Notre Dame’s associate director for sports nutrition Alexa Appelman might have had a panic attack when word got to her about how the Irish football coaching staff ad-libbed a menu during a one-hour, 45-minute lightning delay at Carter Finley Stadium, Saturday in Raleigh, N.C.
Hot dogs and bratwursts from the facility’s concession stands.
“We wanted to kind of get them some meat, you know,” Notre Dame second-year head coach Marcus Freeman said. “When it's a two-hour delay, the big boys get hungry.”
In the context of a team that continues to align with its lofty ambitions more than its unknowns and limitations, the way 10th-ranked Notre Dame handled its downtime in an eventual 45-24 throttling of NC State on Saturday fits in perfectly with how the Irish have been doing business since the Aug. 26 opener in Dublin, Ireland.
Adapt. Adjust. Evolve.
Perhaps the things Freeman struggled with the most as a rookie coach in 2022, namely in upset losses to Marshall and Stanford, even though he was fully committed to those concepts.
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For the Irish (3-0), the first non-conference visiting team in 10 years to walk out of Carter-Finley Stadium with a win, the 105 minutes of downtime also led to some brilliant strategic counterpunches, and not just satisfied tummies.
And then they translated it onto the field Saturday, with safety Xavier Watts among the central figures in Notre Dame’s 29th successive regular-season win against ACC competition, its third victory without a loss this season but the first with a large degree of angst to work through.
“I don’t want to put a ceiling on them,” said Freeman, knowing full well the rest of the college football world will do that for him in two weeks when Notre Dame clashes with fifth-ranked Ohio State in South Bend, Ind.
“Our job is to develop these guys over the week, and so when we get these opportunities on Saturday, we're performing at the highest level we can. And so, it's to be determined how high that ceiling is.
“Today, you saw them facing adversity and be able to respond. That's a part of a championship team. It is never going to be perfect. The first two games, there really wasn't that much adversity, but this game there was. And so, the ability to respond during tough times shows leadership, and it shows truly the heart of this team.”
Sixth-year collegian, fourth-year captain and first-year gold helmet-wearing QB Sam Hartman left his native North Carolina with a sparkling stat line and more conquered milestones on the FBS’ all-time lists.
His 15-of-24 for 286 yards, four TDs and no interceptions recapitulated into a third straight pass-efficiency rating of more than 200 (217.6) against a team that was 12th nationally last season in pass-efficiency defense, best by far among ND’s 2023 opponents, and a team that had a history of forcing him into mistakes.
In the process Hartman moved into the top 10 all-time in the FBS in TD passes with 120 for his college career, and leaped from 16th to 11th Saturday on the career passing yardage hierarchy (now with 13,763) leapfrogging former NC State great Philip Rivers, among others.
“I've said this before, but he's just so steady,” Freeman said of his 24-year-old starter. “Like, man, I know he gets excited when he makes a good play or scores, but he's never too high or too low. It's the same thing you see in practice.
“Not every practice is perfect for him. But the ability for him to just continuously be steady and be positive and say, ‘Coach we’re good. We’ll get it fixed. Trust me.’ … And so early in the game, he got hit a couple of times, and put one ball on the ground that we recovered. He's a competitor. He wants to get it fixed. And he did, and so there was no panic. He's a leader and experienced.”
So is Hartman’s friend and NC State counterpart, 23-year-old sixth-year collegian and former Virginia QB Brennan Armstrong. Two seasons removed from almost leading the nation in total offense (he finished 0.1 yards per game out of the lead, in second place), Watts and the Irish defense held the lefty to a 94.6 pass-efficiency rating and 26 rushing yards on 12 carries, which tied for the Wolfpack’s team high.
For perspective, a 94.6 rating carried over the entire season would have ranked second-to-last in the entire FBS in 2022.
The Irish did only sack Armstrong once — by sophomore Donovan Hinish late in the game — but the pass rush did show up in Armstrong’s largely benign production.
“We call it plastering, when he’s running around and we’re trying to stay on the receivers,” Watts said of the Irish secondary. “Obviously, the D-line did a great job keeping him in the pocket. When he breaks that plane of the line, we know when we need to get off our man and come up and help.”
Notre Dame’s cornerbacks were supposed to be stellar coming into the season. And they were Saturday, with preseason All-American Benjamin Morrison picking off his first pass of the season on Saturday to go along with three tackles and a tackle for loss, and grad senior counterpart Cam Hart breaking up two passes.
But Watts and the other Irish safeties continue to play above expectations. And Saturday they helped change the complexion of a tight game.
Late in the third quarter, NC State (1-1) closed to within 24-17 on an Armstrong one-yard touchdown run. Two plays later, as the Irish tried to answer, Hartman was sacked and coughed up the ball, with the Wolfpack recovering at the ND 17. But the Irish defense held the Wolfpack to a net of one yard on their first three plays, coaxing a 34-yard field goal, which Brayden Narveson missed.
Hartman and Notre Dame, though, went three-and-out, with Audric Estimé getting thrown for a two-yard loss on third and two.
Then the Notre Dame defense took over early in the fourth quarter. With NC State at its own 16 facing a second-and-17 following a holding call, Watts broke up an Armstrong pass on that play, then picked off Armstrong on third-and-17 for his first career interception.
Hartman then drove the Irish 33 yards to give ND a two-touchdown advantage, then 16 for another Irish score following a pick by safety DJ Brown for a 38-17 command.
It was 45-17 after the next NC State empty possession, a turnover on downs near midfield, was cashed in by Hartman.
“The turning point,” Freeman called the relentless defensive runs late in the game and without starting middle linebacker JD Bertrand, who was sidelined for the second half with a head injury, per Freeman.
But again Adapt. Adjust. Evolve.
Not that there aren’t imperfections to address. The Irish committed a staggering 10 penalties for 82 yards, giving the Wolfpack five first downs via penalty, including one in which they were in punt formation.
And NC State was able to find the persistent soft spots in Notre Dame’s offensive line and sack Hartman four times.
But Notre Dame transcended those issues. Defensive coordinator Al Golden continues to find ways to use waves of depth without apparent drop-off, and offensive coordinator Gerad Parker continues to flex the versatility of his playbook.
Two games after the tight ends weren’t even targeted in the 42-3 romp over Navy, they scored three TDs against NC State.
Sophomore Holden Staes had two of them, to match the two the Irish running game got from Estimé, who had a career-long 80-yard scoring run on the very first snap after play resumed following the weather delay.
That, combined with the longest field goal in Notre Dame history — 54 yards by Spencer Shrader — gave the Irish a 10-0 lead but no room to breathe easy, at least not until late in the game.
“To see a resilient bunch of guys continue to battle for four quarters was really good to see,” Freeman said. “Really proud of this team. We’re going to enjoy this victory and move forward, starting tomorrow.”
Watts, a former wide receiver and an almost transfer portal surfer early in his career, enjoyed the victory without the benefit of a lightning-delay hot dog.
“I kind of just sat back, put my headphones on, listened to some music and tried to stay locked in as much as possible,” he said.
There are bigger challenges ahead, and Freeman already knew he had a quarterback who will give him a fighting chance on all of them. On Saturday, he learned the team around Hartman does as well.
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