By the Numbers: Breaking Down Virginia's Loss to Notre Dame

Matt Newton | 8 Hours Ago

Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Virginia was unable to repeat its success from last week in knocking off a ranked opponent on the road and from last season in taking down a top 10 opponent on the road, falling at No. 8 Notre Dame 35-14 on Saturday in South Bend. In five all-time meetings with the Fighting Irish, the Cavaliers are now 0-5 and 0-2 at Notre Dame Stadium. UVA is now 2-5 against ranked foes in Tony Elliott's tenure.

Even with the loss, Virginia is still above .500 in road games this season, going 3-2 in games played away from Charlottesville. Those three road wins are the most for the program since the 2011 season.

UVA held Notre Dame to just one third down conversion in the game, the first time the Irish have had only one third down conversion since 2019. The Cavaliers committed five turnovers in the first half for the first time since their last trip to South Bend, as they last had five first-half turnovers at Notre Dame in 2019.

See the chart below for a breakdown of the stats from Virginia's loss at Notre Dame:

Virginia	By the Numbers	Notre Dame
300	Total Offense	448
128	Rushing Offense	234
4.0	Yards Per Rush	6.2
172	Passing Offense	214
47%	Completion %	67%
10.1	Yards Per Completion	9.7
2/2	Red Zone Attempts	4/6
14	Red Zone Points	28
6/18	3rd Downs	1/12
2/3	4th Downs	3/4
25:20	Possession Time	34:40
6-40	Penalties-Yards	9-89
5	Turnovers	2
1	Sacks	2
4	Tackles for a Loss	5
2	Big Plays (20+ Yards)	3

Here are some key individual stats from Virginia vs. Notre Dame along with some more notes:

Jonas Sanker led the Cavaliers with a career-high 13 tackles, including eight unassisted tackles and two tackles for loss. The Charlottesville native has had double-digit tackles four times this season and 11 times in his UVA career. Sanker has had two tackles for loss in each of his last two games. He also recovered a muffed punt in the game, his second fumble recovery in as many weeks and his fifth fumble recovery of his career.

Trey McDonald, who missed the first half of the game due to a targeting penalty called on him in the second half of Virginia's previous game against Pitt, recorded his first-career interception in the third quarter. The interception was Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard's first pick in the last three games and McDonald became the eighth different Cavalier to have a pick this season.

Malachi Fields led the Virginia offense with four catches for 81 yards on eight targets. The senior wideout has had at least one reception in 25 consecutive games and is now ninth on UVA's career receiving yards list with 1,787 career receiving yards and 13th on UVA's career receptions list with 123 career receptions.

Tony Muskett relieved Anthony Colandrea at quarterback in the second half and recorded a pair of rushing touchdowns, his first rushing scores of the season. Muskett had only one rushing touchdown in the last two seasons at Virginia before Saturday's game.

Up next, Virginia returns to Charlottesville for its final home game of the 2024 season. UVA will host No. 13 SMU (9-1) on Saturday at 12pm ET at Scott Stadium.

More Virginia Football News

Five Takeaways from Virginia Football's 35-14 Loss to Notre Dame

Costly Turnovers Doom Virginia Football to 35-14 Loss at Notre Dame

Virginia vs. Notre Dame Live Updates | NCAA Football