Game Thread | No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 24 Virginia Tech

No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 24 Virginia Tech   

Lane Stadium |8:00 p.m. ET | ABC

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Notre Dame’s First Visit To Blacksburg Will Be A Hostile One

Notre Dame and Virginia Tech will meet for the second time on Saturday night. Brian Kelly is 0-2 against Virginia Tech in his career. 

In 2016 he lost 34-31 against Virginia Tech as the head coach of the Irish in South Bend and in 2006 he lost 29-13 as the head coach of Cincinnati in Blacksburg. Kelly looks for his first win against the Hokies.

Saturday night Virginia Tech is honoring legendary head coach Frank Beamer with an unveiling of a statue. The environment inside of Lane Stadium will be electric, so what to watch for will be Notre Dame’s offensive communication led by junior signal-caller Ian Book. Book will make his fourth career start and is 3-0 as a starter. He has looked great in his two starts this season, but he will have to continue to show progression in what will be the most hostile environment he has faced in his collegiate career.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder will have to continue to get his big wide receivers, Chase Claypool and Miles Boykin involved in the offense. Notre Dame has scored points at a high rate since he has been the starter, 48 points per game. A balanced attack with Dexter Williams and Tony Jones Jr. will be Important for the offense to stay consistent against a good Hokie defense that has let up just over 20 points per game.

The battle between Virginia Tech’s offense that has scored 38-points per game under head coach Justin Fuente and Notre Dame’s defense that has only let up 18.8 points per game will also be something to watch. The Irish will have to continue to create pressure against the Hokie’s backup quarterback Ryan Willis who made his first career start against Duke last week. Virginia Tech’s starter Josh Jackson is out with a fractured fibula. The Irish will lean on Jerry Tillery, Julian Okwara, Daelin Hayes and Khalid Kareem to create pressure.

Five Players To Watch

Notre Dame QB Ian Book
Is it too easy to pick the quarterback? Maybe, but considering that he'll have the challenge of going against a Bud Foster defense, it's the right pick. Book has to be able to recognize the blitz and be smart with the football when Foster backs off with the pressure. 

Notre Dame WR Miles Boykin
After a monster game last week, he'll be matched up against Virginia Tech's corners who have struggled a lot more than Stanford's. It's an opportunity to show some consistency and establish to everyone watching that he can be a true number one receiver.

Notre Dame DE Julian Okwara
Jerry Tillery got the attention for playing great last week, but Okwara was just as deserving of praise. He was terrific for the second week in a row. This week he'll be going up against a true freshman at left tackle. It's hard to not see that translating into another big performance from Okwara.

Virginia Tech QB Ryan Willis
Willis had his first start for Virginia Tech go about as well as anyone could want. He threw for over 300 yards and was money on 3rd down in an upset win against Duke. He was protected well in that game and if is the same this week, he could have similar success. Duke's pass rush isn't at the same level as Notre Dame's, though.

Virginia Tech DE Houshun Gaines
Gaines suffered a terrible loss earlier this week when his mother passed away. He is expected to play in this game and is the best edge rusher for the Hokies. Liam Eichenberg versus Gaines is going to be a matchup to watch with Eichenberg making his first start in a place where he will likely be working with a silent count for the entire game.

Quotes of the Week

Notre Dame LT Liam Eichenberg:
"It’s gonna be loud. But our stadium is loud. I’m excited to go in there, kick the shit out of them, get a win, then get out of there." 

Notre Dame QB Ian Book: 
"We know it’s going to loud. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be energetic and a great college football night. It will be a fun night in general. We don’t try to focus on anything but ourselves, our plays and our details.” 

Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente:
"They certainly play a lot of man coverage and have yielded very little yardage and points. When you look at the whole defense, obviously the secondary is good, the defensive line is good. Nobody's been able to run the ball or throw the ball very well with any consistency against them. They haven't given up many points the entire year. They held a very good Stanford team to 200-something yards. They're pretty accomplished all across the board."

Countdown to Kickoff

10 - Justin Yoon sits just 10 field goals shy of breaking the Notre Dame career field goals record held by Kyle Brindza. Yoon has connected on 48 career field goals entering Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech.

9 - Ian Book became the fifth Notre Dame quarterback since 2005 to account for nine total touchdowns (passing and rushing) over consecutive starts with four touchdown passes against Stanford.

8 - Ian Book (Davey O’Brien) and Tyler Newsome (Ray Guy) were each named to “Great 8” award lists in their respective position group in recognition of strong performances against Stanford.

7 - Notre Dame won for the seventh time when entering a top-10 matchup at Notre Dame Stadium as the team with the lower ranking after the No. 8 Irish dispatched of No. 7 Stanford last weekend. 

6 - Notre Dame accounted for a total of six rushing touchdowns during a 56-27 offensive onslaught at Wake Forest on Sept. 22.

5 - Notre Dame now holds all five of the competitive trophies (Frank Leahy Bowl-Boston College, Megaphone Trophy-Michigan State, Shillelagh Trophy-Purdue, Legends Trophy-Stanford, Jeweled Shillelagh-USC) for the first time since 2012.  

4 -  Jerry Tillery equaled a Notre Dame program record with four solo sacks in the win over Stanford, earning Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week honors.

3 - Notre Dame is off to its third 5-0 start under head coach Brian Kelly in the last nine seasons (2012*, 2014 and 2018).

2 - Notre Dame is the only team in FBS football to earn two victories over opponents ranked in the national top 15 after five weeks (No. 7 Stanford, No. 14 Michigan).

1 - Notre Dame makes its first trip to Blacksburg and Lane Stadium for Saturday’s matchup with Virginia Tech. It is just the second meeting overall between the teams on the gridiron.

Yoon Watch 

Justin Yoon (48 FGs) sits just 10 career field goals shy of breaking the program record of 57 set by Kyle Brindza in 2014.

Yoon is just eight points shy (313) of breaking Allen Pinkett’s Notre Dame career record of 320 points set in 1985.

For Your Nerves