Notre Dame Bounces Back With A Convincing Victory Over Wake Forest
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-3) got back on track in the final home game of the season, beating Wake Forest by a 45-7 score. It was a sluggish start, but the Irish controlled action throughout and blew the Deacons out in the final two quarters.
Notre Dame struggled offensively out of the gate, going three-and-out on the opening drive and missing a field goal on the second drive.
The Irish defense started strong, forcing a pair of early punts to start the game. Audric Estime and Devyn Ford got things going on the ensuing drive. Estime rushed for 37 yards to get the Irish into the red zone, and Ford capped the drive off with a wheel route touchdown of 12 yards.
Wake Forest answered quickly, marching 72 yards on seven plays. The Deacons never got to third down on the drive, beating Notre Dame with outside runs and trick plays to tie the game up 7-7.
Quarterback Sam Hartman finally got going on the next drive and the Irish retook the lead, this time for good.
After a 28-yard gain to Chris Tyree was overturned, the offense got the pass game going. Hartman hit tight end Holden Staes on a crossing route to move the chains, and Hartman found Rico Flores Jr. on a crossing route for a 22-yard gain to convert a 4th-and-2.
Three plays later Hartman found Tobias Merriweather open deep for a 35-yard touchdown pass.
Wake went on another drive, but the defense buckled down and forced a field goal that Javontae Jean-Baptiste blocked and Xavier Watts returned 19 yards. The Irish offense responded with a field goal drive, with Spencer Shrader hitting a 37-yarder to give the Irish a 17-7 halftime lead.
Notre Dame broke it open in the second half when JD Bertrand sacked quarterback Michael Kern and knocked the ball free. Rylie Mills recovered it at the Wake 19-yard line.
The Irish needed just one play to get to the end zone as Hartman hit tight end Eli Raridon for a 19-yard touchdown on a corner route as the Irish jumped ahead 24-7.
After the defense stopped Wake Forest on 4th-and-1, the Irish offense put another scoring drive together. Hartman hit Flores Jr. for an 18-yard gain to get the ball near the goal line, and Audric Estime took it in from two yards out as the Irish began to roll.
Hartman's final pass at Notre Dame Stadium went for six as well, as he found freshman Jaden Greathouse open deep on an over route, and Greathouse did the rest, racing in from 46 yards out for a score to make it 38-7.
That was Hartman's 22nd touchdown pass of the season, and it gave him 132 for his career. That put Hartman in fourth place all time in college football history.
Hartman finished the game with 277 passing yards, and he completed 21 of 29 passes. Four of his completions went for touchdowns. Estime rushed for 115 yards on the ground, which put him over 1,000 yards on the season. He now has 1,103 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns on the season.
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