It’s Senior Day! The ur-generic ACC villain invades Notre Dame Stadium. Let’s unpack the basics of this 3:30 p.m. (EDT) NBC tilt:

  • The Hoos come in a game above .500 thanks to a 24-19 win over fast-sinking Pitt. They played Louisville tough, backdoor-charged Clemson (down 38-10, ended up losing 48-31), and got smoked by North Carolina.
  • They’re 81st in scoring, their defensive stats are generally top half of FBS
  • Their best guy is almost certainly #8 Malachi Fields, whom I will note for NIL/Portal Recruitment purposes has a 5th year of eligibility available:

KEY STORYLINE #1 – TAKE A MOMENT TO SOAK IT ALL IN

No, not Senior Day and the matriculating student athletes (well, not directly). I’m talking about Notre Dame’s pass defense:

I don’t know how long the Golden-Mickens-Freeman troika can hold it together but please appreciate the absolutely dominant state of Notre Dame’s pass defense. It was very recently that we bemoaned the chances of Notre Dame ever again fielding a top-flight secondary and for the past two seasons they’ve basically been re-writing the record books. Cackle with glee on 3rd and long, watch the mid-week play breakdowns on Greg Flammang’s Twitter feed.

Above all, appreciate Xavier Watts in (possibly) his last home game. I think I’d go so far as to name Watts MVP of the Freeman Era to date. Let’s hope he has a banger of a game to finish up his home (regular season) career.

KEY STORYLINE #2 – TAKE A MOMENT TO SOAK IT ALL IN (PLAYER EDITION)

Per Eric’s most recent Scholarship Update, the following players are definitely hugging their loved ones on the 50 Saturday:

QB Riley Leonard
WR Kris Mitchell
WR Jayden Harrison
WR Beaux Collins
TE Mitchell Evans
TE Davis Sherwood
OT Tosh Baker
DE Jordan Botelho
DE RJ Oben
DT Howard Cross
DT Rylie Mills
LB Jack Kiser
CB Jordan Clark
S Xavier Watts
S Rod Heard
S Devyn Ford
PK Mitch Jeter 

Naturally, the Portal Era makes these partings less bittersweet than they might otherwise be, but looking over some of the home-grown fellas on this list there are some good memories: Mitch-a-Palooza being the short yardage package in 2022 (and the passing offense in 2023); the Davis Sherwood TD vs. NC State in ’23; Tosh Baker looking very cool on the sidelines;  Cross dominating against Ohio State (’22, ’23) and Duke last year; Mills randomly going off for huge games (including against these Cavs in 2021); Kiser with the killer pick-6 against Wisconsin in ’21 (and what should’ve been the game winning stop against Ohio St. in ’23);  X. Watts any of a million plays but most of all that USC performance that made Caleb Williams a Chicago Bear in spirit months before the NFL Draft.

PREDICTION

This team seems pretty locked in at the moment, and Virginia seems like quite  generic opponent. It is hard to envision a prediction that does not involve the typical pattern of the ’24 IRISH: slow first drives on each side of the ball, a gradual distancing, and then the dam breaking.

ND 41

VIRGINIA 10