Tag Archives: and didn’t stop until No. 6 Notre Dame left with a convincing 45-23 victory against No. 24 Virginia Tech on Saturday. Every time the score tightened

The Irish shut down the noise.That started with quieting down a rowdy Lane Stadium environment on the first drive, and didn’t stop until No. 6 Notre Dame left with a convincing 45-23 victory against No. 24 Virginia Tech on Saturday. Every time the score tightened, the Irish were able to quiet the Hokies. You could even make out “Let’ Trevon Coley Jersey s go Irish!” chants on the telecast.WOLF: Get used to that in the second half of the season. Notre Dame is now the College Football Playoff team in waiting, the team that’s first in line when Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State or Clemson loses. Granted the Crimson Tide and Bulldogsplay in the SEC championship game, at least one must lose.Notre Dame would be the next team in at that point.The Irish kept those Playoff hopes in line with no distortions against the Hokies, and the belief in quarterback Ian Book grows with every week. Coach Brian Kelly has a team built to quiet the critics.It was Book who silenced that Virginia Tech crowd that was extra-lathered after a prolonged version of “Enter Sandman” before the game. Book responded by completing 8 of 10 pa seson Notre Dame’s first two drives, which helped build a 10-0 lead.The rest of the first half was anything but perfect. The Irish had 13 carries for minus-3 yards Chris Hubbard Jersey rushing. The Hokies cut the lead to 17-16 before halftime, and Notre Dame had just 21 yards of offense in the second quarter. This was a game the Irish would lose in the past.The second half showed why Notre Dame is no longer that team. Dexter Williams (178 yards, three touchdowns)opened the third quarter with a 97-yard touchdown run. Book followed up with a 40-yard touchdown pa s to Miles Boykin.The Irish closed the Hokies with two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. Book went 4 of 4 through the air with a second touchdown connection withBoykin. Williams high-stepped into the end zone with a 31-yard score. The “Let’s go Irish!” were out in full force at that point.It was an emphatic two-week stretch where Book, who finished 25 of 35 pa sing for 271 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, led Notre Dame to ranked victories against Stanford and Virginia Tech. The Irish also have a victory over resurgent Michigan in hand.MORE: You’re going to hear this a lot, too: This Notre Dame team is different than the one that finished undefeated in 2012, before a 42-14 blowout lo s to Alabama in the BCS championship game. Book continues to grow as an efficient pa ser. Williams has bolstered the running game. All-American candidate defensive lineman Jerry Tillery is the center of a physical defense that traveled well on Saturday.Notre Dame is one of 11 remaining unbeaten teams in the FBS, including only seven in the Power 5. Everybody knows the first four, but West Virginia, Colorado and N.C. State round that out. Oklahoma, which suffered an Sheldon Richardson Jersey upset against Texas on Saturday, is no longer among those ranks. UCF is in the mix too, but they’ll have to go through USF and Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference.It’s not a debate that the Irish are near the the top of that list. You know the rest of the story, too.The remaining six opponents on Notre Dame’s schedule have a 17-16 record. That includes home games against Pitt (3-3), Florida State (3-3) and Syracuse (4-2), a neutral-site game against Navy (2-3) and road games at Northwestern (2-3) and USC (3-2). None of those games is upset-proof, but the Irish will be favored in all of them and should win.If that happens, then Notre Dame will be in the Playoff, too. If the Irish lose, the absence of a conference championship game will come into play, a fact the school seems willing to deal with. The Irish would probably be left out at that point, but JC Tretter Jersey chances are they know that.That’s fine. That’s all noise at this point, and the Irish have done nothing but silence the critics. They’re starting to feel it, too.Exit sandman.Final: ND 45 – VT 23. Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) Expect that to continue in thesecond half of the season.