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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Even though Virginia Tech in the midst of a conference championship race, Notre Dame with its losing record has more at stake when they face the Hokies for the first time.The Fighting Irish (4-6) need to win their final two games to become bowl eligible and avoid becoming just the 14th team in 128 years of Notre Dame football to post a losing record. For Virginia Tech (7-3), the game has no bearing on its bid to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division.Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer said avoiding the stigma of a losing season is a motivating factor in the final two games against the Hokies and USC.Six and six is a big feat to get to rather than being 5-7. We want to be a team who continues on a winning tradition at Notre Dame, he said.Coach Brian Kelly believes Notre Dames 44-6 victory over Army last week was its most complete game this season. He wants to see the Irish build on that.I want to make sure that how we play is going to be reflective of where we finish and how we build that for next year, he said.The Hokies are coming off a disappointing 30-20 loss to Georgia Tech, so now must beat rival Virginia to clinch the division title. Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente said the focus this week is on continuing to improve.This is an ongoing process and its not always a straight ascension. This is a great opportunity and comes at a good time for us to go on the road and play a very talented team in what Im sure will be a hostile environment, he said.Other things to know about the Virginia Tech-Notre Dame game:NOT AN OPTIONThe defenses for both teams are happy to be returning to playing against more traditional offenses after facing triple option opponents. The Hokies played Georgia Tech, while the Irish faced Navy and Army in consecutive weeks. Its like a monkey off your back, Notre Dame linebacker Nyles Morgan said. Its back to basics.BALL SECURITYIt has been an issue in all of the Hokies losses. Jerod Evans threw two interceptions in last weeks loss to Georgia Tech, doubling his total for the season, and also fumbled. He still ranks fifth among all Power Five conference quarterbacks in efficiency, and the Hokies are tough to beat when they take care of the ball. Notre Dames loss to Navy two weeks ago marked just the second time under Kelly that the Irish lost when not committing a turnover.NO STREAKSIf Notre Dame fails to win Saturday it would mark the first season without consecutive victories since 1960. The Hokies are trying to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since losing to Miami and to Duke in four overtimes in October 2015.DEFENSIVE SETBACKVirginia Tech allowed the Yellow Jackets to rush for 309 yards last week, but they have been stronger against the run in other games, allowing 144 yards on average. Thats 40th nationally. They rank 14th against the pass, allowing 185 passing yards per game.POOR RATINGSThe Army-Notre Dame game last week was the lowest-rated game in 26 seasons of NBC broadcasting Fighting Irish football games. The game averaged 1.52 million viewers. The previous low was against Air Force on Oct. 8, 2011, in a broadcast that averaged 1.59 million viewers. Notre Dame is averaging 2.89 million viewers this season, down 9 percent from last year.---AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. Cheap New Balance Shoes UK Free Shipping .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition. Wholesale New Balance Running Shoes UK . 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South Africa A 1 for 209 (de Bruyn 90*, Miller 72*) beat National Performance Squad 207 (Short 70, Harper 60, Pretorius 2-20, de Bruyn 2-37) by nine wicketsScorecard A solid all-round showing from Theunis de Bruyn helped South Africa A clinch third place in the A-team quadrangular series in Australia without much bother. They bowled out Australias National Performance Squad (NPS), which had chosen to bat, for 207, before cruising to their target with 11.4 overs and nine wickets to spare. De Bruyn first took career-best figures of 2 for 37 with his part-time medium pace, before batting through the chase for 90 off 119 balls.David Miller also fired for South Africa A, hitting his third score over fifty in the tournament to power the team home in an unbroken stand of 135 with de Bruyn.But most of the damage to the NPS was done in thhe first innings, when only three of their batsmen got into double-digits.dddddddddddd Things looked bleak for them when they lost both openers cheaply and also lost Sam Heazlett on 35 to injury, but respectability was added to the total courtesy fifties from middle-order batsmen Sam Harper and Matthew Short. For 19-year-old Harper the knock of 60 was a second successive fifty, while for 20-year-old Short his 70 was his maiden List-A half-century. There was no support offered from the lower order, though, and the team was bowled out in 48.3 overs.Alongside de Bruyn, fast bowlers Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo also picked up two wickets apiece, but Pretorius was the most economical of the lot. ' ' '