‣ CFB 2026 Regular Season, Week 7 - Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
(4-2, 1-2 ACC) Virginia Cavaliers at #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-1, 0-0 IND)
UVA | 0 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 28
ND | 0 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 17
Cavaliers pull off the impossible, stun Notre Dame behind Hawthorne's three touchdowns
"They said this couldn't be done," commented cornerback Tayon Holloway. "They said our secondary was too 'inept' and 'didn't have enough speed to compete'. They said our offense was too one dimensional to come in here and whoop they ass. I guess they confused us with somebody else."
The trash-talking was at an all time high after the Virginia Cavaliers marched onto Notre Dame Stadium and defeated the #6-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 28-17, behind a stout defense that bent but never broke and running back Donte Hawthorne, who was a short-yardage nightmare for the Fighting Irish front seven.
"His ability to keep churning his legs, and pounding the rock into the end zone wins us game: that's a flat out truth," said offensive coordinator Slade Nagle, famous for his love of running the ball. "Him and Noah [Vaughn] are absolutely thunder and lightning, and they paced us to win this game. This is huge for them. I couldn't be happier."
After the two teams battled it out through a scoreless first quarter, it was Notre Dame who ended up blinking first to the first of three touchdowns from Hawthorne. The team battled extremely efficiently in the second quarter, with the Fighting Irish having to settle for a late field goal to only be down 14-10 in a shocker of a first half.
"We got caught looking ahead," said a dejected Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. "We were caught asleep at the wheel and we paid for it today. They beat us, and we'll have to own that."
Another dominant performance from future All-American tight end Dom President was another integral piece for the Cavaliers' upset victory, as well as a momentum-swinging interception from veteran corner Dre Walker late in the game to shutter an already-frantic Notre Dame crowd.
Virginia and Coach James Xavier have shook the nation to its core with its thorough victory and with that, will return home next week. They will be hosting the 1-5 Duke Blue Devils in an ACC matchup.
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
NO SCORING
2nd Quarter
Donte Hawthorne, 1-yard run (Jawan Hocker kick) [8:53]
Jeff Tobias, 5-yard run (Zac Yoakam kick) [5:54] Donte Hawthorne, 1-yard run (Jawan Hocker kick) [1:35] Zac Yoakam, 40-yard field goal [0:03]3rd Quarter
Donte Hawthorne, 2-yard run (Jawan Hocker kick) [0:09]4th Quarter
Suderian Harrison, 1-yard pass from Anthony Colandrea (Jawan Hocker kick) [5:54] Cam Williams, 75-yard pass from C.J. Carr (Zach Yoakam kick)Player Stats
QB Anthony Colandrea: 25-28, 258 passing yards, touchdown, interception QB C.J. Carr: 10-21, 206 passing yards, touchdown, interception HB Donte Hawthorne: 32 carries, 75 rushing yards, 3 touchdowns HB Noah Vaughn: 11 carries, 48 rushing yards, 3 receptions, 38 receiving yards HB Jeff Tobias: 7 carries, 12 rushing yards, touchdown HB Pat Bingham: 3 carries, 30 rushing yards TE Dom President: 11 receptions, 108 receiving yards WR Jaden Gibson: 8 receptions, 95 receiving yards WR Suderian Harrison: 3 receptions, 17 receiving yards, touchdown WR Cam Williams: 6 receptions, 121 receiving yards, touchdown WR Jaden Greathouse: 3 receptions, 71 receiving yards MLB Myles Brown: 5 tackles CB Tayon Holloway: 2 tackles, tackle for loss CB Dre Walker: Tackle, interception DE Boubacar Traore: 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss MLB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa: 14 tackles, tackle for loss FS Colt Scheluger: 12 tackles
Alabama's WR Ryan Williams scored twice, leading the Crimson Tide to the upset victory over Florida
Has Clemson's quarterback Alonza Barnett III done enough to secure himself the Heisman Trophy?
LSU suffers horrific collapse against SEC foe Texas, 24-17
#6 Georgia will look to get a dogfight against SEC foe, #25 Texas A&M
QB Sam Leavitt, Rs Jr » 28-36, 377 passing yards, 5 touchdowns, rushing touchdown (W 59-14 vs Iowa)
QB Gio Lopez, Rs Jr » 34-55, 453 passing yards, 6 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 12 carries, 101 rushing yards (W 51-49 at Arkansas State)
QB A.J. Duffy, Rs Sr » 25-42, 314 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, 12 carries, 74 rushing yards, touchdown (W 48-46 at North Texas)
QB Dominiq Ponder (Colorado): (52-6 W at Arizona State) - 22-37, 413 passing yards, 7 touchdowns
WR Terrell Anderson (NC State): (28-21 W at Stanford) - 6 receptions, 108 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns
Jayden Moore, 4-yard pass from Maalik Murphy (Cosme Salas kick) [0:32]