The combination of Notre Dame creating some big plays plus some costly mistakes by NC State led to a 45-24 Fighting Irish win on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.
NC State coach Dave Doeren knows there was a lot to undress — both good and bad — about the Wolfpack’s first loss of the season. Notre Dame improved to 3-0, and NC State fell to 1-1 with Virginia Military Institute coming to Raleigh at 2 p.m. Saturday. VMI fell to 1-1 with a 21-13 loss to Bucknell on Saturday.
The game took a sudden turn when Mother Nature had a lightning storm take over the area. Some Notre Dame folks half-joked that they’d rather deal with snow than all this rain in Raleigh — the two teams played in Hurricane conditions Oct. 8, 2016.
“We had really bad technique and bad eyes at times,” Doeren said. “We have a lot to fix. I think it will be great film to learn from. Games likes this are not lost by any one person or player or coach. This was lost by teams and won by teams.”
The delay started roughly around 12:50 p.m., with the Fighting Irish leading 3-0. The game finally resumed at 2:35 p.m., and roughly 60 percent of the 56,919 in attendance made their way back at some point.
What wasn’t expected was for Notre Dame junior running back Audric Estime go 80 yards for a touchdown on the first play after the delay. He had 13 carries for 54 yards other than that back-breaking play. That started the various ebbs and flows of some successes followed by errors by NC State.
The differences in the two quarterbacks final statistics helped tell the story. Wake Forest graduate transfer Sam Hartman wasn’t particularly sharp and NC State sacked him four times, but his final numbers were pretty — 15-of-24 passing for 286 yards and four touchdowns, and most importantly zero interceptions.
Virginia graduate transfer Brennan Armstrong has to carry the load for the Wolfpack, which was evidenced by passing (47) or running (12) for a combined 59 of 78 plays. Armstrong went 22-of-47 passing for 260 yards and two touchdowns, plus a touchdown running. The problem was the yin and yang at the position, and Armstrong threw three interceptions, though not all three were his fault.
“I performed like [bleep], right?” Armstrong said. “With the three pics, you aren’t going to win the game. You put your defense in a tough spot all game long.”
The action took off when Hartman found tight end Holden Staes twice for 68 yards, including a stunning 40-yard touchdown catch when he eluded getting knocked out of bounds. Staes had a game-high four catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns.
Armstrong responded with arguably his best drive of the season, with a 38-yard pass to senior wide receiver Keyon Lesane and then a 17-yarder to freshman tight end Javonte Vereen, which set up Armstrong’s one-yard touchdown run to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 24-17 with 2:55 left in the third quarter. That was the good from the office, but soon followed the negative.
ND’s Xavier Watts got an interception at the NC State 33-yard line, after the ball went through the hands of NC State freshman receiver Kevin Concepcion. Notre Dame scored five plays later.
Notre Dame defensive back DJ Brown got an interception when Armstrong never located him at the NCSU 16-yard line. Three players later, another touchdown and the blowout was on.
“We were playing toe-to-toe with the No. 10 team in the country for a long period of time, and it just got away from us there toward the end,” Doeren said.
The other frustrating sequence came when redshirt junior defensive end Noah Potter, an Ohio State and Cincinnati transfer, got the initial rush and then sophomore nose tackle Brandon Cleveland finished it off with the sack and forced fumble. Potter recovered it at the Notre Dame 27-yard line, while down 24-17.
NC State couldn’t take advantage of it and Western Kentucky graduate transfer kicker Brayden Narveson surprisingly missed a 34-yard field goal. It proved to be that kind of game for NC State.
“We had our opportunities throughout that football game,” Doeren said. “There was some times we did some really good things. Too many times we self-inflicted things.
“We uncharacteristically gave up big plays on defense at inopportune critical moments of the game that swung momentum their way.”
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