The No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish face their penultimate ACC test Saturday when they host Wake Forest. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET, with television coverage on NBC.
How to watch Wake Forest vs. Notre Dame on TV or online, plus 3 things to know
The No. 4 Fighting Irish try to stay in the playoff mix against the Demon Deacons. Here’s how to see it.
Notre Dame climbed into the College Football Playoff Committee bracket this week, moving up a spot past one-loss LSU following a win at Pitt. The Irish are now 8-1 on the season, with their sole loss coming at No. 1 Clemson. Quarterback DeShone Kizer, who only took over when original starter Malik Zaire was lost for the season due to injury, is beginning to get some quiet Heisman Trophy buzz.
Wake Forest enters Saturday at 3-6 overall, 1-5 in the ACC, and losers of five of their previous six games. The Demon Deacons have struggled on offense, failing to score more than 20 points in all but two of their games this season and ranking 111th nationally in total offense.
How to watch, stream and listen
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, NBC (Dan Hicks, Doug Flutie, Kathryn Tappen)
Radio: Wake Forest and Notre Dame affiliates available
Online streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra
Spread: Notre Dame favored by 27 points.
Make friends: Get to SB Nation’s team blog chats for this game at One Foot Down (for Notre Dame fans) and Blogger So Dear (for Wake Forest fans).
Three big things to know
A Cold November. Notre Dame ran the table to a BCS National Championship berth in 2012. In the two seasons since, though, the Irish are a combined 1-6 in regular season games played after November 7. That includes an 0-4 skid to end the 2014 season featuring losses to unranked Northwestern and USC.
Style Points. The Irish have just three games left this season: ACC also-rans Wake Forest and Boston College, and a potential playoff-deciding date with Stanford in the season finale. While the rest of the potential playoff participants are playing in conference championship games or, in the case of the Big 12, would-be championship games, Notre Dame will be sitting home. If Brian Kelly’s squad is going to maintain its current position in the Playoff, it needs bucketloads of style points in these next three weeks.
What About Dave? Let’s start with this: Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson is not on the hot seat. He is just 6-14 in less than two seasons with the Demon Deacons, but winning at Wake Forest is practically impossible (the last coach to leave Winston-Salem with a winning record was Peahead Walker in 1950). Wake Forest is young, and has room to improve next season. But little of that matters against a top 4 opponent.
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