Notre Dame Debriefing: Week 2 NC State

Notre Dame faced their first actual test of the season this week. After two weeks of playing tunning up games against Navy and TSU, they finally played a Power 5 school in NC State. And starting out Notre Dame didn’t look up to the challenge. In the first quarter of play, the Irish looked flat. Their offense felt out of sync. The offensive line had no answer for NC State’s pass rush. It looked like it was going to be a long physical game.

However, at the end of the first quarter, the game was put on hold after lighting strikes were present in the area. This break is exactly what the Fighting Irish needed. After nearly two hours, play finally resumed and Notre Dame looked more like the team we had watched the past two weeks. The offense exploded scoring six touchdowns, and the defense continued to play hard and get key stops. This would give the Irish a dominant 42-24 win. Here are the major takeaways from the game.

The Secondary Showed Up in a Big Way

Even though the Irish defense gave up 24 points, and their first touchdown of the season, there were still a lot of positives to take away. The biggest one is the amount of turnovers they forced. Specifically picking off Brennan Armstrong three times was huge. Especially the two they had in the fourth quarter. They completely changed the momentum of the game. They were the reason why Notre Dame was able to dominate the way it did. Without them, it’s likely that the game is much closer.

Notre Dame is hoping that this performance is able to carry on for the rest of the season. Especially considering the Irish lost linebacker JD Bertland to a head injury. He is a major part of this Irish defense and it’s unknown how long he is going to miss. It’s going to be very hard to replace his type of production. However if the secondary can be as locked down as they were in the fourth. Plus they continue to force the number of turnovers they did. The Irish will be able to hold down the fort until Bertland comes back.

Sam Hartman Gets The Monkey Off His Back

Throughout his entire collegiate career, the narrative around Sam Hartman was he couldn’t beat NC State. Going into the game he was 1-2 in his career and 0-2 when playing at Carter-Finley Stadium. In every game Hartman had played against NC State, he has faced heavy pressure. Constantly being sacked and not finding a rhythm. In the first quarter, it looked like history would repeat itself. Hartman was constantly under pressure, as the offensive line had no answers for the NC State pass rush.

However, after the weather delay, Hartman was able to silence the haters. He threw for 286 yards and four touchdowns. Looking more like the Hartman we have seen over the past couple of weeks. With this performance, the narrative that Hartman couldn’t beat NC State is officially dead. It also cemented himself as the QB Notre Dame was missing. The national media is starting to give him the credit he deserves, with some saying he could be a finalist for the Heisman. It is still early but Hartman has been everything Notre Dame fans have dreamed of and then some.

Need to Count Down on Penalties

The biggest negative to take away from today’s game is the number of penalties Notre Dame had against them. In total, the Irish had 10 penalties called against them, which gave NC State 82 yards. For a team that has hope of making a run at the college football playoffs, they need to be more disciplined. Sure they were able to overcome it today, however giving teams more opportunities is a recipe for disaster. When you think you can beat a team like Georgia, Texas, or Ohio State, you have to be extremely disciplined. Teams like that will capitalize on those mistakes and can take a close game and make it a blowout very quickly.

Notre Dame will be back in action on September 16th, against Central Michigan. Kickoff is set for 2:30 in South Bend.

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