Notre Dame Football: The play that changed everything against Virginia
By Chase Eyrich
Relatively slow starts continue to be a trend for the Notre Dame football team, but this play helped the Irish turned the tide in the second half.
The feeling heading into the locker room was much uglier than the score. The Notre Dame football team was scuffling ahead of halftime, missing a field goal and suffering through multiple three-and-outs before getting to the locker room.
During his half time speech, Brian Kelly told his team to trust their coaches. Not a single coach in college football would have been prepared for what happened next. The surprise onside kick to start the half and ultimately steal a possession from Notre Dame could have been monumental over the course of the game.
Even after the Irish successfully shut that drive down after only ten yards, the situation still looked bleak for the Irish.
Starting from their two-yard line, Notre Dame looked to be closer to a safety than a first down.
Normally defense would start to collapse following three consecutive 3-and-outs. When the offense fails to their job, the defense often begins to falter.
But the opposite occurred. Notre Dame’s defense found a spark–one that would ignite the next two-quarters of football.
Bryce Perkins all the sudden had no time in the pocket or receivers to even target. Virginia could no longer protect the edge and Notre Dame took full advantage.
The impact came from both sides. Initially, it was Jamir Jones who got to Perkins at first. The only hit Jones was focused on was that on the ball. Knocking it loose from Perkins’s hands, Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa snagged it out of the air and the footrace began.
The 285-pound junior might not have been able to outrun Perkins for the seven remaining yards to the end zone, but that play impacted the rest of the day.
Tony Jones would take care of the rest of that drive and give the Irish the lead back.
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From that point forward, Virginia’s offense was obsolete. The edges were consistently a point of success for Notre Dame as they finished with eight sacks. but it all started with Jones and Tagovailoa-Amosa tag-teaming on the play that changed everything.