Another big game and another loss for Brian Kelly and his staff.

Last week’s 23-17 loss to No. 3 Georgia was more ND’s own undoing than the Bulldogs play. Mistakes and poor preparation were the key and that falls at the feet of Kelly.

How many times in the 10 years he has been head coach have the Irish headed into a “big game” and a loss due to shortcomings of the coaching staff. Oh yes, he did win some of these games, but the majority were in the loss column and many were due to poor preparation.

ND’s mistakes included 12 penalties for 85 yards. Add the turnovers — two interceptions by quarterback Ian Book — and you can’t beat a top ranked team like Georgia, especially at Athens where a record crowd of over 92,000 jammed the stadium.

ND hurt itself with six false-start penalties, five of which were by the offense and one by the punt team. ND also had to use several timeouts to prevent delay-of-game penalties.

In addition, the Irish still can’t run the football. If you’re going to win football games, at any level, you got to be able to run the ball. Despite having a wealth of running backs and a big offensive line, the Irish sill can’t run the football, forcing Book to throw and run himself. You don’t want your QB running a lot in a game, that sets him up for possible injuries. An old high school coach who was a friend of mine once said, there are three things that happen when you throw the football, and two of them are bad.

ND had only 46 net yards rushing in the game. Also, the defense registered no sacks for the third straight game.

At 2-1, ND’s chances of getting into the national title game are slim. But the Irish could get into one of the other major bowl games on New Years day that have big pay days. Remember, it has been said many times in college football, if you are going to lose, lose early.

More on the Georgia game later.

Today the Irish host Virginia in a must-win contest. Virginia, a very good football team, enters at 4-0 and ranked No. 18, with wins over Pittsburgh, 30-14; William & Mary, 52-17, Florida State, 31-24, and Old Dominion, 28-17.

The Cavaliers are led by QB Bryce Perkins, who has completed 81 of 124 passes for 843 yards and six touchdowns so far this season. Perkins also likes to run the ball and has 193 yards on 51 carries and two scores.

The top running back is Wayne Taulapapa with 152 yards on 39 carries and five scores. The top receivers are Joe Reed (215 yards on 23 catches and three scores) and Hasise Dubois (191 yards on 16 catches and one score).

Defensively, Zane Zander leads the way with a total of 29 tackles in four games, 13 solos. However, many believe the real key to the Virginia’s top defense is outside linebacker Charles Snowden. In fact, the Cavaliers linebackers, not the defensive line, lead the team in QB sacks. The 6-7, 235-pound Snowden recorded 15 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss and two sacks in the win last week.

ND leads the short series, 2-0, with the last win coming in 2015 when backup QB DeShone Kizer came off the bench to lead the Irish final drive of the game and get the win.

Virginia has been improving every year since coach Bronco Mendenhall took over four years ago. The Cavaliers are No. 1 in the nation in sacks per game (5.0), tied for fifth in tackles for a loss (39), No. 12 in run defense, No. 14 in total defense and No. 37 in pass efficiency defense. This is what some writers call a “trap game” for the Irish. Coming off a tough first loss of the season, and facing a surging Cavalier team.

The game will be televised nationally by NBC-TV with a 3:40 p.m. kickoff. This is an hour later than the last home game and one of two with 3:30 starts this year at home.

IRISH NOTES ... The 46 yards rushing by ND last week came on 14 carries with Tony Jones Jr. getting 21 on nine carries. Book ran three times for 18 yards. Book completed 29 of 47 attempts for 275 yards, two TDs and two interceptions. Cole Kmet, who led the team in false-starts, caught nine for 108 yards and a score with Chase Claypool getting 66 yards on six carries. Jonathan Doerer hit a 27 yard field goal. Defensively, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliott, each had eight tackles .... Receiver Braden Lenzy, who had his first career TD the previous week, did not make the trip to Georgia after suffering a concussion in practice .... Wide receiver Michael Young could see some action today for the first time this season after suffering a broken collarbone in the preseason .... After the loss to Georgia, ND dropped to 10th in the national AP rankings. The drop of only three positions indicates that the voters felt ND’s play gave them some respect and that they can play with the best .... Kelly wanted Book to stay in the pocket more last week and for the most part he did. Georgia, who was averaging four sacks per game prior to the contest, never got to Book .... As was the case for the previous home game against New Mexico, there are a lot of local ND fans in South Bend for the game today, including many from the Panther Valley and Tamaqua area .... In my preseason picks I picked the Irish to win today. They are 12 point favorites. One question is can the team regroup after last week’s tough loss in which they really “played their hearts out.” The Cavaliers are on a roll and have the opportunity to come into a hostile stadium and get a win to help them climb in the AP poll and make other teams in the ACC take notice. This will be a tough game and puts a lot of pressure on Kelly.