Instant Reaction | Notre Dame 45 Wake Forest 7
I know Notre Dame fans were sweating this game a little bit before kickoff.
They were wondering what kind of performance they were going to get from the offense and Sam Hartman. The Irish also had two offensive linemen making their first career starts and it was uncertain how that would go. The beginning of the game didn’t quiet those concerns with a three-and-out followed by a stalled drive with a missed field goal attempt.
It turns out all of that worry was for nothing.
They scored points on seven of their next nine drives. Wake Forest cheated the run and they kept moving the sticks with RPOs. After having some success with the run, they hit them with some play-action.
This was the best called game from Gerad Parker in months. This was the best Sam Hartman game in months as well. It led to a convincing win where backups played for the majority of the fourth quarter.
Who doesn’t love to see a game like that on Senior Day?
- That doesn’t mean it was all hunky dory on offense.
I have to keep talking about the operation on offense for all of the wrong reasons. Spiking the football and then not getting the call in quickly enough to get the next play off during a two-minute drill is another reason why we can’t let it go despite the overall results.
Notre Dame ended up settling for a field goal because of it. It didn’t come back to haunt them, but that’s not really the point. The point is that this kind of mistake should never happen, but has happened more than once.
- Now that that is out of the way, the rest of it was pretty dang good. Ashton Craig and Billy Schrauth did not appear to be in over their heads one bit. I thought they played well on the first watch and did a good job in protection especially.
Clean pockets led to good things for Hartman being able to let things develop and find receivers with opportunities to make plays after the catch. We saw that with the three freshman wide receivers.
Rico Flores had a 100-yard day making him only the second true freshman to produce that since Michael Floyd did it three times in 2008. Jaden Greathouse finally looked healthy again after battling a hamstring injury. His 48-yard catch and run touchdown was one of the best plays of the day. Jordan Faison showed wiggle after the catch and capped the day with a win against Wake’s starting nickel on a slot fade for a touchdown.
This was the most promising day for Notre Dame at the wide receiver position all season.
- The defense gave up a 17-yard reception on a completion by a receiver and a 20-yard “run” on another gadget play where the receiver improvised when everything was covered. Those were the two longest plays they gave up on the day and it came on the only drive where Wake scored points.
It was a pretty ho-hum day overall against a quarterback in his first start who was clearly out of his depth (4.1 yards per attempt) and even when Wake appeared to have something positive going with the running game, the Irish stuffed them on 3rd and 4th and short in the 3rd quarter.
- The start of the game certainly wasn’t what anyone would hope for, but the start of the second half made up for it.
Marist Liufau and JD Bertrand timed up Wake’s silent count perfectly on Bertrand’s strip sack that was recovered by Rylie Mills. Then the offense went big with a sudden change call with a brilliant fake by Hartman and an even better throw and catch to Eli Raridon for his first career touchdown.
Then to follow it up with an onside kick that was perfectly planned and executed was the cherry on top. The only downside was the offense not taking advantage of it after.
It was a terrific call by special teams coordinator Marty Biagi and a great job by Notre Dame scouting that prior to the game.
- I don’t want to make too much of garbage time, but Steve Angeli continues to make these situations look like a Friday walkthrough. He’s been so on point with his accuracy including his touchdown to Faison.
All he can do is make the most of his opportunities when he gets them and he has.
We still have to see him face the heat on a 3rd down in crunch time, but Angeli has basically set up in the corner and made every open three point shot that he’s taken.
- My good buddy Chris Wilson sent out this reminder earlier about the recent Senior Days for Notre Dame. They’ve all been very comfortable wins.
Add this 45-7 blowout to the list.
Those last couple of Senior Days under Charlie Weis were as dark as you can get. Losing to UCONN and Syracuse felt about as low as it could get for the program and the players had to feel terrible after them.
What a difference for these players to have a day like this one where they can celebrate with their families afterwards and not have to worry about all of the other mess that comes with laying an egg in their final home game.
Notre Dame, again, took care of business on Senior Day. Maybe it doesn’t take away the bad taste left from this season’s disappointments, but at least for the players suiting up in Notre Dame Stadium for the final time, they’ll have this memory that can stay with them forever.
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