Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 NOV. 18, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: WAKE FOREST Marucci, a redshirt sophomore who had precisely 0 passing attempts under his belt entering the game, threw a 15- yard touchdown pass to beat Pitt 21-17 with seven seconds to go. "We created a moment tonight that those guys will never forget," Clawson said. More recently, the Deacs lost a close- fought battle at previously ranked Duke, falling 24-21 on a 26-yard field goal by the Blue Devils on the final play of a Thursday night game Nov. 2. 'MEMORIES TO SHARE' Another reason Hartman came to South Bend: to compete for a national championship. That ship sailed when Notre Dame lost to Louisville Oct. 7. But that's not what he remembers about his time with the Irish. "The team," Hartman said Oct. 31 when asked what he enjoyed most about being a Notre Dame football player. "That was something I was curious about when I was transferring here, like, what the guys are going to be like. "Because that's going to be the people I'm around every single hour, every sin- gle minute of the week. It's been incred- ible the way they embrace me." When Notre Dame wins at home, very few players visibly enjoy it more than Hartman does. After beating USC, Hartman said he'll bring his kids, if he has them, back to South Bend and tell them he was an Irish quarterback who beat the Trojans. He exited his press conference and reversed USC's "fight on" symbol — two fingers up, which Hartman put down — toward a mob of cheering fans. After beating Pittsburgh, Hartman lined up for the Alma Mater with a lep- rechaun hat on, creating an iconic image. Hartman has embraced Notre Dame, which in turn has embraced him. That goes for the fan base and it goes back to Hartman earning the trust of his team- mates over the summer and being voted a captain as a graduate transfer, which had never been done before. "No matter what the final result is, what my performance is like, those guys are in there with me in the trenches," Hartman said. "We have relationships that will … weddings down the road, big life events, there'll be guys in that locker room [there]. And it's only been, what, a couple of months." Hartman said that despite spend- ing five seasons at Wake Forest, this is the closest team he's ever been on. The roller-coaster ride of a season has only made the team closer, from the lows of the Louisville game to the highs of beat- ing Southern Cal. "Something that I was telling these guys earlier, it's just the lifetime of re- lationships for forever," Hartman said. "I'll have guys that can call and text and have memories to share." Combined with facing his former team, Notre Dame versus Wake Forest is going to be another emotional game for Hartman as he suits up in the home locker room one more time. ✦ Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson said he could not fault his former quarterback Hartman for tak- ing advantage of the current climate of the transfer portal and NIL money. PHOTO COURTESY WAKE FOREST ATHLETICS 2023 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 26 vs. Navy* W, 42-3 Sept. 2 Tennessee State W, 56-3 Sept. 9 at NC State W, 45-24 Sept. 16 Central Michigan W, 41-17 Sept. 23 Ohio State L, 17-14 Sept. 30 at Duke W, 21-14 Oct. 7 at Louisville L, 33-20 Oct. 14 USC W, 48-20 Oct. 28 Pittsburgh W, 58-7 Nov. 4 at Clemson (ABC) L, 31-23 Nov. 18 Wake Forest (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 25 at Stanford TBA * at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland 2023 WAKE FOREST SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 31 Elon W, 37-17 Sept. 9 Vanderbilt W, 36-20 Sept. 16 at Old Dominion W, 27-24 Sept. 23 Georgia Tech L, 30-16 Oct. 7 at Clemson L, 17-12 Oct. 14 at Virginia Tech L, 30-13 Oct. 21 Pittsburgh W, 21-17 Oct. 28 Florida State L, 41-16 Nov. 2 at Duke L, 24-21 Nov. 11 NC State (CW) 2 p.m. Nov. 18 at Notre Dame (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 25 at Syracuse TBA