Marcus Freeman praises resilience, Sam Hartman's performance vs. NC State

It wasn’t easy at first, battling through a 105-minute weather delay, but Notre Dame came away with its biggest win of the season on Saturday. The Fighting Irish defeated NC State 45-24 in Raleigh behind a strong performance from Sam Hartman on offense and a defense that created multiple second-half turnovers.

It was an impressive showing on both sides of the ball — one Marcus Freeman said showed him a lot about this year’s team.

“They’re the resilient bunch of guys, man,” Freeman told ABC’s Molly McGrath after the game. “We always talk about staying in the moment. We don’t control the weather, we don’t control having a two-hour delay. We control what we do when they put the ball down. And I was glad to see them really go out and do a great job with that.”

Hartman shined against a team against he struggled with while at Wake Forest. He completed 15 of 24 passes for 284 yards and four touchdowns to help lead Notre Dame to the victory. Much was made in the lead-up to the game about how Hartman performed against the Wolfpack in the past, bringing a 1-2 record against NC State into the game.

To Freeman, the way he battled back stood out after some stalled drives.

“I think it was the ability to continue to go,” Freeman said. “We started off two three-and-outs, and they were aggressive. They were aggressive all game long. But the ability to get settled down, come out the next series and go and execute, that’s what I was most pleased about.”

The Fighting Irish defense also came through, intercepting Brennan Armstrong three times. Twice, Notre Dame turned those into touchdowns, doing so on back-to-back drives in the second half. But one drive in particular stood out to Freeman.

It happened with 2:06 to play in the third quarter. Hartman fumbled, giving NC State the ball at the Notre Dame 27-yard line. The Fighting Irish could’ve easily let up and allowed a touchdown. Instead, they stood strong, forcing a missed field goal to keep the momentum.

That, according to Freeman, showed Notre Dame’s true colors.

“I think there was a play where our offense fumbled in our territory, and the defense went out there and three plays and forced a missed field goal. And that, to me, was a big turning point in the game,” Freeman said. “Now, we ended up going three-and-out the next series on offense and then, the next series defensively, we had interception. So the ability for them to step up in a tough situation, it’s really good to see.”

Notre Dame is now 3-0 on the young season and will look to build off the performance next week against Central Michigan.