Recap: Notre Dame steals win vs. Hokies, but questions remain

Notre Dame survived on Saturday afternoon on a last minute touchdown by quarterback Ian Book, but many questions about the offense remain.

On a day where everything seemed to be going wrong for Notre Dame — vibes of 2011 South Florida were mentioned — at least for a couple of days Irish fans can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy a victory. Virginia Tech is a better football team right now than they were at the beginning of the season and they are certainly a better program than that South Florida squad, however, this was a game that — looking back — should not have been close.

Quincy Patterson was starting in place of the injured Hendon Hooker, and he did not look good. He finished with a passing stat line of 9/28 for 139 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 pick. It would have been worse if not for his talented wide receiving core. Yet, the Irish needed some last minute heroics from there own much-maligned quarterback. His stats were a tad better on the day though, finishing 29-53 for 336 yards. He had 2 passing touchdowns, 1 rushing and 2 picks. His stats also could have been worse if not for some really nice plays by Claypool and company.

Early on, it seemed as though Notre Dame was going to pull away. Both offenses started slow, but the Irish were at least driving. On the second ND possession, Book and the offense looked poised to score, but after a missed late hit call on a Book scramble, he threw a bad pick on a pass intended for Cole Kmet. This would be the first time the Notre Dame offense failed to score in the red zone all season. Hainsey was also lost for the game, and likely for the season, earlier on this drive.

Meanwhile, the defense was absolutely dominant — forcing 4 straight 3 and outs to start the game.

Notre Dame would start the scoring on a 2 play drive. Book to a wide open Kmet. Irish lead 7-0. Unfortunately, a few drives later, the Irish defense and special teams would gift Virginia Tech 30 yards — more than they had actually picked up the entire game — and the Hokies took advantage. After a 4th down conversion, Patterson would find his best playmaker, Damon Hazelton, near the front pylon. Tied up at 7-7.

The Irish would answer right back. Chip Long calls a well designed screen pass — shoutout to Javon McKinley on a terrific block — and Jafar Armstrong takes it all the way down close to the goal line. One play later, Book finds Tommy Tremble wide open. 14-7, Notre Dame. It seemed like Notre Dame would finally pull away.

Both offenses continued to sputter and find zero momentum. The Irish defense was suffocating, but the Notre Dame offense just seemed out of sorts like they have been the majority of the season. But…a costly mistake by Patterson and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah picks up a fumble and sets the offense up for a third score late in the half.

Just when it feels like Notre Dame is going to have all the momentum heading into the half, Armstrong coughs it up on the 2 yard line. The Hokies would take the fumble all the way for a 98 yard score. 14-14 at the half.

The Irish certainly weren’t perfect in the first half, but the game felt like it should have been 20-7 at the bare minimum, yet they found themselves in a tie ball game. Virginia Tech ball to start the second half with all the momentum on their side.

It showed at the beginning of the third quarter. Justin Fuentes offense would piece together their first semblance of a drive all day and their kicker would make his longest field goal of the year — a 44 yarder that snuck through the uprights. 17-14 Virginia Tech.

The Notre Dame offense also pieced together a decent drive — something they had done a little more frequently than Virginia Tech. However, Book would underthrow Claypool down the middle for a would be touchdown. Instead, he has his second interception of the game and at this point I have zero confidence Notre Dame’s offense can find a way to win this game.

Virginia Tech would eventually muster up another field goal drive against a Notre Dame defense playing well, but that is all they could do. The Irish find themselves down 6 late in the game.

Book and the offense get some lucky breaks and are moving the ball — thanks to nearly back to back targeting and roughing the passer penalties. Both good calls, but certainly back breakers for the Virginia Tech fans. Targeting came on tackle for loss and the roughing the passer came on a third Book interception. Notre Dame looked poised to score, and take their first lead since late in second quarter. A big penalty by Armstrong put the offense in 2nd and goal from the 20 and there was nothing doing. Doerer would miss the kick — something that just felt right at the time for all Irish fans — and all hope was lost.

Virginia Tech would get the ball back and were a few first downs a way from stealing a road victory and sending the Irish faithful into a state of misery and more “Fire Brian Kelly” rants on Twitter.

The defense would step up again though. After two run plays that went nowhere, Virginia Tech would put the game on Patterson’s shoulders. Like most of the game, when Patterson stepped back to pass, bad things happened for Virginia Tech. Notre Dame’s pass rush would finally get to him and senior captain Khalid Kareem would sack Patterson and force a Hokies punt.

Could the Notre Dame offense piece together one touchdown drive in the second half? The answer for most Irish fans was probably an astounding no, but fortunately for the most of us, we were wrong.

It wasn’t the prettiest of drives. In fact, much like the majority of the game, it was pretty ugly and gave everyone a headache. The Irish picked up key third downs and even one fourth down, and outside of a terrific Claypool catch on the sideline, it felt like a massive struggle.

The offense found themselves with a third and goal, and Chip Long dialed up his most impressive play call to date. Virginia Tech’s defense under Bud Foster is known to be very aggressive and it seemed very likely that Notre Dame would be throwing the ball to Claypool or Kmet to ensure the best players have a chance to make a play.

A designed QB run. Eichenberg block, McKinley block, Book untouched for a touchdown. Tie game under a minute left. Kicking team out for the extra point — snap, oh my god it’s a bad snap, Jay Bramblett unbelievable hold, Doerer right down the middle. 21-20 Notre Dame.

Notre Dame steals a victory and it feels kind of slimy. Everything I’ve witnessed in my 26 years of watching Notre Dame football screamed this would be a loss. Irish fans were dialing up more hatred for Ian Book. They were writing more letters to the university about firing Brian Kelly and Jack Swarbrick. Some fans probably still are. But at least for a few hours, the majority of us were happy. Happy because the Irish won and that is really all the matters. We are fans first and analysts second. Notre Dame is 6-2 with some new life vs. 5-3 and spiraling downhill.

Ian Book with his tongue out and his shush to the haters have the last laugh for now…and we should all hope it stays that way. On to Duke!