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

Matt Newton | 1 Hour Ago

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Typically, if a team receives the opening kickoff, that team's offense possesses the ball first. That wasn't the case this time for Virginia, as former Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree had the opening kickoff bounce off of his leg and directly into the arms of the Fighting Irish, who cashed in a few plays later with a touchdown.

That was the first of a seemingly endless list of miscues by the UVA offense or special teams and the Fighting Irish capitalized on those mistakes every time. Virginia's defense kept the Hoos in the game with admirable play in the first half, but Notre Dame punished Virginia's turnovers and built a 28-0 lead that effectively ended the game at halftime, as Notre Dame (9-1) went on to hand Virginia (5-5) a 35-14 loss on Saturday evening at Notre Dame Stadium.

After Tyree muffed the opening kickoff and Notre Dame took advantage with a four-yard touchdown run by Jeremiyah Love, the game turned into a punting contest. The UVA defense held its own against the Notre Dame offense, but the Cavaliers were unable to sustain their own drives. After the Irish scored on that first short field, the next 10 combined drives went as follows: punt, punt, turnover on downs, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, fumble.

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

With the score still 7-0 thanks to the efforts of the Cavalier defense, Virginia was gifted a golden opportunity to get on the board as Notre Dame punt returner Max Hurleman had a punt bounce off of his chest and directly into the hands of Jonas Sanker. Virginia moved the ball into the red zone, but Kobe Pace then took hit a from Jordan Clark and fumbled the ball, which was immediately recovered by Rod Heard II, giving the Irish the ball back. Notre Dame then broke a streak of four-consecutive three-and-outs, driving 88 yards in nine plays and scoring on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Riley Leonard to Jayden Harrison.

Virginia went three and out again and that's when the game really went off the rails. In a span of three plays, Notre Dame scored two touchdowns of 70+ yards, but both of them came back on penalties. Leonard found Harrison on a deep ball for a 78-yard touchdown, but those points were wiped off the board for an illegal hands to the face penalty on Pat Coogan. Notre Dame then faked a punt with a variation of the fumblerooski and Jordan Faison took the ball 73 yards for the touchdown. But after a long conference, the refs upheld an illegal formation penalty and took those points off the board as well.

It seems Notre Dame was destined to score that third touchdown one way or another, though, as Virginia got the ball back and Anthony Colandrea proceeded to throw an interception to Adon Shuler, who returned it 46 yards to the UVA 2-yard line, setting up a short touchdown from Leonard to tight end Cooper Flanagan.

Colandrea then threw another interception five plays later, this time to Leonard Moore, who collected a tipped pass intended for Xavier Brown. Notre Dame needed only three plays to convert that takeaway into points, as Leonard found Mitchell Evans on the sideline, and Evans leaped across the goal line to make it 28-0.

28 Notre Dame points, all coming off of Virginia turnovers.

As the cherry on top of a forgettable performance, Anthony Colandrea threw another interception, telegraphing a pass to Malachi Fields that Xavier Watts easily stepped in front of for the third interception of the first half and fourth overall turnover, fifth if you include Chris Tyree's muffed kickoff. The Cavaliers were lucky that the last interception didn't lead to points, as Marcello Diomede shanked his 54-yard field goal attempt wide right as time expired.

Still Notre Dame led 28-0 at halftime, at which point the game was essentially over already.

As expected, Anthony Colandrea was replaced by Tony Muskett at quarterback in the second half. UVA got off to a good start to the third quarter, as Leonard was intercepted by Trey McDonald, who made a big impact play when he returned to the field after missing the first half due to a targeting penalty called on him in the Pitt win. Virginia failed to capitalize on the takeaway, going three and out, and then Jeremiyah Love ripped off a 76-yard touchdown run to make it 35-0.

Virginia responded with its best offensive series of the game, as Muskett completed a deep pass down the right sideline to Malachi Fields. Muskett then found Tyler Neville for 17 yards on 3rd and 18 and UVA kept its offense on the field for 4th and short Muskett called his own number and ran up the middle untouched for an 18-yard touchdown, finally putting the Cavaliers on the board.

Virginia managed to hold Notre Dame off the board the rest of the way, as the Fighting Irish turned the ball over on downs at the UVA five-yard line and missed a 36-yard field goal wide left. Despite the lopsided final score, this was a more than respectable effort by the Virginia defense.

The UVA offense capped the game with some positive momentum, as Tony Muskett led a 16-play, 80-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock, ending with a two-yard diving score by Muskett to make it 35-14. Though it hardly matters, Virginia did outscore Notre Dame 14-7 in the second half.

Now 5-5 on the season, Virginia returns home to face a ranked opponent for the third week in a row. The Cavaliers will host No. 14 SMU in their final home game of the season on Saturday, November 23rd and 12pm ET at Scott Stadium.