Turnovers Doom Cavaliers at No. 8 Notre Dame

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.”

Virginia Team Notes

• Virginia fell to 0-5 in the all-time series with Notre Dame, including 0-2 at Notre Dame Stadium.
• UVA is 2-5 against ranked opponents under head coach Tony Elliott.
• UVA is 3-2 on the road this season. The three road wins are the most by Virginia since 2011.
• Virginia is 3-3 this season when trailing at the half.
• The Cavaliers finished Saturday’s game with five turnovers, all of which occurred in the first half. The last time UVA committed five turnovers in a single game was against Notre Dame in 2019. 
• Virginia finished its non-conference slate 2-2.
• Notre Dame extended its win streak to eight games. The Fighting Irish came into the game with the sixth-longest win streak in FBS.
• Up next, the Cavaliers host No. 14 SMU (9-1, 6-0) for Senior Day. The Mustangs defeated Boston College, 38-28.
• UVA will face its third ranked opponent next week, a first since 2021 and for only the sixth time in program history (1949, 1996, 2.002, 2005, 2019, 2021, 2024).
• Virginia held Notre Dame to only one third-down conversion on 12 attempts. The last time the Irish only converted one third down was against New Mexico on Sept. 14, 2019.
• Notre Dame’s average distance to-go on third downs was 10.5 yards.

Virginia Individual Player Notes 

• With a 27-yard catch in the first quarter, Malachi Fields tallied his 25th consecutive game with at least one reception. The last time Fields did not haul in a reception was in the Cavaliers’ 2021 matchup against Notre Dame.
• With four catches for 81 yards, Fields moved into ninth place on UVA’s career receiving yards list (1,787) and now has 123 career receptions, tied with Terrell Jana (2017-20) for the 13th most in program history. 
• Jonas Sanker finished with a career-high 13 tackles, including eight solo efforts and two tackles for loss. It was his fourth double-digit tackle effort of the season and 11th of his career. Sanker matched his career high of two tackles for-loss, which he also achieved in last week’s road win over Pitt (11/9).
• Sanker also recovered a muffed punt in the second quarter. It marked his fifth career fumble recovery and second of the season. He has had a hand in an opponent turnover in back-to-back weeks with an interception at Pitt (11/9) last week and a fumble recovery on Saturday at Notre Dame.
• In his collegiate debut, true freshman cornerback Kevon Gray recovered a fumble amid a UVA punt return.
• Trey McDonald intercepted Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard in the third quarter, it was the first interception of McDonald’s career. The interception was Leonard’s fourth of the season and first in the last three games. McDonald is the eighth different Cavalier to record an interception this season.
• Muskett’s pair of rushing touchdowns tied his career high, which he achieved at Monmouth in 2021 against North Carolina A&T. His pair of rushing TDs is also his UVA career high. Muskett is the third Virginia quarterback with a rushing touchdown this season.
• Kempton Shine made his 35th consecutive career start dating back to his tenure at Eastern Michigan. Entering Saturday’s contest against the Panthers, Shine was one of only seven FBS defensive backs with at least 30 consecutive starts.
• With two made PATs, Will Bettridge moved into a tie for 14th with Terry Kirby (1989-92) on UVA’s career scoring list with 192 points. In 29 career games, Bettridge has made 42 field goals and 66 PATs.

Offensive Starters: QB #10 Anthony Colandrea, RB #5 Kobe Pace, WR #2 Andre Greene Jr., WR #4 Chris Tyree, WR #8 Malachi Fields, TE #16 Tyler Neville, LT #52 McKale Boley, LG #77 Noah Josey, C #55 Brian Stevens, RG #71 Ugonna Nnanna, RT #54 Blake Steen 

Defensive Starters: DE #15 Chico Bennett Jr., DT #90 Jahmeer Carter, DT #55 Anthony Britton, DE #82 Kam Butler, LB #5 Kam Robinson, LB #7 James Jackson, CB #9 Jam Jackson, CB #29 Kempton Shine, CB #4 Kendren Smith, S #3 Corey Thomas Jr., S #20 Jonas Sanker  

Game Captains: #96 Bryce Carter, #18 Mike Diatta, #84 Dillon Tennyson, #4 Chris Tyree