College Football
Preview
Wake Forest at Notre Dame
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, November 18, 2023
Where: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana

While the hopes of playing for a national championship evaporated weeks ago, No. 19 Notre Dame still believes it has plenty to play for on Saturday afternoon against visiting Wake Forest at South Bend, Ind.

"We have a shot to send the seniors out the right way," Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said in advance of the final home game of the season. "That's our motivation. We know Wake Forest will be motivated. This team will be ready to go. They will come in knowing they have to win to become bowl eligible. We know we have a challenge in front of us."

The challenge not only will come from Wake Forest, but also replacing several key players who are sidelined with injuries.

Notre Dame (7-3) most recently lost players on the offensive line during a 31-23 loss at Clemson on Saturday.

Rocco Spindler went down with a knee injury and the right guard is out for the season. Starting center Zeke Correll is in concussion protocol and his backup, Andrew Kristofic, went down with a high ankle sprain.

Billy Schrauth is expected to start at guard against Wake Forest and Ashton Craig will remain at center after finishing Saturday's game.

"Ashton Craig did a really good job filling in at the center position," Freeman said. "I was really impressed with what he did."

The Fighting Irish lost safety Luke Talich to a broken collarbone during practice last week, while wide receivers Deion Colzie, Jayden Thomas and Matt Salerno remain sidelined.

Complicating things even more for Notre Dame is the slow mesh offensive system that the Demon Deacons run, a complicated system of run-pass options that can leave a defense spinning.

"How do you defend it?" Freeman said. "Linebackers attack and then create open areas behind you. They are really good to answer when you react to their system. It's not the triple option, but it's a system and they have answers. We have to be aggressive though and that is important."

Wake Forest (4-6) got off to a promising 3-0 start but has dropped six of its last seven games. The Demon Deacons most recently fell to visiting North Carolina State, 26-6 on Saturday.

"It was not even a competitive football game," Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. "It's on me. It's Game 10 and to show up like that is very disappointing."

Wake Forest switched quarterbacks in the second quarter last week and Michael Kern led the Demon Deacons to their only touchdown, but he was then picked off on the two-point try and that was returned for two points the other way.

The rushing attack was even more shackled, as Wake Forest combined for seven net yards on 18 carries.

"On offense, right now, we're broken," Clawson said. "This isn't anything like the offense that was put out there the last six years. I should have had us in a better spot with some of the personnel losses we had. We're not getting the most out of these guys. I think we have good players, but they're not playing well and it all boils down to coaching."

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W‑L Strk PF PA Home Away Grass Turf Conf
Wake Forest 4-6 L3 20.5 24.6 3-3 1-3 0-3 0-0 1-6
Notre Dame 7-3 L1 36.8 16.9 5-1 2-2 3-1 0-0 0-0
Last Meeting
Wake Forest Notre Dame
Date Away Home Tot Rus Pas Tot Rus Pas
9/22/18 ND 56 WAKE 27 398 259 139 566 241 325
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Passing Player COMP % YDS TD INT
Wake Forest S. Hartman 50.0 110 0 0
Notre Dame I. Book 73.5 325 2 0
Rushing Player CAR YDS AVG TD
Wake Forest C. Carney 13 79 6.1 0
Notre Dame J. Armstrong 8 98 12.2 2
Receiving Player REC YDS AVG TD
Wake Forest G. Dortch 6 56 9.3 0
Notre Dame M. Young Jr. 1 66 66.0 0
Touchdowns Player TD
Wake Forest M. Colburn II 1
Notre Dame I. Book 3
Season
Passing Player COMP % YDS TD INT
Wake Forest M. Griffis 59.4 1539 9 8
Notre Dame S. Hartman 62.8 2272 18 7
Rushing Player CAR YDS AVG TD
Wake Forest D. Claiborne 137 586 4.3 5
Notre Dame A. Estime 163 988 6.1 13
Receiving Player REC YDS AVG TD
Wake Forest J. Banks 47 528 11.2 3
Notre Dame C. Tyree 23 446 19.4 3
Touchdowns Player TD
Wake Forest D. Claiborne 5
Notre Dame A. Estime 13
Quickchart Matchup
Wake Forest Wake Forest Off vs  Notre Dame Notre Dame Def
Wake Forest 330.3 yards
Notre Dame 279.8 yards
Wake Forest 3.3 yards/rush
Notre Dame 3.6 yards/rush
Wake Forest 7.2 yards/attempt
Notre Dame 5.5 yards/attempt
Notre Dame Notre Dame Off vs  Wake Forest Wake Forest Def
Notre Dame 418 yards
Wake Forest 372 yards
Notre Dame 5 yards/rush
Wake Forest 4.2 yards/rush
Notre Dame 8.9 yards/attempt
Wake Forest 7.4 yards/attempt