Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEMNotre Dame running back Jonas Gray joked that coach Brian Kelly “wants us to win the ACC.”
Of course, the Fighting Irish aren’t in the ACC ó though you couldn’t tell that from their November schedule.
They begin a stretch of three straight games against teams from the same ACC division Saturday night when they visit Wake Forest. Following that are matchups with fellow Atlantic Division members Maryland and Boston College.
“Now that you mention it, it seems like Notre Dame may be trying to make a statement to the ACC,” Wake Forest receiver Terence Davis said, laughing. “It’ll be a tough stretch for them. The ACC is no easy conference.”
That league certainly hasn’t offered much resistance to Notre Dame through the years. The Irish are a combined 78-31-2 against the 10 current ACC teams they’ve faced, and are .500 or better against eight of them.
In the first of three scheduled meetings between the schools through 2014, Wake Forest (5-3) hopes to at least give the Irish (5-3) a tougher test than last week’s opponent did. Notre Dame rolled up 442 total yards in a 56-14 rout of Navy.
Both teams have sophomore quarterbacks who want to get the ball in the hands of big-play receivers.
For Notre Dame, Tommy Rees has progressed since taking over from senior Dayne Crist and threw for 237 yards against Navy.
Wake Forest counters with Tanner Price, a lefty who is looking to bounce back from a three-interception performance against North Carolina and has thrown seven passes of at least 35 yards to deep threat Chris Givens.
“They’re both learning,” Kelly said of Rees and Price.