Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Staff Picks

Another week, and another game for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the world is still skeptical of the Domers. It’s their own fault, and until they start laying waste to those that deserve to get wasted, there will be plenty of those doubters.

Bring on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

This season, instead of everyone picking five or six games with little to no explanation, the staff will pick the Notre Dame game AND one other team they have each chosen to follow this season, and will give predictions for that game as well.

I highly encourage you (our loyal readers) to do the same. In the comments below, give your prediction for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish AND take another team to follow and predict. Maybe you watch the Florida Gators on the side, or the Ohio State Buckeyes or the Boise State Broncos — whoever. Join in and expand your love of Notre Dame Football into college football as a whole.

Here we go...

Pat Sullivan

Notre Dame Fighting Irish 28, Wake Forest Demon Deacons 20

In this Irish defense, I trust. Huge games from the Julians (Love and Okwara), Jerry, and Alohi cause just enough havoc within the Wake offense to prevent the Demon Deacons from scoring enough to keep pace with another strong game from Tony Jones Jr. and a couple big plays from Miles Boykin, giving the Irish the edge in the end.

Florida Atlantic Owls 38, UCF Knights 34

Joey Freshwater is hungry for a big, statement, upset win after the Oklahoma opener went so poorly. Look for our Owls to soar to new heights and take down the Knights on the road, improving to 3-1 on the season.

Jeff Czerniakowski

Notre Dame 27, Wake Forest 20.

Am I confident Notre Dame will blow out Wake Forest? No. Do I feel like they will ever be in doubt of losing? Also, no. I see ND taking an early lead and relying on the defense and running game to hold on.

Toledo Rockets 41, Nevada Wolfpack 28

The rockets put up a good fight last week against the Miami Hurricanes, but their offensive fire power proved to be too much. Against a team of similar talent, I see a big bounce back for Toledo.

Joe Londergan

Notre Dame 31, Wake Forest Demon Deacons 21

Hopefully, Notre Dame’s offense can clean things up a bit. Wake Forest has scored quite a few points through the first three games (23, 51, 34) so this should be another good test for the defense. I don’t think that’s an insurmountable task for the Irish though.

Oregon State Beavers 28, Arizona Wildcats 34

The Beavers are playing well, they just have an issue with playing a complete game. The young defense is going to have issues defending dual-threat QB Khalil Tate. They’ll put up some points with how well Jermar Jefferson is running the ball and receivers like Isaiah Hodgins are playing though. It’s coming together for Jonathan Smith...just slowly.

Martin Sweigert

Notre Dame 33, Wake Forest 30

Notre Dame has been remarkably consistent with the “look and feel” of their games so far in 2018, we know this. Those games were at Notre Dame. This thing is happening on the road. It’s happening at noon. It’s on a different network. The Irish won’t have the strong start we’ve seen, but they will bounce back in the 2nd half and snatch the undefeated streak from a valiant Wake Forest effort.

TCU Horned Frogs 33, Texas Longhorns 30

I was reading up on the Longhorns on Burnt Orange Nation and one comment thread had a long discussion about whether or not Notre Dame was a Power 5 team, recalling the Texas OT win. So much for insight, but score one for Notre Dame’s relevance. It is clear to me that picking Texas as my adopted team is going to provide all the emotional fluctuation I can handle. They can’t beat Maryland, they squeak by Tulsa, then they punish the Trojans (warming my heart). Even with the win, I think TCU losing to Ohio State by 12 says more about TCU being good than beating a team in freefall.

Jessica Smetana

Notre Dame 24, Wake Forest 17

I have picked this final score twice in the last three weeks and been correct 2 times (off by two points last weekend but whatever). Notre Dame will go up by two touchdowns in the first quarter but Wake will come back late in the 3rd and make it an interesting game. The Irish will eek by with a win, despite a tense fourth quarter. Just a hunch.

Clemson Tigers 35, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 10

Clemson hasn’t been putting up HUGE numbers on opponents this season and I think they’ll continue this trend on Saturday with GT. With Tech relying heavily on their run game, this won’t be a high-scoring shootout game, but Clemson will win easily.

Billy Gorman

Notre Dame 27, Wake Forest 14

Three weeks into the season and we still aren’t sure how good (if?) this Notre Dame team is. Their first road game this week should provide some more answers but still may not give us the whole picture. I expect Notre Dame to continue to play solid defense and work to find their offensive identity. It won’t be a blowout, and I’m not sure we can expect any game this season to be, but the Irish walk away with a win by more than a touchdown.

Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns 34, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 31

After a rough week against a ranked SEC opponent I expect ULL to bounce back in their first Sun Belt contest of the season. Expect the Ragin’ Cajuns to pull out a close matchup with a lot of scoring in true Fun Belt fashion, just as long as they aren’t looking ahead to Alabama next weekend already.

Austin Gallagher

Notre Dame 37, Wake Forest 20

3 weeks in, and 3 one score games later, we have more questions than answers about this Notre Dame team. But, I’m picking the Irish to win a comfortable one here in the expectation that they will begin to work through their issues this week against the Demon Deacons. I mean, the Irish have to figure it out eventually, right?

Washington Huskies 31, Arizona State Sun Devils 17

The Sun Devil’s are a bit of a wild card here, but I’ll side with talent on this one. The Huskies just have too much for Arizona State to keep up with, and they should control this game from start to finish.

Jude Seymour

Notre Dame 25, Wake Forest 23

The Demon Deacons like to play fast. They ran 105 plays during their last game against the Boston College Eagles, which would be eight more than the all-time record of plays run against Notre Dame -- set just two weeks ago by the Ball State Cardinals. The defense will be gassed, and it will require a last minute missed field goal or turnover on downs to ensure victory. I have zero confidence in the offense scoring in the fourth quarter, so expect most of these 25 points to come before halftime.

Colorado Buffaloes 35, UCLA Bruins 13

If losing their third game to open the season wasn’t humiliating enough, Bruins QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s dad started chirping on Twitter about Chip Kelly being a fraud. The Bruins haven’t opened a year with four losses since 1971, when they went 2-7-1. I don’t think a bye week is going to fix the fundamental problems with the UCLA roster, from top to bottom. They get 13 days to figure out how the hell to stop Laviska Shenault, who is tearing up the league for the Buffaloes. This game isn’t until Friday, Sept. 28, but I’m calling my shot now. The Buffs prevail.

Wes Sweigert

Notre Dame 35, Wake Forest 24

Last week, Wake Forest gave up 41 points to Backup Boston College, who amassed 300 yards passing and over 200 yards rushing... Surely the braintrust of Chip Long and Brian Kelly can come within a touchdown of that number, right?

Navy Midshipmen 37, SMU Mustangs 31

SMU put 20 points up on the over-hyped Michigan defense, not all of which were in garbage time. However they only scored 12 on Gary Patterson’s TCU Horned Frogs. Navy’s defense is nowhere near either of those schools and SMU should see their highest point total of the season, albeit in a losing effort to the Midshipmen.

Philip Gough

Notre Dame 34, Wake Forest 24

This game will never feel as close as the final score. Notre Dame will be in control, but give up a very late touchdown to bring Wake within 7. Notre Dame clinches with a field goal, similar to last week though Yoon nails it.

Holy Cross 31, Dartmouth 20

Holy Cross follows up an emotional win with a a decisive victory against Dartmouth. Difficult not to win while wearing these HOT FIRE ALL BLACK UNIs.

Lisa Kelly

Notre Dame 38, Wake Forest 14

I foresee a statement win for Notre Dame on Saturday against Wake Forest. Notre Dame comes out big, scores often, and only allows Wake Forest to score twice. Also, Brandon Wimbush will be the starter. No more letting teams run up scores in the second half. No more unproductive offense in the second half. Notre Dame takes care of business this week. Go Irish!

Arkansas Razorbacks 7, Auburn Tigers 42

After watching Arkansas in person last weekend, I fear they many not win any more games this season. There may be one more win on the horizon, but this week is not it. The Arkansas Razorbacks face the Auburn Tigers on the road, and it’s not going to be pretty. I am hoping that they can squeeze out one score, but even that may be wishful thinking. They need to figure out who their go-to quarterback is, and figure it out fast, because last week’s merry-go-round of quarterbacks made all of our heads spin. Maybe DVR this one and watch it later? Go Hogs!

Brad Wechter

Notre Dame 28, Wake Forest 10

I think the offense breaks through in this one, simply because it will be easy against the Wake defense. As a result, the Irish win by what we may consider a blowout for this team, given their propensity for close but never really that close games.

Miami-Ohio Redhawks 13, Bowling Green Falcons 31

Yep. Faith lost in the RedHawks. Why did I do this to myself? Bowling Green put up points on Oregon in a loss, was blown out by Maryland, and outscored Eastern Kentucky so far this season. I think they’ll be better than Miami on Saturday.

Lino Garcia

Notre Dame 24, Wake Forest 10

The Irish play away from Notre Dame Stadium for the first time all season, and coming off two games that ended up being closer than they should have been, Brian Kelly is looking to have his team limit their mistakes. Notre Dame has never lost to Wake Forest, and this is too talented of a team to be the first. Irish win by two touchdowns.

Eastern Michigan Eagles 35, San Diego State Aztecs 34

Mike Glass III came close to leading the Eagles to a comeback in Buffalo last week but fell just short. There’s a lot to be excited about with this offense this season. This week, they face a tough test traveling all the way to San Diego to face SDSU. The Aztecs have to feel confident after only losing by a touchdown to the Arizona State Sun Devils this week, but I’m predicting EMU gets back to their winning ways in another close one.

Joshua Vowles

Notre Dame 38, Wake Forest 17

I’m not sure why I’m sticking with my previous score. Now that there is a weird quarterback thing going on, you can almost expect more weirdness. Still... Notre Dame is better than Wake Forest and people need to stop shivering like some wimpy bastard in the rain. I’m ashamed that I didn’t offer up a 52-10 score. What the hell is wrong with us? Don’t answer that.

Wyoming Cowboys BYE WEEK

Matt Greene

Notre Dame 37, Wake Forest 30

This is a weird one to me. I think I could see the two teams scoring more points. Even with the Irish defense being a strong point, they play a bit of a sloppier game. Offense finally gets into the 30s, but this game is close like the other ones.

Central Michigan Chippewas 31, Maine Bears 24

The Chips have started 0-3, but they get an FCS opponent to come into Kelly-Shorts Stadium. Even with the bad start to the season, I foresee a home win against Maine. It’s sad that their only win in the first half of the season could come against and FCS school (they next play Michigan State and then Buffalo, who is 3-0). However, they at least bounce back here for a win.