Notre Dame Wallops Wake Forest 56-27; QB Ian Book Scores 5 Touchdowns

Headlines
"We're # 1" Moses Sculpture at Notre Dame

With Ian Book their new starting quarterback, Notre Dame exploded for 566 yards of offense and scored the most points in a road game during Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame tenure, handling Wake Forest 56-27 in Winston-Salem.

Their regular season a third complete, the Irish rise to 4-0.  Notre Dame now heads into a two-game gauntlet against Stanford at home and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.  (Virginia Tech’s stature and ranking will be in question after a freakish upset loss to Old Dominion, while Stanford’s stock may rise after a big comeback win at Oregon.)

Notre Dame only led Wake Forest 7-6 early in the second quarter, yet ended up outscoring the Deacons 21-10 during the second quarter, then outscoring them another 21-7 during the third.  The 42 Notre Dame second- and third-quarter points resulted in a 49-20 Irish lead at the end of the third.  Along the way, the Irish responded to Kelly’s exhortation to start coming out stronger in the second half.

Book scored five touchdowns on the day, going 25 of 34 (74%) for 325 yards passing with 2 touchdowns through the air, and adding 3 more touchdowns on the ground among 10 carries for 43 yards.

On the ground, Notre Dame has been reloading after losing half their offensive line, their former offensive line coach and their leading rusher to the NFL (the running back was on a scout team, the last it was mentioned), and also losing another promising back to transfer.

As if that was not enough to endure, the Irish also have gone without their best returning running back, Dexter Williams, during what some commentators claimed was a rumored four-game suspension. If that is the case, they might have Williams back against Stanford.

In the meantime, the evolving, somewhat cobbled-together Irish ground game has continued to make strides. Against Wake Forest, Notre Dame rolled up 241 yards on 40 carries, at 6 yards per carry.

In addition to Book’s contribution on the ground, wide-receiver-turned-running-back Jafar Armstrong had 98 yards rushing on just 8 carries, including 2 touchdown runs. With Notre Dame uncharacteristically down 3-0 late in the first quarter, it was a 30-yard touchdown romp by Armstrong that first put Notre Dame on the board, giving the Irish a 7-3 lead.

Quarterback-turned-running-back Avery Davis had 43 yards rushing on 9 carries, and running back Tony Jones, Jr., tallied 39 yards and a touchdown on 7 carries.

Notre Dame spread their receptions among ten different receivers, including wide receivers, tight ends and running backs.

Brock Wright had only 1 catch for 3 yards, yet it went for a touchdown, giving Notre Dame their second score of the day, and a 14-6 lead in the second quarter.

Late in the second quarter, Chris Finke hauled in a punt on the Notre Dame 44 that he nearly took to the house, returning it 52 yards to the Wake Forest 4.  It was two plays later that Jones got his rushing touchdown, punching it in for a 21-6 Notre Dame lead.

Michael Young had 1 catch for 66 yards, yet after Wake Forest had just pulled back with eight in the second quarter, it was Young’s big play that set Notre Dame up on the Wake Forest 2-yard-line.  The Young catch made up the bulk of a 75-yard drive that was capped with Book running it in from the 2 to push Notre Dame’s lead to 28-13.

Alize Mack had 6 catches for 61 yards. Chase Claypool had 4 catches for 51 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter that put Notre Dame up 35-13.  The score also was part of a Notre Dame effort to bolster their intensity and success coming of the gates for the second half.

Chris Finke had 4 catches for 41 yards to go with the key punt return.

Despite the on-field heat, the Notre Dame defense looked mostly crisp and focused, and limited the potent, up-tempo Wake Forest offense to 398 yards on 92 plays, 159 through the air and 259 on the ground.  Some portions of the Wake Forest gains came later in the game when the contest was no longer in doubt.

Notre Dame sacked Wake Forest 3 times.

In a well-coordinated team effort, safety Alohi Gilman led Irish tacklers with 9 tackles. Linebacker Drue Tranquill had 8 tackles, including 1 sack, with 2 tackles-for-loss. Safety Jalen Elliott had 8 tackles with a share of a sack. Defensive lineman Daelin Hayes had 7 tackles, including 2 tackles-for-loss. Linebacker Bo Bauer and defensive lineman Adetokun Ogundeji each had 6 tackles, with Okundeji securing a share of a sack. Defensive lineman Julian Okwara had 5 tackles, including a sack, with 3.5 tackles for loss.

Linebacker Jonathan Jones had 3 tackles that included a sack.

Notre Dame cornerback Troy Pride, Jr., had the game’s only interception.

Irish Newslinks