Game Thread | Wake Forest at Notre Dame

Wake Forest (4-6) at No. 19 Notre Dame (7-3)

Notre Dame Stadium | 3:30 PM ET | NBC | Line: Notre Dame --25 | O/U: 47.5

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Five Players To Watch

Notre Dame C Ashton Craig
With Zeke Correll likely out, it looks like it could be Craig's first career start after he played very well in the second half of the Clemson game. Him and Billy Scrhrauth, replacing an injured Rocco Spindler, will have their hands full with a good Wake defensive front led by DT Kevin Pointer.

Wake Forest QB Michael Kern
It's been a brutal season for Wake Forest at the quarterback position and they are finally handing over the job to Kern. They might have done it sooner if he'd have been healthy. He didn't exactly light it up against NC State (5.3 YPA), but the key for them will be if he can limit the mistakes and not turn the ball over.

Notre Dame LB JD Bertrand
Bertrand hasn't had the flashiest season, but he's quietly been impressive making big plays and having an impact as a blitzer. He'll likely be activated in that capacity quite a bit against Wake with him picking his spots on delayed blitzes.

Wake Forest S Malik Mustapha
One of the best safeties in the ACC, he's been a consistent playmaker for them all season with their defense giving them a chance to win most weeks. Look for him to be heavily involved playing downhill against Notre Dame's running game.

Notre Dame RB Audric Estime
This is more than likely Estime's last game in Notre Dame Stadium. Expect it to be a big day with him having plenty of opportunities to make an impact. Wake is undersized on the defensive line and at linebacker. Duke and NC State wore them down with the running game in their previous two games.

Quotes of the Week

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman:
“The only guy that is still questionable is Zeke (Correll). He's still in concussion protocol. He's done some non-contact, but he has not been able to do contact yet. He hasn’t cleared concussion protocol. But the rest of those guys. I can't remember everybody, but should should be available.” 

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker:
”I stand with our staff and our players. You have to have a belief in them knowing — I think if you come up there, I would hope. I’d be really pissed off if [not]. Our players know we believe in them. Our guys are happy here. They’re happy in our locker room. They’re happy with the way we treat them and coach them to be better.

“Now, that being said, there’s always stuff. I try to stay away from it. You guys know why. It’s really hard to do your job if you read too much. So I have to stay out of it to serve our staff and players the right way. But, at the same time, if you care about the players and the staff you serve, you’re always going to stay up and wake up in the middle of the night wondering, ‘Should I have …? Should we have used this? Should we have called this? What could I have done differently?’

“If not, you’re sure to fail. That’s what’s kept humility within me maybe throughout a whole career when we’ve done well and hit our mark and when we fell short. I definitely have questioned those things. When you go back to it though, you stand behind — I mean this, and I don’t mean this wrong way. I stand behind the job we’ve done, the game plans you’ve put together, and that doesn’t mean we have to do them better.”

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden:
“You’ve got to win through the down. We call it ‘the interval’ — but win through the interval. It's an extended interval. It could be longer than most plays. And I haven't really talked to Dave in the past about this concept, but there's a lot of patience that, to me, he exhibits just to get that one matchup that he's looking for, just to get that one route that he's looking for. That's a challenge to the DBs, for sure.”  

Notre Dame LB JD Bertrand: 
“It’s just a different style. I think the biggest thing is we’ve taken a lot of points in terms of learning the offense a little bit from Sam. They’re going to have some wrinkles here and there but some teams have attacked them trying to pressure while other teams have attacked them by letting the run bleed then letting them hand it off and then tackling it. I think seeing all those different ways will help us attack it in our own ways.” 

Notre Dame CB Cam Hart: 
“I've gotta get some interceptions, right? I have to.” 

TEAM STATS

For Your Nerves 

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