Sam Hartman's Performance Against NC State Will Say A Lot About Notre Dame
Quarterback Sam Hartman has been one of the stars of Notre Dame's 2-0 start to the season, there's no doubt about that. The transfer signal caller has already accounted for seven touchdowns in just two games, and he's completing 82.5-percent of his passes as the Irish have outscored its first two opponents by a 98-6 margin.
The competition ramps up this weekend as the Fighting Irish face their biggest test of the season so far against a NC State team that has won at least eight games in five of the last six seasons. For Hartman, this is a familiar foe, as he faced off against NC State three times as a starter with Wake Forest.
Hartman has an outstanding career at Wake Forest, but NC State was one of the few opponents he struggled against. Not only did Hartman and Wake go 1-2 in games against the Wolfpack, but Hartman often struggled. Now he gets to face off against NC State with the Notre Dame team around him, and how he performs, and how the team performs, will tell us a lot about Notre Dame.
That was the lead topic in the latest Midweek Rundown on the Irish Breakdown Podcast.
In three games against Wake Forest, Hartman did average 307.7 yards per game, fueled by a 397-yard performance a season ago. The issue is he threw as many interceptions (6) as he did touchdowns (6), and he completed just 55.0% of his throws.
The only other team where Hartman has had similar issues is Clemson, and it has been fueled by the fact during Hartman's tenure at Wake Forest, the NC State Wolfpack have had arguably the next best defense in the ACC behind the Tigers.
NC State also exposed two other issues Hartman had at Wake Forest, and both had to do with his supporting cast. Wake was rarely very good up front, and that often limited the success on the ground. Wake Forest also had a poor defense during Hartman's tenure.
In three games against NC State with Hartman at quarterback, Wake Forest gave up 39 points per game, twice allowing the Wolfpack to score over 40 points. NC State has also completely shut down the Wake Forest ground game. The Deacons rushed for just 282 yards in those three games, and the last two seasons they went for just 17 yards (2022) and 116 yards (2021), with Hartman racking up 43 of the yards in the 2021 game.
Wake Forest also struggled to protect Hartman, who was sacked 13 times in those three games, and was pressured often.
That brings us to this matchup. I would assume a big part of the reason Hartman wanted to come to Notre Dame was to be surrounded by a better supporting cast. When you come to Notre Dame as a quarterback you expect to have a strong offensive line, one that can protect the quarterback and one that can fuel a ground attack that provides support and protection to the quarterback.
Notre Dame has also been a strong defensive team in recent seasons, with last year's 23.0 points per game allowed being the highest mark in six years, and the highest since Mike Elko was running the defense back in 2017. That 23.0 points per game is inflated when just looking at the defense, as the Irish offense gave up three pick sixes. Take those out and the defense allowed just 21.4 points per game.
Hartman's defenses at Wake Forest during his three years allowed 28.3, 28.9 and 32.8 points per game, and they gave up 39 points per game against NC State.
That's what makes this matchup so interesting. Yes, a storyline will be specifically what Hartman does in this game and how he performs against a familiar foe. But the game should also tell us a lot about Notre Dame. Can the Irish line and run game, and can the Irish defense, give Hartman something he never had at Wake Forest, which is an big time supporting cast.
If it can the Irish will win, and this team will be very, very good moving forward. It will also send a message to any future portal quarterbacks the Irish might pursue. If it can't, this game will be a battle and the Irish will need to scrap and claw to come out on top.
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