NCAAF Game Preview - Virginia Tech at Notre Dame

Sat Nov 2, 2019 2:30 PM EDT

By the third straight question about his team's loss to Michigan a week ago, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly had enough.

"Are we going to get to Virginia Tech?" Kelly asked. "That game is past us. This will be the last question on Michigan."

With that, No. 16 Notre Dame (5-2) turned the page and moved on to its game against visiting Virginia Tech (5-2) on Saturday afternoon. The Fighting Irish are looking to bounce back from last week's 45-14 drubbing by the Wolverines.

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech is hoping to increase its winning streak to four as it comes out of a bye week. The Hokies held on for a wild, six-overtime 43-41 win at home over North Carolina in their most recent contest, which followed wins over Rhode Island and Miami in the previous two weeks.

The six-overtime contest was the longest game in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

"I'm just proud of those kids," Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente said. "It goes back to (a 45-10 loss to Duke on Sept. 27), and we had to look ourselves in the mirror and talk about how we would handle tough situations."

So far, so good. But another tough task awaits against a ranked team in one of college football's most historic venues.

Notre Dame has won 15 consecutive games at home dating to Sept. 30, 2017. It is the third-longest such streak since Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930. The Fighting Irish won 28 straight home games from 1942 to 1950, and they won 19 straight home games from 1987 to 1990.

It is unlikely that Virginia Tech will be too intimidated. The Hokies earned a road win against Notre Dame in their first meeting Nov. 19, 2016, erasing a pair of 17-point deficits to stun a sellout crowd at Notre Dame Stadium.

Fighting Irish quarterback Ian Book will get another chance against the Hokies. He was pulled in favor of backup Phil Jurkovec during the fourth quarter last week, which prompted questions about whether a more permanent switch was in the works.

"There is no quarterback controversy," Kelly said. "There isn't any kind of conversation about making a change. Ian Book is our starter, will be our starter, and Phil will continue to be ready if he's called upon."

To his credit, Book is 14-3 as a starter for the Fighting Irish.

Kelly said the entire offense needed to improve in the passing game, not just the quarterback.

"We have to continue to work on going through your progressions, hanging in there," Kelly said. "He had some key drops. We need all 11 guys to play better, quite frankly.

"We didn't lose that game because of Ian Book. He has to play better, no doubt. The things that we've been talking about for the last few weeks, he has to continue to work on."

Virginia Tech is looking for its first win over a ranked opponent since beating then-No. 22 Duke on Sept. 29, 2018.

--Field Level Media