Notre Dame completes flawless home slate with win over Wake Forest

Notre Dame is counting on point guard Demetrius Jackson to do a lot this season, and he’ll get his first chance Friday night against Saint Francis.

This is all well and good to say in early November while you’re in the thick of the College Football Playoff race and have a game to get ready for this weekend and Stanford looming on the schedule.

Buried at the their own 1 following a fourth-down stop, Notre Dame called for a quarterback sneak on first down before handing to Adams on 2nd-and-9. John Wolford completed 5 of 16 passes for 127 yards and one touchdown to lead Wake Forest. Coverage of this game airs on NBC beginning at 3:30 pm ET from Notre Dame Stadium.

Let’s find out what we learned. Against a team like Notre Dame, Wake may need an answer for quarterback pressure. But they still lost by three scores. If they can not do that then the Irish will run away with this game. The Demon Deacons had 23 first downs to 15 for the Irish, 340 yards to 282 yards in total offense, and had the ball for 11:36 longer than Notre Dame.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Notre Dame defensive tackle Sheldon Day and offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley were talking while driving home after practice recently about how their lives would have been different if they had entered last spring’s National Football League draft. Wake Forest is young, and has room to improve next season. “Obviously a big play where we’re backed up, and just a terrific run”. “But you come off the field, and it’s a 21-point win over an ACC team. I was very pleased for our team to come into the home of the number one team in the country, in front of 5,000 people, and handle big periods of the game”. “It was just mental errors with us”. “The 6’2” tailback set a freshman record for most rushing yards in a game with 147.

“Great blocking”, said Adams, who had 141 yards on 17 carries. Kizer’s longest pass went for 22 yards. “Collins offered a piece of Irish verse, ending in a fitting line, “… may your winning streak never end…”

In 2010, Cierre Wood broke a 39-yard run against Western MI. It was Notre Dame’s longest run since Robert Hughes went 46-yards in 2007. Since then, the Irish have made incremental progress. His progress was slow and steady over the last two seasons, with Okwara gaining strength and showing himself to be a solid run defender. We’ll miss him after this year, that’s for sure.

Notes: Irish starting outside linebacker James Onwualu suffered a sprained MCL, Kelly said. How Greer Martini and the Irish defense fill that hole remains to be seen.

If Notre Dame wants to end this game in a hurry, Jaylon Smith needs to wreak havoc on defense.

Filling in capably was Greer Martini.