Notre Dame Football: Top 5 overreactions from big Virginia Tech win

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SOUTH BEND, IN – NOVEMBER 19: Bucky Hodges #7 of the Virginia Tech Hokies catches a tpouchdown pass in front of Julian Love #27 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium on November 19, 2016 in South Bend, Indiana. Virginia Tech defeated Notre Dame 34-31. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

2. The passing defense will have to fix its weak spots

The Notre Dame secondary look bad in this game. Led by back up quarterback Ryan Willis, the Hokies were able to exploit the Irish secondary.

Willis finished the game 31-for-52 with 309 yards passing and two scores. As successful as their passing game was at times, giving up almost 10 yards per reception is not a good look for the Fighting Irish.

Damon Hazelton played the game of his life as he routinely got open in space to catch 12 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns.

It didn’t matter who lined up against him because Willis knew he would get open and where he needed to be to come down with the pass. Pittsburgh’s offense won’t put as much fear in the Fighting Irish as Virginia Tech did, so you should expect the Fighting Irish defense to go back to their normal statistics of giving under 200 yards per game through the year.

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