193 yards on 51 carries and 2 TDs. No exaggeration — the Virginia offense is entirely Bryce Perkins.

His ability to fool defenses and be a dual-threat QB will give Notre Dame serious problems if the Irish defense isn’t careful. Combine that with likely wet field conditions and Perkins becomes even more dangerous. Notre Dame has faced its fair share of dual-threat QBs over the years and has already survived Jawon Pass, so it has experience covering someone like Perkins.

It is going to take sure-tackling and good reads from the defense to get past UVA and Perkins, but he is nothing the ND defense can’t handle.

Key Offensive Player for Notre Dame: Michael Young, WR

In what will be Young’s first action of the 2019 season, it is going to be important for Ian Book to get him involved early and often. We saw Cole Kmet come out and light it up last week against Georgia and become huge for ND down the stretch of that game. Book got Kmet the ball early and looked his way frequently in order to get Kmet back acclimated to playing college football again.

He will need to do the same with Michael Young.

Young has the ability to take this Notre Dame offense to heights it has potentially never seen before. He can take the top off of a defense and gives this offense an option it did not really have before this week. Notre Dame has quick receivers in its receiving corps, but none like Young. Braden Lenzy is about as fast as it gets from a pure-speed standpoint, but lacks the hands and jump-ball ability that Young possesses.

Expect Michael Young to have 5-7 catches for 80 yards and a TD.

Key Defensive Player for Virginia: Bryce Hall, CB

There is little doubt who was the best cornerback in college football last season. No, not Greedy Williams or Julian Love. It was Bryce Hall. Hall is greatly under-appreciated and under-recognized, but he would have most definitely been drafted higher than both of the aforementioned guys had he declared for the NFL draft.

Hall will be tasked with stopping Notre Dame’s Chase Claypool, who has looked like one of the best WRs in the country through four weeks of action. Claypool has such a rare combination of size, speed and athleticism that many cannot come close to matching.

Hall can.

This matchup is definitely one fans will want to watch, as two players who will most be drafted early in the 2020 NFL draft square off.

Key Defensive Player for Notre Dame: Asmar Bilal, LB

After looking rough and lost against Louisville in Week 1, Bilal rebounded and looked much better against New Mexico and Georgia. Now that the fifth-year senior is getting another shot to prove himself against a good dual-threat QB, will he make the most of his opportunity?

Bilal needed to establish himself in this young Notre Dame linebacker-corps and failed to do that in week 1. As stated previously, he has looked much better since but it was Louisville’s Jawon Pass’ passing and running capabilities that seemed to throw Bilal for a loop. Thankfully, Louisville was not a very good team and Notre Dame seemed to hide Bilal. However, this week Bilal is facing Bryce Perkins, who is substantially better than Jawon Pass and has much better playmakers around him.

Bilal’s play is going to be the difference for the Notre Dame defense in this game. The offense should be able to put up enough points to win the game, but will Bilal be able to figure out Virginia’s scheme with Bryce Perkins and shut it down?