Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 NOV. 18, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: WAKE FOREST been forcing turnovers, and the pass rush has been menacing of late as well. None of it is good news for Wake Forest and its slow-mesh offense. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. WAKE FOREST RUN DEFENSE The Pro Football Focus numbers for the Notre Dame running game through Week 9 were quite extraordinary. It was No. 1 in the nation in yards after contact with 995, No. 3 in rushing first downs with 76, No. 4 in rushing yards with 1,456 and rush- ing touchdowns with 16, No. 5 in explosive rush- ing plays with 42, No. 6 in yards after contact per attempt at 3.9 and missed tackles forced with 65. It helps to have one of 17 running backs in the FBS who had at least 100 rushing yards per game through Week 9 in junior Audric Estimé, but freshman Jeremi- yah Love and sophomore Jadarian Price have been productive as backups. The Notre Dame offensive line has improved greatly as run blockers as well. Notre Dame ranked No. 14 in points earned per rushing play through Week 9. If there is one area where Wake Forest finally competes with Notre Dame in national rankings, it's run defense. The Demon Deacons ranked 10th nationally in points saved per rushing play against through Week 9. Still, their average of 128 yards rushing allowed per game through Week 9 put them at No. 47 in the country. Clemson grinded out a 17-12 win over Wake Forest by running for 207 yards. It was the most a team has gone for on the ground against Wake all year through Week 9. No team averaged at least 5.0 yards per carry against Wake through Week 9 either. Heading into November, Notre Dame had not averaged 5.0-plus yards per carry as a team since Sept. 16 versus Central Michigan. So it seems the Demon Deacons could pose some- what of a threat to Estimé and company. But the Irish should power through at home on senior day. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. WAKE FOREST PASS DEFENSE It's going to be awfully strange for veteran Wake Forest defensive players who went against Hartman in good-on-good situations in Winston-Salem to have the opportunity to match up against him in an actual college football game. Stories like that don't come around often. Hartman's situation is unique; it's rare to spend five years at one program and then face that program with the school you decided to go to for one year to exhaust your eligibility. What is Wake Forest up against? Season-long totals tell the Demon Deacons it won't be too diffi- cult to contain their old friend, but SIS actually says Notre Dame had the 11th best points earned per passing play figure in the country through Week 9. At that time, Hartman had completed 65.4 percent of his passes for 2,126 yards with 18 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He's taken care of the football better than he ever did at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons had the No. 85 points saved per passing play against average in the FBS through Week 9. They ranked tied for 71st with just 6 inter- ceptions, as many as Watts had himself for Notre Dame through his first nine games of the year. Opposing quarterbacks also had a passer rating of 137.18 against Wake Forest through Week 9, which ranked 85th nationally. Like many facets of Wake Forest's game, the passing defense is just sort of ho-hum. And it's tended to decrease in effectiveness as the season has gone along. Nobody on Wake Forest's defense intercepted a pass in all of October. In that month, three of four teams passed for at least 300 yards. Hartman has not been a big total yards guy lately, but he might be against his old team. Most quar- terbacks are. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS Against USC and Pitt, Notre Dame had a combined three special teams touchdowns. Sophomore run- ning back Jadarian Price scored on a kick return ver- sus the Trojans. Senior receiver Chris Tyree scored on a punt return against the Panthers, and senior safety Ramon Henderson recovered a muffed punt in the end zone for a score versus the Panthers as well. Last year, it was the blocked kicks that were all the rage for Notre Dame special teams. This year, it's just a collection of things going right for the Irish. Returns. Right place, right time kind of stuff. It's resulted in Notre Dame slotting in at No. 9 in the Fremeau Efficiency Index Ratings through Week 9. Wake Forest, meanwhile, came in at No. 68. Wake Forest had two kickoffs of 30-plus yards returned against them through Week 9, which was tied for 76th in the country. Price might be able to spring loose against the Demon Deacons. OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 83 Jayden Thomas 6-1½ 221 Jr. 19 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 204 Fr. WR 4 Chris Tyree 5-9½ 192 Sr. 80 Jordan Faison 5-10⅛ 182 Fr. LT 76 Joe Alt 6-8 322 Jr. 79 Tosh Baker 6-8 317 Sr. LG 78 Pat Coogan 6-5⅛ 303 Jr. 74 Billy Schrauth 6-4½ 311 So. C 52 Zeke Correll 6-3 306 Gr. 70 Ashton Craig 6-4¼ 307 So. RG 50 Rocco Spindler 6-4⅝ 314 Jr. 73 Andrew Kristofic 6-5¼ 305 Gr. RT 54 Blake Fisher 6-6 312 Jr. 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 288 So. TE 13 Holden Staes 6-4¼ 242 So. or 9 Eli Raridon 6-6¾ 250 So. or 87 Cooper Flanagan 6-5⅞ 262 Fr. WR 17 Rico Flores Jr. 6-0⅛ 205 Fr. 5 Tobias Merriweather 6-4 204 So. QB 10 Sam Hartman 6-1⅛ 212 Gr. 18 Steve Angeli 6-2⅜ 211 So. RB 7 Audric Estimé 5-11½ 227 Jr. 3 Gi'Bran Payne 5-9⅛ 208 So. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-10⅜ 206 So. or 22 Devyn Ford 5-11 200 Gr. or 12 Jeremiyah Love 5-11⅞ 197 Fr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. Vyper 12 Jordan Botelho 6-2½ 264 Sr. 44 Junior Tuihalamaka 6-1⅞ 254 So. 40 Joshua Burnham 6-3½ 248 So. DT 99 Rylie Mills 6-5⅛ 306 Sr. 47 Jason Onye 6-5 294 Jr. 41 Donovan Hinish 6-1⅝ 280 So. NT 56 Howard Cross III 6-0⅞ 288 Gr. 97 Gabe Rubio 6-5¼ 306 Jr. SDE 1 Javontae Jean-Baptiste 6-4½ 260 Gr. or 31 Nana Osafo-Mensah 6-3⅛ 264 Sr. Will 8 Marist Liufau 6-2¼ 239 Gr. 23 Jaiden Ausberry 6-0⅛ 224 Fr. Mike 27 JD Bertrand 6-1 233 Gr. 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 234 Fr. Rover 24 Jack Kiser 6-1⅝ 232 Gr. 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-2 223 So. CB 5 Cam Hart 6-2½ 207 Gr. 7 Jaden Mickey 5-11½ 181 So. LS 2 DJ Brown 6-1¼ 202 Gr. or 4 Antonio Carter II 5-11¾ 207 Gr. or 13 Thomas Harper 5-10⅝ 195 Gr. RS 0 Xavier Watts 5-11¾ 204 Sr. or 11 Ramon Henderson 6-1 196 Sr. CB 20 Benjamin Morrison 6-0¼ 185 So. 29 Christian Gray 5-11¾ 189 Fr. or 6 Clarence Lewis 5-11½ 202 Sr. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Depth Chart Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. KO 32 Spencer Shrader 6-1⅜ 200 Gr. 92 Zac Yoakam 5-8 188 So. K 32 Spencer Shrader 6-1⅜ 200 Gr. 92 Zac Yoakam 5-8 188 So. P 14 Bryce McFerson 6-1½ 197 So. 43 Ben Krimm 6-1⅛ 204 Gr. LS 65 Michael Vinson 6-2 242 Gr. 51 Rino Monteforte 5-7 195 So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. H 14 Bryce McFerson 6-1½ 197 So. PR 4 Chris Tyree 5-9½ 192 Sr. 80 Jordan Faison 5-10⅛ 182 Fr. KR 22 Devyn Ford 5-11 200 Gr. 24 Jadarian Price 5-10⅜ 206 So. SPECIAL TEAMS