16 NOV. 25, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED
BY TYLER HORKA AND JACK SOBLE
T
he end of the first half at Notre
Dame left a lot to be desired. The
Fighting Irish made up for it at
the beginning of the second half
— and then some.
After leaving four points on the board
with a baffling sequence that included
two spikes, a final timeout called after
the first of them — yes, when the clock
was already at a standstill — and a ball
caught for a loss of four yards when an
incomplete pass would have been more
beneficial, Notre Dame came out of the
locker room with its hair on fire on a
chilly day in South Bend.
In all three phases.
The defense forced and recovered a
fumble via a JD Bertrand sack of Wake
Forest quarterback Michael Kern on the
second play from scrimmage. Gradu-
ate student quarterback Sam Hartman
promptly hit Eli Raridon on a 19-yard
corner route for the sophomore tight
end's first career touchdown. Perfect
throw. Excellent catch.
The Irish followed that up with a sur-
prise onside kick collected by graduate
student safety DJ Brown. The Irish of-
fense went three-and-out on the extra
possession, but the unit cashed in on
another touchdown the next time it had
the ball — thanks to a fourth-and-1 stop
by the Notre Dame defense.
Following that sequence of events,
WIDE A-WAKE
Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman snaps out of early
funk, throws for 4 touchdowns in 45-7 rout of Wake Forest
