By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — On an overcast day at one of college football’s cathedrals, Virginia started the game on an inauspicious note, and things never improved much for the visiting team. Eighth-ranked Notre Dame capitalized on the Cavaliers’ season-high five turnovers—all of which came in the first half—and rolled to a 35-14 victory Saturday.
“You can’t expect to beat a top-10 team turning the ball over,” UVA head coach Tony Elliott said.
Senior Day for the Fighting Irish drew a sellout crowd of 77,622 to Notre Dame Stadium, and the home fans didn’t have to wait long to applaud. Virginia’s Chris Tyree, a graduate transfer from Notre Dame, muffed the opening kickoff. The Fighting Irish recovered at the 25-yard line, and four plays later they led 7-0.
The Wahoos stayed connected for much of the first half. It was still 7-0 in the second quarter when Notre Dame mishandled a punt and UVA safety Jonas Sanker recovered at the Irish 42. Xavier Brown’s 15-yard run moved the Hoos to the 27, and two plays later fellow tailback Kobe Pace gained 14 yards on a carry. Pace fumbled at the end of his run, however, and the Irish recovered. An 88-yard touchdown drive followed, and Virginia never recovered.
By halftime, the Irish (9-1) led 28-0, and Virginia sophomore quarterback Anthony Colandrea had thrown three interceptions.
“Five [turnovers] in a half, it’s hard to come back from when you’re playing from behind like that,” center Brian Stevens said. “We did a better job in the second half. We’ve got to clean up some stuff in protection, be better in the run game and go from there.”
Tony Muskett, who started six games for Virginia last season, took over at quarterback for Colandrea at the start of the second half. “We needed to see if we could find a spark,” Elliott said.
Muskett, a graduate student, provided that, leading two touchdown drives after Notre Dame stretched its lead to 35-0. The first ended with Muskett’s 18-yard run midway through the fourth quarter. He scored again, this time on a 2-yard run, with 18 seconds to play. Muskett finished 9-for-14 passing for 103 yards.
“Tony comes to practice with a great attitude,” Stevens said, “and he’s an even a better teammate. Tony’s a great person and he’s a great praiser of all the other quarterbacks, especially AC. He knows his role and when it’s time for him to step in, it’s time for him to shine.”
Muskett said: “I really credit my parents and, obviously, my faith. I was raised to be selfless. When others have success, you congratulate them and be happy for them. I think that’s just the right way to live.”
From the start of training camp in August, Elliott has stated the Cavaliers would need both Colandrea and Muskett this season, and he said as much again Saturday.
“It was a game where we needed a spark and we felt like the right thing to do was to give Muskett [an opportunity],” Elliott said. “And now that we have this body of work to look at, we’re going to go back as a staff evaluate it and figure out what’s the best path forward.”
Asked about his team’s second-half effort, Elliott said, “I think the guys responded the right way. They kept fighting, they kept battling. We had guys that going out and coming back in, getting banged up, playing through it. So, proud of that, that the guys kept fighting, kept battling. Now I’ve got to do a better job, and the staff has to do a better job of just helping them from a preparation standpoint so that we can minimize the turnovers.”
Brown led the Cavaliers with 52 yards on 11 carries, and wide receiver Malachi Fields caught four passes for 81 yards. Overall, though, the Hoos totaled only 300 yards Saturday.
“We didn’t do our defense any favors today offensively as a group,” Brown said. “So we got to be better as a group. We can’t have them on the field playing that many snaps after all that.”
Elliott, who’s in his third year at UVA, said his team still has goals that are within its reach.
“We’ve two games left,” he said. “We’ve got Senior Day coming up in Scott Stadium. That’s extremely important, and then we got an opportunity to play in a rivalry game [against Virginia Tech] in the last game. And we’re fighting, we’re scrapping for a postseason play. That’s been a huge goal of ours as a team. And so we’re gonna look at whatever gives us the best opportunity.”
UP NEXT: In its home finale, UVA (5-5 overall, 3-3 ACC) hosts No. 14 SMU (9-1, 6-0) in the first-ever football game between these schools. They’ll meet next Saturday at noon at Scott Stadium, where Virginia will honor its seniors before the game. ESPN2 will air the game.
The Mustangs, who joined the ACC this year, defeated Boston College 38-28 on Saturday. SMU is the only ACC team still unbeaten in conference play.
Virginia, which needs another win to become bowl-eligible for the first time since 2021, closes the regular season Nov. 30 against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
“There’s still a whole lot out there for us to play for,” Elliott said, “and I believe that we got a prideful bunch in [in the locker room] that’ll respond the right way. It’s just tonight, things started spiraling fast and we couldn’t pull ourselves out fast enough.”