Notre Dame Football: 3 keys to victory vs. Virginia Tech in Week 10

2. The Irish defense must get back to forcing turnovers

After leading the nation in forced turnovers a few weeks ago, the Notre Dame defense has seen a significant dip in that department over the course of their past two games. What makes matters worse is the fact that the last two quarterbacks they’ve faced (USC’s Kedon Slovis and Michigan’s Shea Patterson) had both struggled with turnovers heading into their respective matchups with the Irish.

While Patterson was charged with three fumbles, the Irish weren’t able to make a play on any of them. In fact, if it wasn’t for an interception thrown by Bowling Green’s Grant Loy, Notre Dame would be entering this week without having forced a turnover since September. That’s far from a recipe for success when you play alongside an offense that struggles to find their way to the redzone.

Shifting focus towards Virginia Tech, the Hokies offense has been pretty generous in coughing up the football to opponents, currently tied for 19th in turnovers at a clip of nearly two per game. This week would be a good one for the Irish defense to return to form and force the Hokies into a few extra mistakes.

There’s reason to believe that a significant turnover output could be in the works for the Irish defense. Bowling Green could be considered an outlier while the gameplan and gameflow can be attributed to their lack of success in the turnover battle against USC and Michigan. A strong performance against Virginia Tech could go a long way for a defense beginning to find itself a target of much criticism.