Notre Dame prepares to take on Virginia after tough loss in Georgia

 

NOTRE DAME, Ind.—The University of Notre Dame will host Virginia on Saturday as the Fighting Irish try to bounce back from a tough loss in Georgia  and extend its home win streak to 13 straight games.

“It’s grind time,” Notre Dame Football’s Head Coach Brian Kelly said.

After the loss to Georgia on September 21, Coach Kelly says his team has a choice of how they will respond, adding that his guys are good physically and ready for a demanding week of practice.

“I think it defines who you are. Clearly, they know what’s at stake for them this weekend; they’re playing a really good football team that’s nationally ranked. I think it is the first time they have been ranked for three weeks in a long time. They feel really good about themselves. They’ll come in expecting to win. They’re going to be challenged and they’re going to have to respond. Yeah, you want to find those things out,” Coach Kelly said. “I have a good feeling that they’re going to respond in the right way. Again, it’s closer to defining who you are after coming back from a loss than it is any time after a win.”

Tenth ranked Notre Dame will take on 18th ranked Virginia Cavaliers at Notre Dame Stadium on September 28.

Quarterback Ian Book and Coach Kelly are looking forward to some “home cooking,” after seven of the Irish’s 12 penalties were false starts.

“I’m sick about it. I have been a head coach for 29 years. I know better to be quite honest with you. We didn’t spend enough time, obviously. I thought I did. I made a terrible miscalculation in that I felt like our quarterback was prepared, but he wasn’t. That falls on me,” Coach Kelly said. “Consequently, we had three critical cadence issues that who knows where they could have led to. That falls on my shoulders. I have to do a better job. We’ll make sure that never happens again.”