Data Skrive

One of the top runners in college football will be on display when Riley Leonard and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1) take on the Virginia Cavaliers (5-4) on Saturday, November 16, 2024.

Go to NBC to watch the Fighting Irish battle the Cavaliers.

Keep up with college football all season on FOX Sports.

Learn more about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Virginia Cavaliers.

How to Watch Notre Dame vs. Virginia

• When: Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. ET
• Location: Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana
• Live Box Score: FOX Sports

Read More About This Game

• Notre Dame vs. Virginia Predictions

Notre Dame’s 2024 Schedule

Notre Dame 2024 Stats & Insights

• Notre Dame ranks 49th in total offense this year (412.1 yards per game), but has been thriving on the other side of the ball, ranking seventh-best in the FBS with 412.1 yards allowed per game.
• Notre Dame ranks 99th in passing yards this year (197.3 per game), but has been shining on the other side of the ball, ranking second-best in the FBS with 148.6 passing yards allowed per game.
• The Fighting Irish have been a difficult matchup for opposing teams, as they rank top-25 in both scoring offense (12th-best with 38.3 points per game) and scoring defense (third-best with 11.1 points allowed per game) this season.
• The Fighting Irish rank 41st in run defense this year (126 rushing yards allowed per game), but they’ve been thriving on offense, ranking 13th-best in the FBS with 214.8 rushing yards per game.
• On defense, Notre Dame has been a top-25 unit in terms of third-down efficiency, ranking fifth-best by giving up a 28.2% third-down conversion rate. The team’s offense ranks 61st (40.8% third-down conversion rate).
• The Fighting Irish have the third-best turnover margin in college football at +12, forcing 20 turnovers (seventh in the FBS) while turning it over eight times (17th in the FBS).

Notre Dame 2024 Key Players

Virginia’s 2024 Schedule

Virginia 2024 Stats & Insights

• Virginia ranks 58th with 398.2 total yards per game on offense, and it ranks 99th with 395.8 total yards allowed per game on the defensive side of the ball.
• Virginia has been struggling against the pass, ranking 15th-worst with 262.9 passing yards surrendered per game. It has been better on offense, generating 254.4 passing yards per contest (38th-ranked).
• In terms of points scored the Cavaliers rank 83rd in the FBS (26 points per game), and they are 81st defensively (26.7 points allowed per game).
• In terms of rushing, the Cavaliers rank 86th in the FBS on offense (143.8 rushing yards per game) and 51st defensively (132.9 rushing yards allowed per game).
• Virginia’s third-down offense has been a bottom-25 unit this season, putting up a 35.3% third-down rate, which ranks 25th-worst in the FBS. Defensively, it ranks 66th with a 38.6% third-down rate surrendered.
• At -1, the Cavaliers own the 74th-ranked turnover margin in the FBS, with 11 forced turnovers (87th in the FBS) and 12 turnovers committed (52nd in the FBS).

Virginia 2024 Key Players

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Virginia Cavaliers

College Football

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — There was a time when senior day felt more like a final exam than an end-of-school party. Games like Saturday’s matchup with Virginia were tripwires, as Notre Dame got wrapped up in its feelings rather than focusing on the game.

There were losses to Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and UConn. There were escapes against Boston College and Navy. None of those results happened that long ago, even if they date back to the end of the Charlie Weis era. But they might as well have been from a different generation considering how Notre Dame has figured out how to compartmentalize the extra tension that comes with a final game inside Notre Dame Stadium.

“We all have to make sure you get your emotions under control before that song plays, before we’re gonna kick that ball off or return,” Marcus Freeman said. “You have to get your emotions back in check

That all assumes Saturday is the final game Notre Dame will play here this season. And maybe that helps with context.

Notre Dame has won its past six home finales by an average of 37.2 points. Freeman’s two senior sendoff games — Wake Forest and BC — were victories by a combined 99-7 score.

It all makes this weekend feel a bit more predictable for No. 8 Notre Dame (8-1) as it hosts Virginia (5-4) at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC. If the Irish simply keep doing what they’re doing — getting responsible play from Riley Leonard and exemplary work from their defense — they should cruise into their bi-coastal final acts, facing Army at Yankee Stadium next weekend, with rival USC to follow during Thanksgiving weekend.

Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans (88) has 18 catches for 154 yards and one touchdown this season. (Matt Cashore / Imagn Images)

With all that in mind, here are three keys and a prediction for Saturday:

Build up Greathouse and Evans

A 52-3 blowout is full of offensive wins. It’s just that what Notre Dame did with slot receiver Jaden Greathouse and tight end Mitchell Evans against Florida State might be the start of a trend. Arguably Notre Dame’s two best weapons in the passing game, Greathouse and Evans combined for 10 targets, seven catches, 87 yards and one touchdown last week.

Evans had an acrobatic 17-yard catch the officials correctly ruled an incompletion after a replay. But the moment looked a lot like Evans from last year when he dominated Ohio State and Duke. If that version of Evans is finally back, now more than a year removed from his torn ACL, the Irish offense might find a new gear.

“(Evans) played the best game he’s played all year,” Freeman said. “The most complete game in the run and pass game that he’s played all year. It was great to see him make that touchdown, and that catch was a big-time catch. I know it was incomplete, but that’s the Mitchell Evans we’ve been waiting on.”

Greathouse is second on the team with 23 catches, 310 yards and one score. It’s not the season the Irish expected from a potential lead wide receiver, but the sophomore looked the part on tunnel screens against Florida State after getting open deep against Navy.

“He just continues to show up,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. “I mean, every time we lean on him or put him out there and put him in a position to make a play, he’s been consistent, and he’s made them, and they’ve been explosive.”

If the Irish can string success together for Evans and Greathouse, the passing game could end the season on a high note.

Don’t miss Cross in the middle

When Howard Cross went down with a high ankle sprain last week, it put a major dent in Notre Dame’s defensive line for the short term. The defensive tackle won’t play against Virginia and might not play again until the game against USC. With reserve defensive tackle Jason Onye away from the team for personal reasons, one of Notre Dame’s great strengths has been cut in half.

A rotation of Rylie Mills, Gabe Rubio and Donovan Hinish does feel like a first-world problem for a defense that ranks in the top 10 in almost every major category. But the Irish have been slightly vulnerable against the run (No. 25 at 3.47 yards per carry allowed). Losing Cross won’t make that any better; not that the Irish need to concede it will get worse.

Mills and Rubio are prototypes, both 6-foot-5 and pushing 300 pounds. Hinish is three inches shorter and nearly 25 pounds lighter. Yet the coaching staff feels like the junior can hold up at the point of attack.

“We say it all the time, keep recruiting guys that love the game as much as you,” defensive coordinator Al Golden said. “All you have to do is turn on the tape, and you’ll understand his passion for the game.

“What you can’t see is his preparation, his tenacity. He’s dogged every day in terms of here’s what I gotta do, and I’m gonna do it. He’s a blessing to have on this team.”

Virginia may not stress Notre Dame’s short-handed defensive tackle rotation, with the Cavaliers ranked 91st in yards per carry (3.93) and 85th in rushing yards per game. A week later against Army might be a different story, with the Black Knights No. 1 in rushing at 334.49 yards per game, which is 66 yards per game more than No. 2 Boise State.

Just keep winning

The path for Notre Dame to get into the College Football Playoff is clear.

Win out and the Irish will head to the 12-team field, no questions asked. But hosting a first-round game is slightly more complicated, not that the Irish can’t have their path cleared by the end of this weekend.

Only two CFP contenders have a single-digit point spread on Saturday, with one matchup a win for Notre Dame either way. No. 7 Tennessee heads to No. 12 Georgia (7:30 p.m., ABC) in what is probably an elimination game for the loser. If the Vols score an upset, it eliminates the Dawgs from the CFP conversation and makes Georgia one of the season’s biggest disappointments. If Georgia wins, Tennessee likely falls into “first four out” territory thanks to a weak schedule. The Vols have a quality home win over Alabama, and that’s it. Tennessee doesn’t have another win over an FBS program with a winning record, with only UTEP and Vanderbilt remaining.

A Tennessee win is probably best for Notre Dame because it knocks out one of college football’s most talented rosters. But either way, the Irish benefit.

Any other result that benefits Notre Dame would feel like chaos, like Texas losing at Arkansas (Noon, ABC), Oregon losing at Wisconsin (7:30 p.m., NBC) or BYU losing at home to Kansas (10:15 p.m., ESPN). All would help the Irish move up the polls and probably improve Notre Dame’s shot at a home Playoff game.

But the most important thing is for Notre Dame to win.

Prediction

After two-plus seasons of searching, it feels like Freeman has found his groove on the sidelines. Mentions of his inexperience are down. Consistent performances are up. That reliability should carry through the regular-season home finale. It’s hard to see the Cavaliers finding much success against one of the nation’s best defenses. It’s also hard to see Virginia bottling up Leonard. It all means the Irish will pull away in the second half, continuing their push toward the Playoff.

Notre Dame 35, Virginia 14

(Top photo of Jaden Greathouse: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

A recent change to early voting may be helping Democrats in a series of special elections that are about to happen.
 
It’s called the permanent absentee list. Since 2020, voters can ask to receive a ballot in the mail for every election – not an application for a ballot, but the actual ballot for every election, including special elections that most voters don’t pay attention to.

Ben Tribbett is a Democratic consultant who says voters who don’t even know a special election is happening will find out when the ballot arrives in the mail.

“I did a special election a few years ago in Fairfax under these new rules, and it was different than any other special I’d ever done before,” Tribbett says. “Because by the time Election Day rolled around, we knew that 3,000 mail ballots had already been returned and 2,500 of them were for us.”

For now, this is a process that benefits Democrats says former Republican Delegate David Ramadan, who is now at George Mason University’s Schar School.

“Absolutely, the Democrats have the advantage on this in Virginia,” Ramadan says. “They started the absentee registration when Republicans were still on the Trump no-early-voting period. The Republicans have changed that, but Democrats had [a] few seasons on them on this.”

Another new law all but eliminates party-run caucuses to select candidates, but that applies only to regularly scheduled elections, not special elections. So, Democrats and Republicans will be conducting party-run nominating votes for a special election to a Loudoun state Senate seat this weekend.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.