Notre Dame needed to win-out to become bowl eligible with a 6-6, .500 record. But as the story has been all year, the Irish let a 17-point lead disappear to fall to Virginia Tech.
In the first matchup between the Irish (4-7) and the Hokies (8-3) – as well as Brian Kelly’s second time facing Virginia Tech overall, losing both times – the home team was up 24-14 at the half, but failed to continue building upon that success.
The Hokies scored 27 of the final 34 points to beat Notre Dame, 34-31.
After tallying 299 yards in the first half, Notre Dame managed just 118 yards in the second, with 67 of those yards coming off of Josh Adams 67-yard touchdown sprint.
“I mean, I couldn’t tell you until I watch the film specifically’ coach Kelly said postgame about second half production. “We had some balls that were catchable that we didn’t catch. You know, I just don’t think we executed quite as well offensively. I would have to really watch it specifically to tell you. I thought we weren’t as sharp in the second half as we were in the first half.”
Notre Dame found the endzone on their first possession for the fourth-straight game with a seven-play, 78-yard, finished off by a one-yard touchdown run by Adams.
With 4:26 remaining in the first, Justin Yoon sunk a 25-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead over the Hokies.
Again, Notre Dame scored to kickoff the second quarter when quarterback DeShone Kizer found sophomore Chris Finke in the endzone off a 31-yard pass. It was Finke’s first collegiate touchdown.
“It’s something you dream of,” Finke said. “It’s just like I thought it would be, really exciting. It was a great feeling.”
Kizer was nearly picked off in the first half, but he was saved by the Hokies’ lineman being called offsides.
Virginia Tech finally got on the board with 11:28 remaining in the first half, when quarterback Jarod Evans carried the ball 23 yards to make it a 17-7 game.
Miles Boykin snagged his first touchdown of the season with a 18-yard pass from Kizer, while the Hokies snagged a passing TD of their own with 78 seconds remaining in the half to make it 24-14.
That’s when things fell apart for the Irish.
“(Virginia Tech’s) defense coordinator is among the best of them and they made a couple adjustments in the second half that made our game plan become, it wasn’t unsuccessful,” Kizer said. “I think that there were a couple situations in which the balls that we expected to be wide open (instead) were going to be contested. And as quarterback, I have to make sure that those balls are in a position for our guys to catch it.”
Coach Kelly echoed those sentiments, stating that play calling and execution were a big issue for the Irish.
“We had some opportunities we didn’t convert. You know, really a tale of two paths,” he said. “Obviously offensively we got it going very well in the first half; in the second half we weren’t as sharp.”
Virginia Tech scored on their opening drive of the second half, capped off by a two-yard dash from Steven Peoples to make it 24-21.
At the 5:13 mark in the third quarter, Jarod Evans overthrew his receiver, who managed to get a finger on it to send it spiraling towards a diving Drue Tranquil for the interception. Just 84 seconds later is when Adams bolted for his career-high 67-yard touchdown run, giving the Irish a boost of momentum they desperately needed.
Virginia Tech would snuff out that momentum when Joey Slye notched a 23-yard field goal to put the Hokies down by a touchdown, 31-24. Bucky Hodges then snagged a seven-yard pass from Evans to tie the game with 9:13 remaining.
Slye would seal the deal for the Hokies off a 20-yard field goal with 4:16 remaining to take the 34-31 lead.
Notre Dame attempted to make a comeback, but for the second time in the game, DeShone Kizer went down with an injury to the head, this time taking him out. The first time was during the first half when the Hokie defender tackled Kizer on a run and officials clearly missed the targeting call.
Zaire was brought in for Kizer but failed to complete the comeback for the Irish.
Kizer finished 16-for-33 with 235 yards and two touchdowns through the air, along with 62 yards on the ground. Adams finished with 100 yards even and two touchdowns.
Notre Dame finishes the season Saturday at the Coliseum against USC.
“What I do know is we have seven days to practice together and prepare ourselves against USC and I think that with the mindset of that I just saw in that locker room that everyone’s going to be a hundred percent committed to doing whatever it takes to beat those guys and finish the season off on a win,” Kizer said.
