No. 10 Notre Dame, weather spoil NC State's home opener

By Brian Murphy, WRAL Sports investigative reporter

10Notre Dame Fighting Irish	45
NC State Wolfpack	24
Final

Raleigh, N.C. — Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman threw four touchdowns and the 10th-ranked Irish took advantage of a slew of NC State mistakes, including three interceptions, in a 45-24 victory Saturday.

The Wolfpack's home opener at Carter-Finley Stadium was delayed by 1 hour, 45 minutes by lightning early in the second quarter. The game was stopped at 12:50 p.m. and did not resume until 2:35 p.m.

Fans cleared the stadium with some huddling under overhangs and on the concourse. Others returned to their cars or went to nearby PNC Arena. Many fans left the game, turning what had been a sellout crowd into something far less.

Notre Dame (3-0) never trailed in the game and extended its edge to as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter. NC State (1-1) had won 16 of 17 games at Carter-Finley Stadium.

"We had too many penalties that were self-inflicted," NC State coach Dave Doeren said. "Too many drops and we turned the football over. We lost the turnover margin. Those are areas we did not do well. We gave up too many explosive plays."

Notre Dame led 3-0 at the time of the weather delay, which stopped play with 14:45 left in the second quarter. Many fans did not return after the stoppage, which included repeated lightning and drenching rains.

On the very first play, Notre Dame running back Audric Estime busted an 80-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 10-0.

“That was just the result of everyone staying ready,” Estime said.

The Irish lined up its left tackle at tight end on the right side and placed its tight end at left tackle. Estime ran untouched to the end zone.

"They had an hour to gameplan us," said linebacker Payton Wilson, who led the Wolfpack with 14 tackles.

NC State had held Notre Dame to 39 yards in the first quarter.

NC State cut the Irish lead to a single possession three different times after Notre Dame took a 10-0 lead. But the Wolfpack could not get closer.

After NC State trimmed the deficit to 10-7 late in the second quarter, Notre Dame scored a touchdown with 30 seconds left after a three-play, 78-yard drive that included a 60-yard pass-and-run on a broken play.

When the Wolfpack cut the lead to 17-10 on a field goal in the third quarter, Notre Dame went 76 yards in three plays, including a 40-yard touchdown pass, to extend the edge again.

And late in the third quarter, after quarterback Brennan Armstrong rushed for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 24-17, the Wolfpack forced a Hartman fumble and recovered inside Notre Dame territory.

NC State did nothing: incomplete pass, false start, incomplete pass, short scramble run and missed field goal.

"Every time we got in that game and made it a game, within one possession, they responded," Doeren said. "We had our opportunities throughout that football game. There were times where we did some really good things and too many times where we self-inflicted, uncharacteristically gave up big plays on defense at inopportune, critical moments of the game."

Notre Dame scored the first 21 points of the fourth quarter to salt the game away and extend its regular-season winning streak against ACC opponents to 29 games.

Hartman, a transfer from Wake Forest, had lost his two previous games in Raleigh, throwing three touchdowns and three interceptions while being sacked 10 times in those games. On Saturday, Hartman completed 15-of-24 passes for 286 yards and those four touchdowns. He did not throw an interception, but did lose a fumble.

He had touchdowns of 13, 40, 10 and 30 yards. Tight end Holden Staes caught four passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

Estime rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.

Wilson said film would show few plays where all 11 players on defense were doing their jobs.

"This is a crucial time in our season," Wilson said. "It hurts. You can't go pointing fingers."

Armstrong finished the game 22-of-47 passing for 260 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.

“We just put our defense in terrible situations and never helped them out,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong missed a few passes, but his receivers also struggled with drops. One of the interceptions came off a drop. NC State rushed for 84 yards on 30 attempts. And the offense's longest play of the game was 38 yards. There was more than enough blame to go around.

"Games like this are not lost by any one person or player or coach, they’re lost by teams and they're won by teams," Doeren said. "So this will be a team loss. We have to look at what we can do better in key moments."

NC State hosts VMI on Saturday.

Scoring summary

First quarter

ND — Spencer Shrader 54 kick, 3:18. Drive: 5 plays, 51 yards, 5:51. Key play: Sam Hartman 15-yard run on third-and-10 from the ND 14. Notre Dame 3, NC State 0.

Second quarter

ND — Audric Estime 80 run (Shrader kick), 14:32. Drive: 1 play, 80 yards, :13. Key play: On the first snap after a 105-minute weather delay, Estime ran through a big hole and raced to the end zone. Notre Dame 10, NC State 0.

NCSU — Bradley Rozner 9 pass from Brennan Armstrong (Brayden Narveson kick), 1:16. Drive: 7 plays, 62 yards, 1:03. Key plays: Notre Dame had three penalties on the drive, helping NC State move down the field. Armstrong recovered his own fumble on the play before the touchdown. Notre Dame 10, NC State 7.

ND — Jaden Greathouse 13 pass from Sam Hartman (Shrader kick), :30. Drive: 3 plays, 78 yards, :30. Key play: Chris Tyree's 65-yard catch and run moved the Irish deep into NC State territory. Notre Dame 17, NC State 7.

Third quarter

NCSU — Narveson 46 field goal, 7:27. Drive: 5 plays, 33 yards, 1:15. Key plays: Armstrong had a 10-yard pass to Juice Vereen, and NC State picked up an additional 15 yards on a roughing the passer penalty on the same play. Notre Dame 17, NC State 10.

ND — Holden Staes 49 pass from Hartman (Shrader kick), 5:50. Drive: 3 plays, 76 yards, 1:30. Key plays: Hartman hit Staes for 28 yards on the first play of the drive, then connected with him on a 40-yard catch and run for the touchdown. Notre Dame 24, NC State 10.

NCSU — Armstrong 1 run (Narveson kick), 2:55. Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards, 2:55. Key plays: Armstrong's 17-yard pass to Vereen on third-and-7 at the ND 18. Notre Dame 24, NC State 17.

Fourth quarter

ND — Davis Sherwood 10 pass from Hartman (Shrader kick), 11:38. Drive: 5 plays, 33 yards, 2:43. Key play: Xavier Watts intercepted Armstrong, whose pass was dropped by KC Concepcion, to set up the Irish. Notre Dame 31, NC State 17.

ND — Estime 7 run (Shrader kick), 10:42. Drive: 3 plays, 16 yards, :36. Key play: DJ Brown intercepted Armstrong's pass down the middle of the field to set up the Irish. Notre Dame 38, NC State 17.

ND — Staes 35 pass from Hartman (Shrader kick), 4:35. Drive: 5 plays, 54 yards, 3:03. Key play: On third-and-2, Hartman rolled to the right and found Staes behind the Wolfpack defense for the score. Notre Dame 45, NC State 17.

NCSU — Dacari Collins 23 pass from Armstrong (Narveson kick), 2:03. Drive: 9 plays, 65 yards, 2:32. Key play: NC State converted two third downs on the drive. Notre Dame 45, NC State 24.