Notre Dame Debriefing: Week 12 Wake Forest

It was senior day for Notre Dame. The Irish honor a total of 31 graduating seniors and grad students including JD Bertrand, Howard Cross III, Cam Hart, Chris Tyree, and Sam Hartman. Not only was this Hartman’s final home game in Notre Dame Stadium, but it was a revenge game. Before transferring to Notre Dame, Hartman had spent the past five years at Wake Forest. While there, he set school records for completions, yards, and touchdowns as well as setting the ACC record for touchdowns. To say Hartman had a successful time at Wake Forest would be an understatement. However, no matter how successful Hartman was at Wake Forest, it is always nice to fun to stick it to your old team. This is exactly what Hartman and Notre Dame did to Wake Forest on Saturday beating them 45-7.

Success on senior day has become a constant in South Bend over the past few seasons. They have won seven straight senior days. However they aren’t just winning on senior day, they are dominating. Within the last three senior day games, they have outscored opponents 144-7. There is no better way to honor your seniors than completely dominating your opponents. Here are the main takeaways from the Wake Forest win.

Young Receivers Finally Breakout

Going into this season, one of the main questions this Notre Dame offense had was who was going to step up and become WR1. Sure they had some talented guys on the roster, but no track record of success. They were freshmen and sophomores, and the only thing we knew about them was what star recruit they were and how they performed in high school. There was no guarantee they would be able to transfer over to the college game.

However, we finally saw what these receivers have the potential to do. Freshman receiver Rico Flores Jr. led the Irish in receiving, ranking up 102 yards on eight receptions. He wasn’t the only freshman receiver to have a big day, as Jaden Greathouse had 71 yards on three receptions with a touchdown. It wasn’t just freshmen putting up good numbers. Sophomore receiver Tobias Merriweather continued his strong season with a couple of receptions for 22 yards and a touchdown. Overall a pretty solid showing from the young guys.

Sure senior day is supposed to be celebrating what the seniors have done this season and their time at Notre Dame. However, this is a positive sign for the future. We’re starting to see what the future of the receiving core is going to look like. Who can be relied on and what can we expect out of them next season? After watching this game, you have to feel confident in guys like Flores Jr. and Greathouse taking another step in their development. Become real threats in this offense and be someone the next QB of the Irish can count on.

Notre Dame Has to Find Away to Keep Al Golden

The transformation Al Golden has gone through this season has been truly remarkable to watch. If you remember after the Ohio State loss, Golden was taking a lot of the blame for having ten men on the field. Fans were saying that he was the reason the Irish lost and that he should be fired. Especially after it was revealed that there were a couple of plays in the Tennessee State game where there were only ten men on the field.

However, since that loss, this defense has looked so much better. It ranks as one of the best in the country. There is no better example of how much this defense has improved than this game. They only gave up seven points and only 98 passing yards. Wake Forest could not move the ball through the air, which makes it next to impossible for your team to win. Lack of movement through the air limits the chances for big explosive plays. When you do that, your team has a much better chance of winning.

Now, although this defense is great and that’s a positive for the Irish, it opens up Golden for new job opportunities. Programs are going to look at the performance Golden did and think that he might be the guy who can turn their program around. We saw what happened with the Irish when Tommy Rees left. Say whatever you want about how Rees ran the offense, but it was much better last year than it was this year with Gerad Parker. Who is to say if Golden leaves, the defense doesn’t take a similar step back? The only way to keep this momentum is to do whatever it takes to keep Golden as defensive coordinator.

Notre Dame will be back in action for the season finale against Stanford on November 25th. Kickoff is set for 7 pm in Stanford.

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