Irish D sacks Cavs
The man just wanted to catch his breath.
Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa had rambled 48 yards, leaving his sputtering offensive mates a mere 7 to cover for a go-ahead touchdown that proved to be game-deciding, and he needed oxygen on the Notre Dame sidelines.
His Fighting Irish teammates, down at the half in a home game for the first time since October 13, 2018, needed to celebrate a big moment with a big man who last year sat out.
Who on Saturday against No. 18 Virginia helped the Notre Dame defense catalyze a 35-20 win with a near record-setting, suffocating second-half defensive performance.
“After that big run, I couldn’t breathe,” said the 6-foot-2-and-a-half-inch, 285-pound Tagovailoa-Amosa. “I was trying to gather my air, take a breath; what makes it worse is everybody slapping your head. So you’re trying to figure out what’s going on, trying to get a breath, and everyone’s slapping your head. But it’s good to see that with all your brothers, especially my 2017 class you have like a closer bond with your class that you come in with.
“The first thing everybody said was, ‘You’re slow! You’re slow.’ Leave me alone.”
While Tagavailoa-Amosa claimed GPS readings showed him reaching speeds in the lower 20s, coach Brian Kelly pointed to perhaps a more realistic “17 or 18mph.”
Neither figure probably seemed fast enough for Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins, who was sacked eight times by the relentless Notre Dame defense and central figure in the Cavaliers’ five-turnover meltdown.
The Irish amassed 13 total tackles for losses that totaled 61 yards, recovered three of the four fumbles they forced and added an additional five quarterback hurries.
“Look, we didn’t go in thinking eight sacks was the margin here,” Kelly said. “The ball comes out really quick. Perkins played flawlessly in the first half; 20 I think of 23, the ball came out accurately, on time, made great throws.
“We wanted to make sure that the pocket collapsed on him and made it difficult for him to get outside and improvise. We stuck with our game plan. Agin, I challenged our staff to be stubborn and persistent and determined and we did that and it broke through for us in a manner that we saw a lot of those sacks really come together in the second half.”
Gashed by Perkins and the Cavaliers for 235 yards through the air in the first half, Notre Dame clamped down its coverage and ratcheted up its pressure in the decisive second half.
Despite a nasty injury to Shaun Crawford that left Crawford walking out of Notre Dame Stadium with his left arm in a sling, the Irish got four of their five turnovers and yielded just 99 passing yards through the game’s final 30 minutes.
Stalwarts Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem burst back into dominant form as the tandem combined for 5.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, Okwara’s fumble recovery and three pressures.
“It’s pretty exciting but you know we’ve got to stay consistent,” Kareem said. “Don’t let this be a one-time thing. Have the same preparation, week in and week out.
“I don’t think anything really changed [after halftime]; we just kept coming. We understand as the d-line, we’re the tip of the spear. Everything starts with us and so we kept coming and the sacks came.”