If you watched Wednesday’s TSL Podcast, you know that I was really close to picking Virginia Tech to beat Notre Dame, but I couldn’t quite pull the trigger.  I picked the Irish to win 27-24, but that was assuming that Hendon Hooker would be Virginia Tech’s starter.  Later in the day we found out that it would probably be Quincy Patterson instead.  Strangely I remained quietly confident in Tech’s ability to win the game, though I was worried that the offense would struggle with Patterson behind center.

Notre Dame ended up winning the game 21-20 thanks to a late touchdown drive against Virginia Tech’s prevent defense (more on that later), and generally speaking, you had to be pleased with how the Hokies played on the road against such a sound and experienced team.  I can’t say that I was very happy leaving Notre Dame Stadium, though.  I was bitterly disappointed, to be honest.  Tech could have won that game, and I wouldn’t mind playing it again.

On the other hand, it took some luck to be in that position. 98-yard fumble returns for touchdowns are mostly fluke plays.  Sure, you’ve got to be in the right position, you’ve got to get your helmet on the football, but it’s still up to the back to fumble, and it’s up to the Football Gods to have the ball bounce directly into your free safety’s hands with nothing but green grass ahead of him.  If we were all Notre Dame fans, we’d be saying “well if we didn’t fumble at the one, and we didn’t throw a pick in the redzone early in the game, we’d have won that game comfortably.”

True.  It’s also accurate to say as Virginia Tech fans that if the Hokies had made one or two more catches for Quincy Patterson, if Jermaine Waller hadn’t been hit with targeting, if the officials had called a safety on that Notre Dame kickoff returner, and if they hadn’t been hit with that ineligible man downfield penalty, they’d have won the game.  Some of that was in their control, and some of it wasn’t. 

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