Notre Dame had an hour and 45 minutes to mull its offensive struggles. Through the first quarter at North Carolina State, the No. 10 Irish had gone three-and-out twice and stalled out short of the red zone on its third drive, leading to the longest made field goal in Notre Dame history. The Irish (3-0) may have been leading the Wolfpack (1-1) by three points, but its offense was suffering its first struggles of the Sam Hartman era when rain and lightning paused Notre Dame’s first trip to North Carolina State since playing in a hurricane in 2016.
When play resumed, Irish junior Audric Estimé broke off an 80-yard touchdown run and Notre Dame never looked back. Five chunk plays of 35 yards or more directly led to 28 points, including Estimé’s touchdown, and those tallies alone would have been enough for the Irish in a 45-24 win.
“Come out and go and do your job,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said he told the locker room as the rain delay ended. “Who cares how the game started? Who cares about the two-hour delay? Let’s go out there and play ball and be aggressive as heck.”
After the thunderstorms pushed the game’s halftime break into the window other noon kickoffs were ending, Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker employed almost an unfair advantage. The Irish moved likely top-10 NFL draft pick left tackle Joe Alt to a tight end position, where he played in high school, aligned next to possible first-round NFL draft pick right tackle Blake Fisher. Combined, they weigh 637 pounds.
Not many defensive lines can match up with that combination shoulder-to-shoulder, not to mention then square up against all 227 pounds of Estimé. And North Carolina State certainly could not. Cue touchdown.
Safe to say Audric Estime stayed HOT during the delay. 🔥
— Notre Dame on NBC (@NDonNBC) September 9, 2023
(via @NDFootball, ESPN)pic.twitter.com/KTEGBrraWF
To be completely fair, Notre Dame had that design in its game plan before the rain set in.
“We planned on using it coming into the game, just giving them something they haven’t seen, see how they adjust to it,” Freeman said. “At first they didn’t adjust the way we thought they were going to and then they did. It was just a wrinkle we had for the game.”
A year ago, Estimé struggled to finish those runs, frequently gaining 30 yards but never running away from defenses. A stricter offseason diet helped him get a bit leaner — most notably cutting his Popeye’s habit from twice a week to once every two weeks — and the result showed in that 80-yard jaunt. He may have strayed from that diet during the rain delay, though, thanks to Notre Dame buying hot dogs and brats from the concession stands at Carter-Finley Stadium, the locker room light on fare given the obvious unexpected nature of the idle time. Freeman said the coaches had most of the concession-stand grub, vut Estimé confirmed he had one hot dog.
“I only had one, I tried to keep it easy, I didn’t want to get a little too bloated,” he said after his 134-yard, two-touchdown day. “It was a very good, tasty hot dog.”
Once Notre Dame broke through, the Wolfpack could not stem the onslaught. A 65-yard successful scramble drill to senior receiver Chris Tyree from Hartman led to a touchdown just before halftime, and a pair of long touchdown passes to sophomore tight end Holden Staes emboldened Hartman’s stat line.
Third straight successful two-minute drill from @sam_hartman10 and company ☘️#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/D1aZ6AmeAT
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 9, 2023
For three years, Hartman had struggled against North Carolina State, going 1-2 against the Wolfpack while at Wake Forest, throwing three interceptions in each of the last seasons against the 3-3-5 defense. Saturday’s first three drives continued those worries, throwing for just 23 yards on 3-of-6 passing. Add in a 12-yard sack and a 15-yard intentional grounding penalty, and Hartman’s first seven drop backs netted negative-four yards. In the final three quarters, his 21 drop backs (including three sacks for 31 yards) yielded 234 yards and four touchdowns, giving his collegiate career the last laugh in Raleigh.
STAT OF THE GAME
Adjusting for sacks, Notre Dame rushed for 213 yards on 33 carries, a 6.45 yards per attempt average. Remove Estimé's 80-yard touchdown run and that average falls, but it only falls to 4.16 yards per attempt.
In Hartman’s previous struggles against Wolfpack defensive coordinator Tony Gibson, he lacked that ground support. Adjusting for sacks …
Wake Forest at North Carolina State in 2022: 37 yards on 21 rushes, 1.76 yards per carry.
Wake Forest vs. North Carolina State in 2021: 100 yards on 41 rushes, 2.44 yards per carry.
Wake Forest at North Carolina State in 2020: 119 yards on 43 rushes, 2.77 yards per carry.
The Demon Deacons run a unique offense, one quite different than Notre Dame’s. That is a significant part of why Hartman transferred anywhere at all, but no offense is going to hum when it struggles to average 2.5 yards per rush against a conference opponent. Combine those three games, and Wake Forest fell short of even two yards per carry, averaging 1.98.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
Freeman was asked how good his team may be. As much as his answer was diplomatic, it was also open-ended.
“To be determined,” he said. “You don’t want to put a ceiling. We’re good team. I don’t know what the ceiling is for this team, I think it’s high.”
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
3:18 — Notre Dame field goal. Spencer Shrader 54 yards. Notre Dame 3, North Carolina State 0. (12 plays, 50 yards, 5:51)
Second Quarter
14:32 — Notre Dame touchdown. Audric Estimé 80-yard rush. Shrader point after good. Notre Dame 10, North Carolina State 0. (1 play, 80 yards, 0:13)
1:16 — North Carolina State touchdown. Bradley Rozner 9-yard pass from Brennan Armstrong. Brayden Narveson point after good. Notre Dame 10, North Carolina State 7. (7 plays, 62 yards, 1:03)
0:40 — Notre Dame touchdown. Jaden Greathouse 13-yard pass from Sam Hartman. Shrader point after good. Notre Dame 17, North Carolina State 7. (3 plays, 78 yards, 0:30)
Third Quarter
7:27 — North Carolina State field goal. Narveson 49 yards. Notre Dame 17, North Carolina State 10. (5 plays, 48 yards, 1:15)
5:50 — Notre Dame touchdown. Holden Staes 40-yard pass from Hartman. Sharder point after good. Notre Dame 24, North Carolina State 10. (3 plays, 76 yards, 1:30)
2:55 — North Carolina State touchdown. Armstrong 1-yard rush. Narveson point after good. Notre Dame 24, North Carolina State 17. (7 plays, 75 yards, 2:55)
Fourth Quarter
11:38 — Notre Dame touchdown. Davis Sherwood 10-yard pass from Hartman. Shrader point after good. Notre Dame 31, North Carolina State 17. (5 plays, 33 yards, 2:43)
10:42 — Notre Dame touchdown. Estimé 7-yard rush. Sharder point after good. Notre Dame 38, North Carolina State 17. (3 plays, 16 yards, 0:36)
4:35 — Notre Dame touchdown. Staes 35-yard pass from Hartman. Sharder point after good. Notre Dame 45, North Carolina State 17. (5 plays, 54 yards, 3:03)
2:03 —North Carolina State touchdown. Dacari Collins 23-yard pass from Armstrong. Narveson point after good. Notre Dame 45, North Carolina State 24. (9 plays, 65 yards, 2:32)