The Fighting Irish kept their bowl game hopes alive Saturday when they defeated Army 44-6. A new challenge arises this week not only in their opponent Virginia Tech (7-3, 5-2), but also the emotion of playing on Senior Day.

Head Coach Brian Kelly said it's tough to avoid those emotions on Senior Day, but given the makeup of the roster, it's tough to determine who exactly will be playing their final home game this Saturday.

"It's kind of changed a little bit where my first couple of years, you knew who those guys were, now it's a lot grayer as to who's a senior and who's not a senior," Kelly said.

Notre Dame has 27 seniors or graduate seniors on its roster, and it could be more if not for the NFL.

"I'm crying now because I don't have Will Fuller, he didn't have a senior day, Jaylon Smith, Ronnie Stanley, Keivarae Russell, is that enough?" Kelly said.

Notre Dame lists 61 players on its depth chart, but 55 of those players have at least one year of eligibility left. But for guys like Isaac Rochell, Cole Luke, and James Onwualu, etc. Saturday marks the final game at Notre Dame Stadium. Kelly says he expects there to be emotion but not till after the final whistle.

"After the game, certainly reminiscing and a bit emotional and I've always talked to them about there should be great enthusiasm and the emotion should kind of show itself after the game" Kelly said.