SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Sam Hartman tormented his former team, passing for 277 yards and four touchdowns to lead No. 19 Notre Dame to a 45-7 win over Wake Forest on Saturday.

Notre Dame (8-3) improved to 6-0 all time against Wake Forest (4-7).

Transferring from Wake Forest to Notre Dame for the 2023 season, Hartman leads all active FBS quarterbacks in career touchdowns (132) and passing yardage (15,516).

Hartman moved into fourth place on the all-time NCAA career touchdowns list with his four-TD performance against Wake Forest. He passed Colt Brennan (Hawaii, 2005-07), Rakeem Cato (Marshall, 2011-14) and Baker Mayfield (Texas Tech/Oklahoma, 2013, 2015-17), who were tied with 131.

Hartman is two touchdowns behind Graham Harrell (Texas Tech, 2005-08), who is third with 134. Case Keenum (Houston, 2007-11) is the all-time leader with 155, followed by Kellen Moore (Boise State, 2008-11) at 142.

“I’m just happy for a win,” Hartman said of climbing up the ranks of the NCAA record book.

“When I come back here and (Notre Dame senior associate athletic director Ron Powlus) is showing me and my kids around, I’ll make sure he brings that up pretty organically,” Hartman joked. “That’s about it for me. It’s a credit to everybody. Shoot, it’s a credit to a lot of the guys on the other team what we just played, which is a weird thing to say.”

Forging much of his legacy as the signal-caller for Wake Forest, Hartman owns Demon Deacon records for career completions, attempts, total touchdowns and total yards. One of six players in FBS history to surpass the 15,000-yard mark, Hartman added to his prolific career numbers at the expense of his former team.

“You know, he’s a poster child for consistency,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said.

Freeman appreciated that Hartman handled the distractions of playing Wake Forest.

“It can’t be easy,” Freeman said. “There (are) normal distractions that the human element presents when you play a team, an opponent where you know every person on that side like Sam does.

“It’s different. He was with those guys for five years, with that coaching staff. So for him to be able to put that distraction away and perform the way he did is a testament to who he is and the confidence and consistency that he provides.”

Hartman confirmed that he had to deal with the emotions of senior day and playing against his former teammates.

“It was a weird game,” Hartman said. “To say it was just another game, I’d be lying. I think it was an emotional game.

“I was just happy to see us go out and execute as a football team. Our offense has been dying to do that for the past three or four weeks. For our fans to get a performance by us that I felt was noteworthy and a fun experience is a game I’ll always remember.”

Hartman needed only one play in the third quarter to throw his third passing touchdown of the game, connecting with Eli Raridon for a 19-yard score as the Fighting Irish grabbed a 24-7 lead. Hartman’s fourth TD pass was a 48-yard strike to Jaden Greathouse with 13:24 left.

“He’s a really good player,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. “That’s why Notre Dame went and got him. They’re a program that has the ability to go and do that. … He’s one of the reasons they’re having success this year.”

Backup quarterback Steve Angeli finished off the Irish assault with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Faison with 3:56 left.

Hartman got the Notre Dame offense on track late in the first quarter. He guided the Fighting Irish 71 yards on nine plays, connecting with Devyn Ford for a 12-yard touchdown strike to put Notre Dame ahead 7-0 with :54 left in the quarter.

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Wake Forest answered with a 9-yard scoring run by Tate Carney that evened the score with 11:41 left in the second quarter.

Hartman launched his second touchdown pass — 35 yards to Tobias Merriweather — to give Notre Dame a 14-7 advantage at the 7:06 mark of the second quarter. Spencer Schrader’s 37-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first half pushed the lead to 17-7.

Notre Dame running back Audric Estime rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Estime surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season on his 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Kern got his first start for Wake Forest after replacing Mitch Griffis during last week’s 26-6 loss to North Carolina State. He was 11-of-20 for 81 yards. Kern, who was a backup to Hartman at Wake Forest, shared a few words with his former teammate after the game.

“It was an awesome four years with him,” Kern said of Hartman. “We have a great relationship. Who would have thought that I would have the opportunity to play him. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted.”

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons finish their season Saturday at Syracuse.

Notre Dame: The Irish play at Stanford on Saturday.

Originally Published: Nov 18, 2023 at 6:22 pm