Notre Dame Football: Report card for win over Virginia in Week 5

Notre Dame football overcame a sluggish first half to handily defeat the Virginia Cavaliers 35-20 in South Bend. Which position group graded the highest?

A letdown was inevitable. Not to make excuses for the sluggish first half against the Virginia Cavaliers, and the reason they were down 17-14 at the half, but you can’t play a game the magnitude they played the previous Saturday against a team as physical as the Georgia Bulldogs and not feel it in some way.

Notre Dame was tired, and they looked like it in the second half, however, when you want to be considered the among the nation’s elite, these are the games you suck it up and win.

This shouldn’t sound like a disrespect to Bronco Mendenhall and the Virginia Cavaliers either.

One thing to know about Mendenhall’s teams from BYU to now at Virginia is that they will be prepared. They had a wonderful game-plan on offense to window dress everything, and get the ball out of quarterback Bryce Perkins’ hands quickly to cover up their deficiencies along their offensive line. They crowded the line on defense and did a great job of disguising where their pressures were coming from, and handcuffed the running game for a half.

Then the talent of the Irish turned the tide, especially on defense, sacking Perkins eight times and picking him off twice. Yes, it took them a while to get going, but when they got it going Virginia was simply no match.