Blacksburgh, VA and Lane Stadium lived up to the hype. The question looming was “How will the Fighting Irish handle the noise over a period of 60 minutes?” A second story line in the game is the eight points needed by Justin Yoon to step into the all-time scoring leader spot.
First Half
VT wins the coin toss and defers to the second half. The opening drive is almost similar to all the other games played this season. The Irish take the ball and drive 75 yards on 12 plays. Dexter Williams finished the drive with a one yard touchdown run, The Irish also chewed up 5:36 of clock in the process. The noise in Lane Stadium seemed to mellow a bit.
The ND defense established control early as well. The Fighting Irish opened with a three and out of the Hokey offense. The Hokey’s first possession only lasted 1:24. The defense brought the intensity to get the Hokey’s off the field and to get their offense back on the field.
Justin Yoon, came into the game needing only eight point s to become the all-time scoring leader in ND Football history. The earlier PAT and the 31 yard successful field goal attempt cut the deficit in half to four.
A miscue on special teams could have ended worse than it did. A botched snap to Punter Tyler Newsome resulted in tremendous field position for the Hokey’s. The ensuing possession led to a Hokey’s field goal.
Once again Julian Love does what he does best and that’s causing chaos. Late in the second quarter, Love gets a scoop and score after the sack/fumble by Khalid Kareem on Ryan Willis.
The Irish first half composed of 160 total yards, -3 yards rushing, 163 pass yards. The Hokey’s first half totals composed of 215 total yards, 76 yards rushing and 139 pass yards.
Second Half
After the Irish defense shuts down the Hokey’s opening drive. Oscar Bradburn, boots a 37 yard kick and the ball is downed at the ND 5 yard line. Dexter is originally knocked backwards for a two yard loss. The next play Dexter breaks a 97 yard touchdown run to put the Irish up by eight, 24-16.
Miles Boykin gets in on the long distance fun himself. Boykin and Book connect for a 40 yard TD pass and put the Irish up 31-16. In the fourth quarter Boykin and Book hook-up again for another TD pass this time for five yards. Top finish the night off Williams once again rips off another rushing TD this time for 31 yards.
The final stats looked like this. VT total yards paced ahead of ND 441-438, ND total rush yards 167-132, VT pass yards 309-271 of ND and Time Of Possession went to VT 32:42 to 27:18 of the Fighting Irish.
Game Balls
🏈🏈🏈-Dexter Williams 178 yards on 17 carries and three TD’s
🏈🏈-Miles Boykin 117 yards on 8 receptions and 2 TD’s
🏈-Ian Book 25/35, 271 yards 2 TD passes, 1 INT
🏈☘-Justin Yoon 1/1 on a 31 yard field goal, 6/6 on PAT’s. Justin is now the all time scoring leader in ND football history after he passed Allen Pinkett.