RALEIGH, N.C. — Sam Hartman paused. What was another 10 seconds added to one of the longest afternoons of his college career?
The quarterback was already the last man on the field after Notre Dame’s 45-24 statement win against NC State, one delayed nearly two hours at the start of the second quarter as thunderstorms swept across Carter-Finley Stadium. Hartman wanted to get back to the locker room after doing postgame media, less to celebrate another four touchdown passes and more to rejoin the team he’s elevating into more and more of a College Football Playoff contender by the week.
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Yet Hartman knew the drill here, a stadium where he’d lost twice as Wake Forest’s starting quarterback. The NC State band, situated in the north end zone, would play for whatever was left of the Wolfpack on the field before calling it a day. And so as Hartman approached the expectant Notre Dame fans draped around the locker room tunnel, he waited. He let NC State have a moment. And when the band hit its last note, Hartman let loose, getting a raucous serenade of applause from those in green, slapping a high five before disappearing.
Hartman ➡️ Staes#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/2D6Fsxfuzh
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 9, 2023
All Hartman did here was finish 15-of-24 for 286 yards and those four touchdowns, spread among Jaden Greathouse, Holden Staes and Davis Sherwood. But it was more than that because Hartman also steered Notre Dame through its first storm of the season.
Of anyone on the Notre Dame sideline, Hartman was made for this. The arm may be why Marcus Freeman pulled Hartman out of the transfer portal. But it’s the mentality that can power this season beyond Hartman’s stat line.
“The ability for him to just continuously be steady and be positive: ‘We’ll get it fixed. Trust me. We’ll get it fixed, go out there and do our job,’” Freeman said. “Early in game, (he) got hit a couple of times, put one ball on the ground that we recovered. He’s a competitor. He wants to get it fixed. And he did. So there was no panic.
“He’s a leader.”
But this was a different kind of path to follow for Notre Dame, beyond the step up in competition. NC State wouldn’t be brushed aside as the Irish sputtered early, right through the weather delay that forced both teams to the locker room for two hours, emptied the stadium and short-circuited the scoreboard after lightning strikes.
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At first, Notre Dame hoped for a 30-minute delay. When Freeman learned it would go beyond an hour, he told the players to take off their pads and called the coaches down from their boxes. Adjust. Communicate. Scheme. Just one issue — the Irish needed sustenance. And so support staff hit up the concession stands for hot dogs. Not all partook. Of those who did, not all gorged. But it worked.
“We wanted to kind of get them some meat. This two-hour delay, the big boys get hungry,” Freeman said. “I think the coaches got a little more hungry than the players. I saw some coaches have hot dogs.”
GO DEEPER
Notre Dame takeaways from NC State: What did we learn about Gerad Parker's offense?
The food for thought let offensive coordinator Gerad Parker solve the first puzzle an opposing defense presented all season. On the first snap after the delay, left tackle Joe Alt aligned to the right of right tackle Blake Fisher, with left guard Pat Coogan pulling behind both. NC State wasn’t prepared for the look, and it hit for an 80-yard touchdown from Audric Estime, who admitted to consuming a singular dog during the delay.
“That’s just a scary look,” Estime said. “To have them on the same side, that gives me a little rush and I hope that’s something we keep on doing.”
Parker’s creativity helped unlock Notre Dame’s offense, but the lack of balance turned the Irish into a boom-or-bust operation into the second half. The reliability of Estime in short yardage dried up, replaced by Hartman finding Chris Tyree for a 65-yard gain or Tobias Merriweather for a 40-yard catch. Beyond that, there was little else, and Hartman’s lost fumble in the third quarter put NC State in position to erase Notre Dame’s 24-17 lead.
Even after a missed Wolfpack field goal attempt felt like a bullet dodged, Notre Dame responded with a three-and-out as Estime was thrown for a 2-yard loss on third-and-short. This wasn’t how Notre Dame imagined its first road test, but that’s why it was a test in the first place.
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“To see a resilient bunch of guys continue to battle for four quarters was really good to see,” Freeman said. “You can see what type of team we have.”
Notre Dame scored backbreaking touchdowns on its next three possessions, all play-action looks that played against NC State’s overly aggressive fronts. Staes got the first and the last, a 35-yard floater from Hartman that led him into the end zone. If NC State turned up the pressure during the third quarter, Notre Dame found the release valve in the fourth as the defense intercepted Brennan Armstrong twice and turned the Wolfpack over on downs.
NC State’s opening three drives of the fourth quarter covered 12 plays, 7 yards, plus those two picks and the fourth-down stop.
Notre Dame took its first punch Saturday, but the Irish also delivered another knockout.
“This game kind of gave us a test,” Estime said. “We faced a lot of adversity, and we just had to respond. We were able to respond well in times under pressure, and that’s something we needed for down the line.”
The view from here looks different now, not just because of Hartman.
After hosting Central Michigan next weekend, Notre Dame will get its shot at Ohio State, not only the alma mater of Freeman but one of the teams the Irish are chasing on the national stage. Maybe the Irish won’t be on equal footing in two weeks when the Buckeyes visit, but there’s no doubt they have better traction for the path ahead.
So, where can this season go? Even Freeman isn’t sure. But with Hartman at the controls, there’s no reason to put a limit on it. Notre Dame earned that perspective Saturday.
“What’s the ceiling for this team? I think it’s high,” Freeman said. “Today, you saw them reach, facing adversity and be able to respond. That’s a part of a championship team. It is never gonna be perfect.
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“The first games, really there wasn’t that much adversity. With this game there was. And so the ability to respond, man, during tough times, it shows leadership and it shows truly the heart of this team.”
(Photo: Rob Kinnan / USA Today)
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