Notre Dame football makes it look easy, fun in home finale against Wake Forest
SOUTH BEND — Four thoughts as No. 20 (Associated Press poll) Notre Dame football closed the home portion of its 2023 schedule with a 45-7 victory over Wake Forest …
∎ Now we get the Sam Hartman signature game. Better late than never from the sixth-year 24-year-old who closed out his Notre Dame internship in a big way.
Hartman attempted 29 passes. He completed 21. He threw for 277 yards and four touchdowns. He exited early in the fourth quarter with a quarterback rating of 198.2. He looked like the guy we were going to get from the beginning to the middle to the end this season. Instead, we had only teases here and there.
He won’t go down as one of the program’s elites — maybe that’s just not him — but his good was really good Saturday.
∎ Notre Dame eventually got going — thank you, defense — after some sluggishness, but don’t blame the early lack of a sense of urgency, on Senior Day.
Notre Dame has owned Senior Days of late. It won its previous two — against Boston College (in a blizzard) and Georgia Tech (in a yawner) — by a combined 99-0. Notre Dame also beat Syracuse (45-21), Boston College again (40-7) and Florida State before it again became FLORIDA STATE (42-13). A relatively close Senior Day? Way back in 2017 against Navy (24-17).
Still, Notre Dame at home looked Saturday for segments like Notre Dame on the road of late.
∎ That two-minute drive to end the half was a microcosm of the issues for the Irish offense through the season’s back half. It started effectively, moving to the Wake Forest 15 in six plays, but then it got … weird.
Hartman spiked the ball to stop the clock at 26 seconds. Notre Dame then burned its final timeout — after the clock stopped — before a Hartman pass to Holden Staes gained (-4) yards for really no reason. Those shenanigans forced Hartman to clock it again before a Spencer Shrader field goal.
Three points were good, but seven would’ve been better.
∎ Saturday was game No. 500 at Notre Dame Stadium, which opened in 1930. It will be 294 days (sorry, tailgaters) until another game is played in the House that Rockne Built (sorry, spring game).
Notre Dame finished 5-1 at home. It returns Sept. 7, 2024, against Northern Illinois. Who will be the quarterback? Who will be the offensive coordinator?
Hmmm....
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This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Just like that, the home portion of Notre Dame football schedule is over
