Notre Dame vs. NC State preview: Wolfpack defense will be 'best test we've seen' for Sam Hartman, Irish offense

Through two games, Sam Hartman has looked the part at Notre Dame. The Wake Forest transfer has thrown for 445 yards and six touchdowns even despite sitting out the second half last week against Tennessee State.

This week, though, Hartman and the Fighting Irish will face NC State — their biggest opponent yet. In the process, Fighting Irish fans will learn a lot about their new quarterback and the offense.

Notre Dame opened as a 6.5-point favorite over NC State, according to FanDuel. It could be one of the more interesting games of Week 2 considering how the Fighting Irish offense looked through two tames. It’ll also be interesting to see how NC State defense holds up, which adds to the intrigue.

“This NC State defense will be the best test we’ve seen for Gerad Parker and that Notre Dame offense,” On3’s Andy Staples said on Andy Staples On3. “It’s Tony Gibson, who loves to rush seven or rush three but does not like to tip you off as to which is coming until the snap. That’s the thing. Sam Hartman in that Wake Forest offense, you’re in the slow mesh, you’re trying to wait for a passing lane to pop open. This is a little different. He’s in the shotgun, he’s taking the snap. Theoretically, his line holds up and [in] those rush-three moments, he’s got all day to throw.

“Now, the question is how well does NC State cover? It’s those rush seven moments where you figure out how good is he, how quick is he at thinking, how well does he know this offense because that’s when somebody’s wide open. And he’s gonna get sacked or he’s hitting them.”

For Sirius XM’s Jacob Hester — who picked the Wolfpack to cover while Staples took the Fighting Irish — Hartman vs. the NC State defense is a unique bout because of the way Gibson calls plays. It’s hard to tell what exactly the Wolfpack will do until the play starts. That could make it tougher the Notre Dame offense to pick up on what they’ll face.

Still, considering the hype around Hartman after two games, Hester said he has a chance to prove himself against a proven group.

“It’s the matchup,” Hester said. “And it seems cliche because we could go across a lot of games to talk about quarterback defense, but that’s what it is because Sam Hartman has looked like a Heisman Trophy-type candidate here in the early portion of the season. But this is without question the biggest test that he’ll have and a defense that can confuse you and you’re right, like you don’t know when it’s coming. That’s the best part about it. There’s some of these defenses and certainly once we get to like a 3-3-5 discussion where they just tip their hand and kind of give you an idea of what they’re going to do.

“If you disguise it right — I mean, think about that. The difference between three and seven … we know how confusing that can be. So if Sam Hartman goes out there and he goes to Raleigh and he dominates, then everything that we said in the first couple of weeks will be heightened and it will be true, as well.”