Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 13, 2017 21 reign as the lone Football Bowl Sub- division school to not allow more than 20 points in a game this season. A 99-yard touchdown drive right before halftime provided Notre Dame a much-needed 31-10 lead. Wake Forest scored four touchdowns in the second half, but was unable to come closer than the final 11-point margin following a touchdown with 51 seconds left in the contest. "Winning is hard, especially in No- vember, and anytime that you find a way to win football games when teams are executing at a high level … you're very pleased," Kelly said. "This game will humble you in a heartbeat if you take any of it for granted. "Wake Forest executed their of- fense terrifically. They were really, really good tonight. And then, sec- ondly, you saw missed tackles that you haven't seen all year. "You saw some play that hadn't shown itself at times, and that's not who we are 75 percent through this season. Let's go back and look at how we can improve on that." FIRST QUARTER: NOTRE DAME 7, WAKE FOREST 3 Top Moment: After the Irish fell behind 3-0, a 52-yard kickoff return by junior C.J. Sanders set the Irish up at the Wake Forest 48. They converted a third-and-10 when Wimbush com- pleted an 11-yard pass to junior wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, fol- lowed by a 23-yard toss to fifth-year senior tight end Durham Smythe. Wimbush scrambled for the six-yard touchdown on third-and-three with 6:26 left. Top Performers: Wimbush com- pleted 5 of 7 passes for 72 yards, and carried three times for six yards and the touchdown. Defensively, junior linebacker Te'von Coney had five tackles, two stops behind the line of scrimmage and a sack. Stats: Notre Dame's 18 plays netted 145 yards (73 rushing and 72 passing). Wake Forest's 22 plays accounted for 123 yards (65 rushing and 58 passing). Items: Wake Forest kicker Mike Weaver tallied the game's first score on a 34-yard field goal with 8:46 left to cap an 82-yard drive in 14 plays on its opening series. Notre Dame drove to Wake For- est's 20 when the quarter ended, highlighted by a 35-yard jet sweep from sophomore wideout Kevin Stepherson. SECOND QUARTER: NOTRE DAME 31, WAKE FOREST 10 Top Moment: With about a minute left until halftime and Notre Dame facing third-and-nine from its 26- yard line, sophomore Deon McIntosh romped for 45 yards on a sweep, and Wimbush followed with a 28-yard jaunt to the 1-yard line. Sophomore quarterback Ian Book, in for a tem- porarily shaken up Wimbush, then tossed a one-yard score to senior tight end Nic Weishar with 22 sec- onds left for the 31-10 advantage — ending a 99-yard drive. Top Performers: Sophomore cor- nerback Julian Love intercepted a John Wolford pass that he returned to the Wake Forest 5-yard line. On the ensuing play, sophomore running back Tony Jones Jr. scored his third touchdown this season to up Notre Dame's advantage to 17-3. Wimbush had 164 yards on 11-of- 19 passing and 94 rushing yards at the intermission. Stats: The Irish racked up 423 yards of total offense in the first half, 258 rushing and 165 passing. Items: Notre Dame extended its lead to 10-3 on a 34-yard field by ju- nior Justin Yoon at the 14:18 mark to end a nine-play, 70-yard drive. Wolford completed 12- and 37-yard passes and then followed by scoring on a 20-yard draw at 10:13 to narrow Wake Forest's deficit to 17-10. Notre Dame answered the Demon Deacons' touchdown drive with a 50- yard quarterback draw by Wimbush to push the advantage back to 24-10 with 8:38 left. A 50-yard field goal attempt by Yoon with 4:11 left fell short. THIRD QUARTER: NOTRE DAME 41, WAKE FOREST 23 Top Moment: Once again after a Wake Forest touchdown sliced the Notre Dame lead to 34-16, the Irish answered with a four-play, 78-yard drive in which the last two plays were a 44-yard completion by Wim- bush to sophomore Chase Claypool on third-and-10, and then the 34-yard scoring toss to Claypool. Top Performers: Claypool had a career-high 180 receiving yards on nine catches through three quarters. For Wake Forest, Wolford com- pleted 10 of 13 passes for 134 yards with a score during the quarter, and also ran twice for eight yards. Stats: Through three quarters, Notre Dame had 602 yards of total offense, 317 rushing and 285 passing. Wake Forest outgained the Irish 185- 179 during the quarter. Items: With 2:54 remaining Wake Forest sliced the deficit to 34-16 on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Wol- ford to Alex Bachman. The drive began when the Demon Deacons stopped Notre Dame on fourth-and- two at the Wake Forest 37. The Demon Deacons scored with 30 seconds remaining on a 24-yard Matt Colburn run for the 41-23 result at the end of the quarter. Junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush threw for a career-high 280 yards, rushed for a team-best 110 yards and accounted for three touchdowns to lead the Irish past the Demon Deacons. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA