The no. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish will put their undefeated record on the line this weekend when they visit the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The game is set to kick off at noon EST on Saturday, September 22, at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This matchup will be televised nationally on ABC.
Oddsmakers view the Fighting Irish as 8-point favorites on the road. Click here to check out a full list of college football betting odds for this week’s game.
Technically, the Fighting Irish are undefeated and a top-10 team. But you wouldn’t necessarily know it by watching them. After beating Michigan to open the season, Notre Dame has failed to put away either Ball State or Vanderbilt the past two weeks.
Both games were a little too close for comfort, as the Irish only beat Ball State by eight points and barely hung on to be Vanderbilt 22-17 last week. With games against Stanford and Virginia Tech, both ranked teams, the Irish are running out of time to get their act together.
Wake Forest, meanwhile, has also gotten off to a slow start this season. Wake needed overtime to escape against Tulane in their season opener and were a little sluggish the following week against FCS opponent Towson. Last week, the Deacons were shredded both on the ground and through the air in a 41-34 home loss to Boston College. Wake Forest faces a gauntlet of a schedule in October and November in the ACC, so they need to get on track quickly, especially at home.
Notre Dame has won all three meetings against Wake Forest, with all three games being played this decade. Last season, the Irish held on for a 48-37 win, as both defenses struggled to stop the opposing offense. Based on the early part of the season, Saturday’s game could follow a similar storyline.
Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of what I’ve seen from Wake Forest this season. But I do think they match up well against Notre Dame. After all, the Irish clearly have some flaws. With the Demon Deacons being at home and having a couple extra days to prepare, I’ll lean toward Wake Forest to beat the 8-point spread, especially since Notre Dame hasn’t won a game by more than eight points this season.
The one thing I know Notre Dame will do well in this game is run the ball. Brian Kelly seems to have accepted that quarterback Brandon Wimbush is more of a runner than a passer, and the offense is starting to reflect that. The problem is that the Irish are only averaging 3.6 yards per carry this season. When you factor in Wimbush is completing 55% of his passes with just one touchdown and four interceptions, it’s easy to understand why Notre Dame is only averaging 23 points per game this year.
Part of what concerns me about Wake Forest in this game is how they struggled to contain the Boston College running game last week. However, B.C. running back AJ Dillon is going to have success against almost every team he faces. Moreover, Wake’s problem is that they started getting burned on play-action, which is why quarterback Anthony Brown had five touchdown passes, three of them for 35 yards or better.
Wimbush is much less of a threat throwing the ball, even if Notre Dame runs play-action. That makes me a little less worried about the Demon Deacons being victimized by deep passes. That should allow them to focus more on containing the Notre Dame running game.
On the other side of the ball, I see Wake Forest as being perhaps the best offensive team Notre Dame has played this season. True freshman quarterback Sam Hartman has made a lot of mistakes thus far, throwing five interceptions in three games. However, his mobility has helped the Demon Deacons gain five yards per carry this season. On top of that, both Matt Colburn and Cade Carney ran for over 100 yards against B.C. last week, so Wake can definitely run the ball effectively.
Hartman can also make plays with his arm, especially with wide receivers Greg Dortch and Sage Surratt at his disposal. Notre Dame could have easily lost to Vanderbilt last week if the Commodores had better receivers. They won’t get bailed out like that again this week because Dortch and Surratt are serious threats. If Hartman can do a better job of avoiding turnovers, the Demon Deacons should have enough balance offensively to do some damage against Notre Dame.
After last week, I remain a little skeptical of both of these teams. However, that tells me that this will probably be a close game that gets decided by a touchdown or less. Also, after playing Boston College last week, I think Wake will be well-prepared to face Notre Dame’s rushing attack this week. The Demon Deacons have their issues, but they also have the potential to expose some of the Irish’s weaknesses. I’ll take my chances with the home underdog in this one.