Notre Dame football at Virginia Tech: 3 Hokies who must be stopped

Notre Dame football at Virginia Tech: 3 Hokies who must be stopped

Braxton Burmeister, Quarterback

With no surprise here the top player Notre Dame football needs to stop on Saturday night will be the opposing quarterback, Braxton Burmeister. Their offense pretty much relies solely on his ability to make plays with both his arm and his legs.

Luckily for the Irish, he is not very dominant at either.

The most passing yards Burmeister has thrown in a game this year is only 223 coming against West Virginia, which was a game that they were trailing for most of the game. He has completed just over 60% of his passes with a total of 746 yards but I do contribute a lot of that to the fact they have played the likes of Richmond and Middle Tennessee State.

His average yards in the air is only 186.5 yards which is easily one of the worst the Irish have seen up to date. The one place where his game is excellent is that he does take care of the football. He has only thrown one interception this year in their first game against North Carolina

Where Burmeister will end up finding any success will have to be with his legs. Notre Dame football has been vulnerable to running quarterbacks this year, and he likes to take off and run. He isn’t the most electrifying runner in College Football but he is mobile enough to make some plays and convert third downs with his legs.

Burmeister has netted 144 yards this year in his four games, and while that doesn’t sound like a lot, when you look at the top-2 running backs for the Hokies, he is only 16 yards away from leading the team in rushing.

Even though Burmeister is a key player that the Irish will have to keep at bay I do not think it will be very difficult for them to do so. He is not nearly as good as Desmond Ridder from last week, which I thought the Irish handled pretty well, and with the strengths of this defense being the defensive backs, I do not see Burmeister being able to get much done in the air.