Virginia is playing for a bowl bid; Notre Dame is playing for a playoff spot

Notre Dame, at 8-1 on the season, and ranked eighth this week in the College Football Playoff rankings, can’t afford a hiccup this weekend with Virginia coming to South Bend.

The Irish, a 23-point favorite in Saturday’s matchup, looks to be a solid bet to make the 12-team CFP field, but a loss to a 5-4 UVA team in the 2024 home finale would be devastating to those hopes.

“Every game, this game’s the Super Bowl. No matter if we were in the playoff hunt or not, it’s the same mindset we have,” third-year Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said.

Freeman has a 27-9 record as the head coach, but he hasn’t had a team anywhere near the playoff chase until this year.

Last year’s group finished 10-3 with former Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman under center.

Freeman lured another ACC transfer, former Duke QB Riley Leonard, to campus for the 2024 season, and Leonard is putting up good numbers – 175.0 passing yards per game, a 133.8 QB rating, nine TDs and three INTs, and 609 yards on the ground and 13 rushing TDs.

Leonard played in two games against UVA while at Duke – getting mop-up duty in a 48-0 loss in 2021, then starting in a 38-17 win in 2022, going 18-of-24 for 129 yards and a TD through the air, and adding 60 yards and two TDs on the ground.

Virginia slot receiver Chris Tyree, a Notre Dame graduate, played in 48 games in his four seasons at the school, rushing for 1,186 yards and five TDs, and catching 104 balls for 1,069 yards and seven TDs through the air.

The Cavaliers have something to play for as well. Third-year coach Tony Elliott is looking to get his team into bowl contention for the first time in his tenure.

UVA is coming into the game off a huge road win, a 24-19 triumph at then-#18 Pitt that kept the program’s bowl hopes alive.

“Hopefully the guys have confidence after last week that they know what they need to do to prepare, but just excited about the opportunity,” Elliott said. “There hasn’t been any success, I told the guys today, we haven’t won against Notre Dame. We’ve set out all season to be a different team doing different things, and to be different, you have to do different. So, all we can ask for is an opportunity, but it’s going to take our best game, and it’s going to take just a commitment to the process.”