Why Notre Dame vs. NC State is a ‘sneaky game’ for both teams

Notre Dame and NC State will each get a serious challenge early on when they face off with one another on September 9th. That’s why, heading into the season, On3’s J.D. PicKell is highlighting that matchup for both squads.

PicKell deemed the Fighting Irish’s road trip to Raleigh as an under the radar contest during a segment of ‘The Hard Count’ last week. With two games under their belt at that point, he sees this as Notre Dame’s first true hurdle of Marcus Freeman’s second season considering the opponent and the start time.

“For Notre Dame? This is going to be their first real test. Prior to this game, they go overseas and play Navy in Dublin, Ireland. Then you go and play Tennessee State. Then you place NC State,” said PicKell. “No knock on Navy, no knock on Tennessee State but NC State will bring a very different vibe to the table here.”

“This will be a very different kind of atmosphere for Notre Dame,” PicKell continued. “We all understand that sleepy noon kick. You kind of wander in there. Notre Dame is probably 2-0.”

However, NC State’s offense is the real reason that PicKell thinks things could get interesting between these two inside Carter-Finley. If the connection between Brennan Armstrong and Robert Anae reignites early, he thinks a lot of pressure will then fall upon Notre Dame to find points in a hurry.

“Here’s the real thing I’m watching here in this game: Brennan Armstrong, transferring from Virginia, is now reunited with his former offensive coordinator Robert Anae. And you say why is this important? Well, Brennan Armstrong and Robert Anae, when they were at Virginia? They produced more fireworks than a bad eighth grader behind the middle school on the Fourth of July,” said PicKell. “Like, they were popping off. Over 40 total touchdowns for Brennan Armstrong in that season.”

“If you remember correctly now? Rewind the tape. Brennan Armstrong was on a lot of people’s sleeper Heisman lists heading into 2022. That was the kind of buzz around him. Then you lose your OC and Brennan Armstrong was just a totally different version from what we have seen from him,” PicKell continued. “If Robert Anae and Brennan Armstrong can recreate that magic and do score a lot of points? Well, guess what? That puts pressure on Notre Dame to answer scores and that puts a lot of pressure, specifically, on that wide receiver room of Notre Dame that is, really, very much so unproven.”

Notre Dame’s offense, which was already Top-50 overall a season ago, should only be that much better with Sam Hartman at quarterback. Even so, if his weapons don’t step up, PicKell thinks the Wolfpack could have enough firepower to sneak up on the Irish or beat them outright.

“This is a game where if you see NC State in the realm of scoring like 35 points, 38 points? That’s a game where you’re flipping through the ticker and you say, ‘Woah? NC State’s up how much on Notre Dame? They’re up by 10 going into the fourth quarter?’. That’s going to put some pressure now on that Notre Dame offense to be more explosive,” PicKell said. “That’s why you brought Sam Hartman to South Bend but it’s not something that they’ve consistently done at Notre Dame.”

“I don’t know how that looks for Notre Dame. I truly don’t. There’s a path there for NC State to make that thing very interesting,” said PicKell. “You would imagine that they’re a home dog for a sleepy kick. It’s going to be a very, very good football game. Circle that one.”

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