Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1506910
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 9, 2023 41 GAME PREVIEW: NORTH CAROLINA STATE goals in 2022 or the guy who made 84.6 percent of them in 2021 — special teams is going to be a stalemate for Notre Dame. Advantage: Even COACHING It's hard to believe Dave Doeren has been at it for 11 seasons in Raleigh now. He turned those remarkable seasons at Northern Illinois into a stint lasting more than a decade at a Power Five institution. His record of 72-54 entering the 2023 season isn't so bad, but NC State hasn't won a bowl game since 2017. A COVID outbreak within the UCLA program prevented the 9-3 Wolfpack from playing in the Holiday Bowl in 2021. That could have been Doeren's first 10-win season at NC State and the program's first since 2002. Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman is still searching for his first 10-win season, but he's only in his sec- ond year. For the Fighting Irish to get to 10 wins in 2023, they have to win games like this one on the road. Ohio State, USC and Clemson are looming. Losses to middle of the road ACC teams do not do Notre Dame any favors in the chase to double digits. We're giving the nod to experience here with Doeren, offensive coordinator Robert Anae and defensive coordinator Tony Gibson all having been at this a while. Freeman is a newbie, and Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker still has much to prove in what is the biggest opportunity of his coaching career. Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden is in the same category with the NC State trio as having been there, done that, but the slight edge goes to Doeren's side. Advantage: NC State INTANGIBLES It's really difficult to shake those shaky Hartman games against NC State from the memory bank. His 1-2 record against the Wolfpack is concerning. In those three starts, he had 6 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He completed only 55.0 percent of his passes. NC State has Hartman's number. That's an in- tangible that is tough to look past. But Notre Dame has ACC teams' numbers. The Fighting Irish have not lost to a team from the ACC in the regular season in the last 28 tries. The Miami Hur- ricanes were the last ACC team to topple the Irish in the regular season way back in 2017. There is also the element of this being Notre Dame's first road game of the season, but the Irish actually fared decently on the road in Free- man's first season. The only road losses were a pair of 11-point defeats to highly ranked Ohio State and USC. This game more fits the mold of the North Carolina game versus Mack Brown and Drake Maye, and the Irish won that one 45-32. The NC State defense will have something more feisty for the Notre Dame offense than the Tar Heels had, and the crowd might even be a little rowdier in Raleigh than it was in Chapel Hill. The good news for Notre Dame is it cannot get caught thinking ahead to Ohio State in this one. The Central Michigan game breaks the gap. So, this isn't a trap game by any means. It is just a straight up road game against an ACC foe, and Notre Dame has won plenty of those in the last half dozen years. Notre Dame gets the advantage here, slightly. Advantage: Notre Dame OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. LT 74 Anthony Belton 6-6 336 R-Jr. 65 Jacarrius Peak 6-4 285 R-Fr. LG 75 Anthony Carter Jr. 6-3 305 R-So. 79 Kamen Smith 6-5 316 Fr. C 54 Dylan McMahon 6-4 305 Gr. 72 Sean Hill 6-3 320 R-So. or 5 Rylan Vann 6-1 285 R-Fr. RG 53 Derrick Eason 6-4 315 Gr. 76 Patrick Matan 6-4 302 R-So. RT 52 Timothy McKay 6-4 312 Gr. 66 Matt McCabe 6-6 302 R-So. TE 29 Chris Toudle 6-4 250 Gr. or 6 Trent Pennix 6-3 235 Gr. 14 Cedd Seabrough 6-4 245 R-So. X 8 Julian Gray 5-11 190 R-So. or 82 Terrell Timmons Jr. 6-2 195 So. 85 Anthony Smith 6-2 190 R-So. Z 15 Keyon Lesane 5-11 202 Sr. 80 Bradley Rozner 6-4 200 Gr. 86 Dacari Collins 6-4 212 R-So. or 84 Jakolbe Baldwin 6-0 192 R-So. QB 5 Brennan Armstrong 6-2 212 Gr. 7 MJ Morris 6-2 205 So. RB 3 Jordan Houston 5-10 192 Sr. 2 Michael Allen 5-11 205 So. or 34 Delbert Mimms, III 5-11 215 R-Jr. or 28 Demarcus Jones, II 5-10 219 R-Jr. or 20 Kendrick Raphael 5-11 195 Fr. WR 10 KC Concepcion 5-11 187 Fr. 21 Jalen Coit 5-11 173 R-So. FLEXY 4 Porter Rooks 6-1 201 Jr. or 11 Juice Vereen 6-4 214 Fr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. LE 45 Davin Vann 6-2 280 Jr. 47 Red Hibbler 6-2 264 Jr. or 97 Noah Potter 6-6 272 Gr. N 5 CJ Clark 6-3 305 R-Jr. 44 Brandon Cleveland 6-4 300 So. 46 Nick Campbell 6-4 300 R-Fr. RE 9 Savion Jackson 6-2 290 Sr. 13 Travali Price 6-4 270 R-So. 88 Isaiah Shirley 6-3 273 Fr. SAM 2 Jaylon Scott 6-1 225 Sr. 10 Caden Fordham 6-1 228 R-So. MLB 26 Devon Betty 6-1 232 Jr. 27 Jayland Parker 6-1 221 R-So. 42 Torren Wright 6-3 217 R-Fr. WLB 11 Payton Wilson 6-4 238 Gr. 34 Kamal Bonner 6-2 195 Fr. 33 Jordan Poole 6-0 230 R-So. NIC 8 Robert Kennedy 5-10 188 Gr. 24 Darius Edmundson 6-0 187 R-Jr. or 4 Cecil Powell 6-0 205 R-So. LC 7 Shyheim Battle 6-2 195 R-Jr. 14 Terrente Hinton 6-3 205 R-So. 26 Jackson Vick 6-0 182 R-Fr. SS 12 Devan Boykin 5-10 195 Jr. 19 Bishop Fitzgerald 6-0 195 Jr. or 16 Rakeim Ashford 6-1 195 Gr. FS 6 Jakeen Harris 5-10 200 Sr. 20 Sean Brown 6-0 207 R-So. or 16 Rakeim Ashford 6-1 195 Gr. RC 3 Aydan White 6-0 189 Jr. 25 Brandon Cisse 6-0 182 Fr. 21 Nate Evans 6-0 185 R-So. SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. K 44 Brayden Narveson 6-0 210 Gr. 90 Collin Smith 5-9 185 R-Jr. P 98 Caden Noonkester 6-6 215 R-So. 96 Owen Fehr 5-11 175 Fr. KO 90 Collin Smith 5-9 185 R-Jr. 94 Kanoah Vinesett 6-1 193 R-Fr. LS 91 Joe Shimko 6-0 230 Gr. 92 Aiden Arias 6-0 194 Fr. H 98 Caden Noonkester 6-6 215 R-So. 96 Owen Fehr 5-11 175 Fr. PR 21 Jalen Coit 5-11 173 R-So. 8 Julian Gray 5-11 190 R-So. 10 KC Concepcion 5-11 187 Fr. KOR 8 Julian Gray 5-11 190 R-So. 82 Terrell Timmons Jr. 6-2 195 So. 2 Michael Allen 5-11 205 So. North Carolina State Wolfpack Two-Deep Depth Chart