What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 45-24 victory over NC State
Notre Dame led 24-17 late in the third quarter when Sam Hartman fumbled and NC State recovered in plus territory with an opportunity to tie with a touchdown and an extra point. And from that point, the Fighting Irish rolled with 21 unanswered points until the Wolfpack scored a garbage time touchdown to make the final score look more respectable. It was sloppy early in the contest, but Notre Dame ultimately won the game handily.
In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about Notre Dame’s victory over the Wolfpack, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Kyle Kelly giving their instant reaction in a postgame YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player below.
Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: How Sam Hartman, Notre Dame showed this Irish team is different
RALEIGH, N.C. — Sam Hartman stuck his palm out toward the ground and bounced it up and down a few times. It was the Notre Dame graduate student quarterback’s way of silently signaling, “Not just yet. Stay quiet for now” to Fighting Irish fans huddled in the stands overlooking the north end zone at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The NC State band was in the midst of playing the Wolfpack’s alma mater after a 45-24 Notre Dame victory. Hartman knew as soon as he took off for the tunnel toward the Notre Dame locker room, the supporters clad in blue, gold and green would erupt into quite a cacophony.
So he waited. And waited. And checked an imaginary watch. And waited some more.
Finally, after some 40 seconds of letting the NC State band blare its tunes, Hartman heard the end of the number. He turned to the Notre Dame fans, swung his arms up in the air to incite them and galloped in the direction his teammates went long before. He had to take care of a postgame TV hit first.
How many quarterbacks in America are waiting for the home team to sing their melody so they’re not the reason for rude interruption from the visitors? It’s impossible to quantifiably answer that question, but we know the number is not zero.
Notre Dame has one in 24-year-old Sam Hartman.
“He’s a leader,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said.
Jack Soble, Blue & Gold: How interceptions helped turn the tide in Notre Dame win over NC State
Notre Dame senior safety Xavier Watts was in the right place at the right time, but he still had to make a play.
Watts was playing the deep middle, right behind the first-down marker on third-and-17 with the Irish up 24-17 just after the start of the fourth quarter. NC State graduate quarterback Brennan Armstrong fired over the middle to freshman receiver Kevin Concepcion, but the ball bounced off his hands and careened in Watts’ direction.
Watts dove, got two hands under the ball and secured the catch. It was his first career interception, but most importantly for Notre Dame, it helped turn the tide.
“The turning point, to me, in the game was when we fumbled in our own territory [near the end of the third quarter], and the defense forces a missed field goal,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said after the game. “But then we go three-and-out, right, and then the defense has an interception.”
Shortly after Watts picked off Armstrong, graduate Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman found junior tight end Davis Sherwood for a touchdown to extend the Irish lead to 14.
“Yeah, it was an exciting moment for the team, to give us a boost,” Watts said. “And myself as well, to get more confidence to make more plays in the game.”
On the next NC State possession, another veteran Notre Dame safety made a play on the ball. Graduate student DJ Brown jumped a route as Armstrong threw the middle and came down with another interception. Junior running back Audric Estimé scored on the ensuing Notre Dame drive, and the rout was on.
Matt Carter, The Wolfpacker: NC State football needs to use coming weeks to get right
NC State football was trailing 24-17 against No. 10 Notre Dame with 2:06 left in the third quarter when taking over after an impressive play from its second-string defensive line. Sophomore nose tackle Brandon Cleveland stripped Irish quarterback Sam Hartman, and redshirt junior defensive end Noah Potter recovered at the Irish 17-yard line.
At that point, it looked like there was something to work with regarding the 2023 NC State football team.
Almost everything after that revealed that while that may be the case, there is also very much a lot to work on for this Wolfpack squad.
A costly pre-snap penalty and missed short field goal doomed the opportunity to cut the advantage further, if not outright tying the score. Interceptions on back-to-back possessions, one off the hands of freshman receiver Kevin Concepcion and the other a poor decision from super senior quarterback Brennan Armstrong, led to back-to-back short fields and back-to-back TDs.
The Pack swiftly went from potentially tying the game to down 38-17.
Notre Dame’s superiority on the field was firmly established when NC State failed to seize its moment. That can be the first lesson of many learned from the first couple of weeks of the the Pack’s season. Make your layups, like a 34-yard field goal.
Tom Noie, ND Insider: Quick observations as Notre Dame football tops N.C. State to extend ACC win streak to 29
RALEIGH, N.C. — Four quick observations from Saturday’s game between No. 11 Notre Dame and North Carolina State, won by Notre Dame, 45-24, for its 29th consecutive regular-season victory over an Atlantic Coast Conference team dating back to 2018. The game featured a one hour and 46 minute weather delay in the second quarter
∎ It wasn’t as crisp as the first two weeks. It wasn’t anywhere near as clean as well. But it was a win, and somewhere along the way, you’re just going to have to win a game that’s ugly from a lot of angles.
Saturday was one of them. Notre Dame didn’t play its best, or even look it. It wasn’t easy on the eyes, but you know what is?
A 3-0 record. Take it, get home and get on with the rest of the season. if that goes as planned, nobody will remember this one — except the final score.
∎ You could feel the first Sam Hartman turnover of the year coming. Just so happens it arrived at the worst time — Irish up by one score, deep in their territory and having given life to North Carolina State late in the third quarter.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman’s postgame comments
On how QB Sam Hartman handled the adversity against NC State:
“I’ve said this before, but he’s just so steady. And I know he gets excited when he makes a good play or scores. But he’s never too high or too low? And it’s the same thing you see at practice. Not every practice is perfect for him. But the ability for him to just continuously be steady.
“Be positive … it’s gonna get a bit stressful. We’re gonna get it fixed. Go out there and do your job. 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. So, there was no panic. He’s a leader and experience.”
NC State head coach Dave Doeren’s postgame comments
“First of all you have to give Notre Dame credit. Every time we got in that game and made it a game within one possession, [Notre Dame] responded. And that’s what good teams do. We had our opportunities throughout that football game. There were times when we did some really good things and too many times when we self-inflicted things. Uncharacteristically gave up big plays on defense at inopportune, critical moments in the game that swung the momentum their way.
“Weird day, obviously, with the break after the first quarter and then the second quarter and a halftime and all those things. Six-hour, five-hour game there. Coming out of the first quarter after that long break, obviously [Notre Dame junior running back Audric Estimé] busts a long run. We got back in the game. We score, and if we stop them we’re going to come out of the half with the football. They do a good job offensively. Scrambles around and makes a play.
“We got some guys playing really bad technique at times. Poor eyes at times. We got a lot to fix. I think it’s going to be great film, I really do, to learn from. Games like this are not lost by any one person or player or coach. They’re lot by teams, and they’re won by teams. This will be a team loss and learn what we can do better in moments and make layups, gimme plays. I said that was a critical part of this game plan. Had some opportunities to extend drives on just basic things, throw and catch, and we’re not getting that done to the ability level that we have.”
