Te’o, Notre Dame seniors face Wake Forest in home finale
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
Emotions will be running high when the third-ranked Irish run out of the Notre Dame Stadium tunnel for the final time Saturday.
Seniors like all-everything Manti Te’o and Tyler Eifert will be playing their final game in front of their home fans.
Those same fans will be saluting Te’o, who has reached legendary status at Notre Dame and will be remembered as one of the greatest linebackers and players to ever don the Blue and Gold.
It will also be a time to salute a team that for the first time since 1993 is 10-0. Not bad, considering the Irish weren’t even ranked in the Associated Press preseason poll and were 24th in the first USA Today coaches poll.
The sellout crowd of 80,795 will also want to cheer on Brian Kelly’s Irish, knowing that if they win their final two regular season games and get a little help, they’ll be playing in the BCS National Championship Game in January in Miami.
To do that, though, Notre Dame will have to take care of business. That means handling 5-5 Wake Forest, who is 3-5 in the ACC following a 37-6 loss last Saturday at NC State.
As has been well documented, the Irish haven’t played like a top five team at home this season. All five games in Notre Dame Stadium in 2012 have been decided by a touchdown or less.
The Irish would like nothing better than to take care of the Demon Deacons in convincing fashion.
Notre Dame didn’t exactly have a walk in the park last year in Winston-Salem, N.C. when it faced Wake. The Irish managed a 24-17 win, a game that the Demon Deacons led 17-10 at halftime before the Irish scored 14 third-quarter points to escape with the victory.
Wake receiver Michael Campanaro really caused Notre Dame problems a year ago as he hauled in six passes for 74 yards.
“Campanaro on offense gave us fits last year,” Kelly said.
Campanaro returns this season for the Demon Deacons. The junior leads his team with 65 catches for 618 yards with six touchdown grabs. He tied the ACC record with 16 receptions against Boston College earlier this season, three of which were touchdowns.
Also back for Wake is quarterback Tanner Price, who completed 17-of-24 passes for 187 yards and a 20-yard touchdown pass last year against Notre Dame. Price, a junior, is completing 55.4 percent of his passes this season and has thrown for 1,965 yards with 12 touchdowns and been intercepted six times.
The problem for Price is he’s been sacked 21 times this season.
“Tanner Price is very elusive in the pocket, can make plays, extend plays,” Kelly said.
Even with Campanaro and Price back, expectations for this Demon Deacon club weren’t overly high coming into the season. Athlon predicted Wake to finish fourth in the Atlantic Division of the ACC, which is exactly where it is currently in the standings.
Wake’s problem has been inconsistency.
This is a Demon Deacon team that only averages 20.10 points per game (tied for 106th out of 120 FBS teams).
It doesn’t run the ball well, managing 102.70 yards rushing per outing (111th), and its passing game leaves a lot to be desired, too. Wake ranks 87th nationally in yards through the air, averaging 207.00 per game.
Junior running back Josh Harris gets the bulk of the carries. He’s scored five rushing touchdowns on the season and averages 4.5 yards per carry.
Freshman Deandre Martin has been productive, too, running the ball. He also has five rushing TDs this fall.
The other receiver to keep an eye on is Terence Davis. The senior averages 13.4 yards per reception and two grabs for touchdowns on the year.
Defensively, the Demon Deacons are ok against the run (63rd, permitting 156.90) and really struggle defending the pass (98th, allowing 260.90 yards).
In games against nationally ranked Florida State and Clemson, Wake Forest allowed an average of 47 points in those two games and scored an average of 6.5.
Linebacker Justin Jackson paces Wake with 75 tackles and is tied with 4.0 sacks. Defensive end Zach Thompson also has four sacks.
Free safety A.J. Marshall is the team’s third-leading tacklers with 61 and has a couple of interceptions.
Kelly expects to get a lot of different looks from Wake’s defense.
“They throw a lot at you,” he said. “You’re going to get blitzed from every formation. We have to do a great job of making sure we protect our quarterback, find ways to get after them on the offense line and running the football.”
Kelly is particularly impressed with the back half of Wake’s defense.
“Very athletic, as good as some of the very best in the country in the back end of their defense,” he said. “Two very good corners. Athletic safeties. They match up very well against the top-skilled players in the country.”
Another weapon Wake has is its punter. Australian native Alexander Kinal, a freshman, has had 24 punts downed inside the 20-yard line this season. He averages 40.7 yards per boot and has a long of 61 yards.
My Take
The Irish have to beat the Demon Deacons in convincing fashion, right?
This is a team that isn’t particularly good on either side of the ball and hasn’t been competitive against the two nationally ranked teams it has faced so far.
Wake has lost to a bad Maryland team and allowed Army to score 37 points against them.
I really think Everett Golson will have a big game through the air against a very suspect Wake pass defense as Te’o and the rest of his classmates conclude their home careers in style.
Irish roll.
Notre Dame 38, Wake Forest 6
(I’m 9-1 this season predicting Irish games with the loss being last week’s Oklahoma game)
ND Nuggets
– The Irish are a 24-point favorite.
– According to The Weather Channel’s website, Saturday will be an absolutely perfect day for football in November. The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with the high temperature being 53 degrees. Winds won’t be much of a factor coming out of the southeast at 5 to 10 miles per hour and there’s little chance of rain.
– A total of 29 seniors will play their final home game in Irish uniforms.
– Notre Dame leads its all-time series against Wake 1-0 with last year’s meeting being the lone meeting.
– Wake is coached by Jim Grobe. He has led the Demon Deacons to a 73-72 record in 12 seasons. He is trying to get the Demon Deacons bowl eligible for the fifth time in the last seven years.
– Kelly sports a 26-10 record in three seasons leading the Irish program.
– Kelly is 8-1 at Notre Dame in the month of November.
– Eifert needs five catches to break Ken MacAfee’s 35-year school record for most career receptions by a Notre Dame tight end.
– Senior LT Zack Martin has allowed zero sacks since the second possession of the season opener. He grades out at a team-high 92 percent.
