Notre Dame at Virginia Post Game Notes

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Sept. 12, 2015

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No. 9/11 Notre Dame at Virginia
Sept. 12, 2015
Virginia Game Notes

Team Notes

• Virginia is now 0-2 all-time vs. Notre Dame
• Notre Dame defeated Virginia 36-13 in the first meeting in 1989
• UVa is 4-2 in home openers under head coach Mike London and 90-29-7 (.742) all-time
• Virginia had 416 yards of total offense – the most since 443 vs. North Carolina in 2014
• The Cavaliers held Notre Dame to an 0-of-10 effort on third down, marking the first time UVa held its opponent without a third-down conversion under Mike London
• Virginia First Time Starters: Offense: Olamide Zaccheaus (TB)**, Ryan Santoro (WR); Defense: Chris Peace (DE), Andre-Miles Redmond (DT): ** – denotes true freshmen.
• Jordan Ellis (TB) and David Eldridge (WR)** made their collegiate debuts: ** – denotes true freshmen

Player Notes

• QB Matt Johns went 26-of-38 for 289 yards and a career-high-tying two touchdown passes
• Johns established new career-bests in completions (26) and completion percentage (.684)
• Johns (289 yards) has eclipsed 200 passing yards in four of five career starts
• Johns matched a career-best with three total touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing)
• WR Canaan Severin had career highs with 11 receptions, marking the first time since Darius Jennings 13 & Tim Smith 10 vs. Georgia Tech in 2013 that a Virginia receiver had 10 or more catches
• Severin’s 153 receiving yards was the most since Tim Smith’s 151 yards vs. Georgia Tech (2013)
• Severin has a 14-game reception streak
• RB Taquan Mizzell led Virginia with 66 rushing yards and extended his reception streak to a team-best 23 games
• RB Olamide Zaccheaus had a career-long 35-yard run and added two receptions for 25 yards
• RB Albert Reid had his first rushing touchdown for Virginia (3 rushing TDs, 1 receiving TD at Maryland)
• WR Keeon Johnson’s 42-yard touchdown reception marked a career long
• WR Ryan Santoro’s 34-yard reception marked his first career catch
• TE Evan Butts had his first career touchdown reception, a two-yard catch from Johns in the second quarter
• CB Kelvin Rainey, FS Quin Blanding and DE Mike Moore led Virginia with eight tackles each
• The eight tackles each for Rainey and Moore were career bests
• CB Demetrious Nicholson matched a career-high with three pass break-ups
• LB Micah Kiser had his first career sack and finished with 1.5

NOTRE DAME

TEAM NOTES

• Notre Dame is the only team in the country with two wins this year over teams from “Power 5” conferences, having also beaten Texas last week. South Carolina (winners last week over North Carolina) would join his brief roll with a win tonight over Kentucky.
• Notre Dame is now 7-14 when trailing at halftime under Bran Kelly. The Irish last overcame a halftime deficit on Nov. 2, 2013, when the team trailed Navy 20-17 at the break before winning 38-34 at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish last rallied from a halftime deficit to win on the road on Sept. 14, 2013, when Notre Dame beat Purdue 31-24 at Ross-Ade Stadium after trailing 10-3 at halftime.
• The Irish improve to 13-2 under head coach Brian Kelly when ranked in the AP top 10 and 315-86-13 all-time.
• Notre Dame improves to 18-0 under Brian Kelly when it does not commit a turnover.
• Today marked the second time in three games that the Irish have won in the final 12 seconds. The team’s 2014 Music City Bowl win over No. 22 LSU was sealed by a 32-yard Kyle Brindza field goal with 0:00 left on the clock.
• The fumble forced by KeiVarae Russell and recovered by Romeo Okwara in the fourth quarter was the first turnover of the season for either team in a Notre Dame game. The Irish are now plus-one in turnover margin this year.
• The last time Notre Dame had two quarterbacks throw a TD pass in the same game came on Oct. 13, 2012, when both Tommy Rees and Everett Golson threw one in a 20-13 overtime win over Stanford at Notre Dame Stadium.
• The second quarter TD by Virginia marked the first TD surrendered by Notre Dame, coming 79:06 into the season.
• The Irish improve to 2-0 all-time against Virginia. The first meeting was a 36-13 win in 1989 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in Kickoff Classic VII. Notre Dame leads the all-time series against 10 of the 13 ACC teams which the school has played and stands at 135-58-3 all-time against the league’s current roster.
• Virginia became the 36th state in which Notre Dame has played a football game. The list is not expected to grow again until 2019 when the Irish are scheduled to play in Kentucky for the first time (at Louisville).
• Virginia announced the game as a sellout. The Irish have played before a sellout in 276 of their last 325 games (.849).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Will Fuller’s 39-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter is the 20th of his Irish career, passing TJ Jones (2010-13) and Tom Gatewood (1969-71) for sole possession of sixth in school history. His first TD catch, good for 59 yards, was Fuller’s fourth career TD catch of at least 59 yards and his second this year, joining a 66-yard scoring catch last week vs. Texas.
• Fuller recorded his second 100-yard receiving game of the season and the sixth of his young Irish career, tying Tim Brown (1984-87) and Jim Seymour (1966-68) for seventh in school history.
• Malik Zaire’s 39-yard third quarter run was his longest since a 56-yard scamper in his collegiate debut against Rice on Aug. 30, 2014. It is Notre Dame’s longest run since C.J. Prosise ran 50 yards for a TD against No. 22 LSU in the 2014 Music City Bowl.
• C.J. Prosise needed just nine carries to reach the 100-yard plateau in his Virginian Homecoming game.
• The 155 rushing yards by C.J. Prosise today are the most by an Irish ball-carrier since Cierre Wood ran for191 at Purdue on Oct. 1, 2011.
• DeShone Kizer threw his first career TD pass on the first quarter fake field goal.
• Durham Smythe’s TD grab on the fake field goal was his first career score.
• Prosise made his first career start as a running back. His previous nine career starts were as a wide receiver.