GREG MADIA The Daily Progress
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- If there was a chance Virginia could continue to hang around and stay competitive against College Football Playoff contender and No. 8 Notre Dame in its historic home venue with a buzzing, capacity crowd, the Cavaliers needed to take advantage of any mistakes the Irish made.
And early in the second quarter, the Hoos were gifted an opportunity.
Notre Dame muffed a punt and UVa safety Jonas Sanker was in the right spot -- as always -- and recovered the fumble. The Cavaliers only trailed by a touchdown then with the ball inside Irish territory, but after Xavier Brown's 15-yard run, Kobe Pace fumbled at the end of a 14-yard carry.
Xavier Watts, Notre Dame's star safety, corralled the ball and it was all Irish up until halftime as they commanded control.
Notre Dame scored three touchdowns in the second quarter all off UVa turnovers on the way to a 35-14 beat down of the Hoos on Saturday evening.
Irish quarterback Riley Leonard's 8-yard touchdown throw to wide receiver Jayden Harrison capped an 88-yard scoring drive after Pace's fumble.
That put Leonard, the Duke transfer who torched UVa during a Blue Devils victory over the Cavaliers two years ago, in a grove, too.
Leonard threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns to lead Notre Dame (9-1) past the Cavaliers (5-5, 3-3 ACC).
He threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cooper Flanagan to grow Notre Dame's lead to 21-0 with 2:20 left in the second quarter. Then Leonard's 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mitchell Evans, in which Evans' athletic leap through two defenders got him past the goal line, extended the edge to 28-0 with 49 seconds left in the first half.
The pair of touchdown throws by Leonard to tight ends each came on drives after Cavaliers quarterback Anthony Colandrea threw interceptions. He threw three interceptions -- Watts, Adon Shuler and Leonard Moore each had one -- in the last three series of the opening half, prompting UVa coach Tony Elliott to bench Colandrea after halftime.
But by then the outcome was already decided.
Plus, the Irish, with their superior size, speed and ability to put away their foes -- they beat their previous four opponents by an averaged of 36.5 points per game -- there was no path to a comeback for the Cavaliers. Last week at Pittsburgh, UVa rallied to knock off the then-No. 23 Panthers after turning Sanker's blocked field goal and his interception into touchdowns.
Not even Sanker, who had a game-high 13 tackles along with two tackles for loss and a sack in addition to the fumble recovery, could ignite another comeback victory, though.
Failure to capitalize on his snag of Notre Dame's botched punt return in the second quarter proved costly. Especially because UVa's defense played very well in the opening quarter.
The Cavaliers limited Leonard in the running game to just 2.5 yards per rushing attempt in the first 15 minutes. Their focus entering the game was to stop him on the ground and in doing so, they strung together three straight three-and-outs in the first quarter to stay within a touchdown of Notre Dame.
The Irish went ahead almost immediately in the bout on running back Jeremiyah Love's 4-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into play.
That came after UVa kick returner Chris Tyree, a graduate transfer from Notre Dame, fumbled the opening kickoff in the return to his alma mater.
Love added a 76-yard run for a touchdown in the third quarter and that pushed Notre Dame's lead to 35-0.
Backup UVa quarterback Tony Muskett's 18-yard touchdown run got the Hoos on the board with 7:52 left to play in the third quarter. He completed a 38-yard pass downfield to wide receiver Malachi Fields and a 16-yard throw to tight end Tyler Neville on the drive.
Muskett scored another rushing touchdown on a 2-yard run with 18 seconds left.
Greg Madia
gmadia@dailyprogress.com
@GregMadia on X
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