Notre Dame looked like a Playoff team

Notre Dame passed what might have been its toughest remaining test of the 2018 season with a convincing 45-23 win over the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Irish are 6-0, and their remaining schedule does not feature anyone all that intimidating.

Neither team looked particularly good in the opening 30 minutes. Penalties, fumbles, alignment issues, and just a general lack of crispness marred the first half.

Coach Brian Kelly said that his team was sloppy in the first half and needed to “stop going outside of what you can do.”

And it didn’t help that both defenses played pretty well, giving little room to operate.

Time after time, the Hokies got in their trademark alignment with basically every defender within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

This strategy has a lot of positives. It can lead to a lot of tackles for loss and run stuffs. And that gets opposing offenses off schedule.

It also clogs a lot of the underneath passing lanes.

The best way to get Virginia Tech out of this look is to beat it down the field, using your receivers to beat the single coverage that often results.

But Notre Dame QB Ian Book repeatedly missed throws in this game that he had hit in previous weeks. So Bud Foster stayed with the defense he’s become known for.

Virginia Tech also did a good job of pressuring Book, limiting how much time he had to wait for his receivers to get down the field.

Through the first 40 minutes, Notre Dame’s running backs had rushes of -2, -2, 3, 13, 5, 3, 0, 1, 3, 2, and -3 yards.

There were just too many people close to the line of scrimmage to to block.

But on a crucial second down in the third quarter, Virginia Tech safety Caleb Farley overran his alley pursuit of speedy running back Dexter Williams. When the safeties are so close to the line of scrimmage, the margin for error is razor thin. There is no angle to recover.

And so Williams sprinted 97 yards to the end zone.

The Irish didn’t rack up sacks, but the defensive line frequently harassed Virginia Tech QB Ryan Willis and didn’t have to get blitzing help to do it.

Because of this, Notre Dame was able to get after Tech’s receivers and limit their yards after the catch.

Willis also tried to do too much at times. He often did so with good results. But late in the second quarter, he escaped pressure, and then it caught up with him. Willis fumbled, and Notre Dame’s Julian Love recovered to race 42 yards for a score.

Virginia Tech’s offensive line loops improved from when I saw it earlier in the year in person against Florida State. But Notre Dame’s defensive line has a lot of weapons that come at the QB in a controlled, violent fashion.

Watching this game, something struck me: A large majority of the Virginia Tech passing yards to the receivers were going to the outside.

The Hokies’ receivers have good size. They won a number of back-shoulder throws. But those aren’t the type of throws that allow for yards after the catch.

Notre Dame did a great job limiting the number of throws that gave receivers chances to take the ball and run with it.

They put together drives of 95, 70, 64, and 44 yards in the second half, while allowing only one long drive to the Hokies. They did not turn the football over and really imposed their will. After a rough start on the road, the Irish looked like one of the best teams in college football in the second half.

Notre Dame will have a few remaining tests, probably. But against this crop ...

... the team will likely be favored in all of its remaining games.