SOUTH BEND − It seems like just yesterday, or at least the day before that, that we were waiting for everything about Notre Dame football to unfold.
Waiting for word on the starting quarterback. Waiting for the opener at Miami (Fla.) over Labor Day weekend. Waiting for the Irish to secure their first win after opening 0-2. Waiting …
The first week turned into the second which turned into the third and right on down the line. Winners of three straight, No. 16 Notre Dame (3-2) barrels toward the midway point of the 2025 regular season with the second of three straight home games, the sandwiched one against North Carolina State (4-2).
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The following are four players to keep an eye on Saturday.
NORTH CAROLINA STATE WOLFPACK (2-2)
LB Caden Fordham (1)
A game that should be just another on the schedule and mean next to nothing for the graduate student from Ponte Vedra, Florida might mean everything.
In many ways, the seventh game of the season – this season, his last season – is a benchmark for Fordham, the team’s leading tackler whose 59 stops are 15 more than the next closet Wolfpack tackler.
It was after the sixth game last season, during the week, when Fordham suffered an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. It was so severe that Fordham, also the team’s leading tackler after six games, wouldn’t play a seventh. Or an eighth. Or any more in 2024. His season effectively ended with his team-best 49 tackles, which included 11 against Louisiana Tech and 13 against Northern Illinois.
The 6-foot1, 230-pound Fordham is back and maybe better than ever. He’s already tallied at least nine tackles in four of the six Wolfpack games. That includes a career-best 15 stops in the loss at Virginia Tech. The last time Notre Dame and North Carolian State met, in 2023, Fordham finished with five tackles.
He plays. He makes plays. As he goes, so goes the NC State defense.
RB Hollywood Smothers (3)
If nothing else, Notre Dame may not face another highlight guy with such a catchy/fitting name.
Name aside, and for the record, Smothers’ given name is Daylan, which you will find nowhere in his bio on the NC State website, this guy’s good. Game-breaker good. Marcus Freeman mentioned it Monday. Smothers and his 115.0 yards rushing per game will be a handful. He’s also tied for second on the Pack with 21 receptions for 124 yards. He leads State with six scores.
Smothers spent less than one full season at Oklahoma in 2023 before deciding to redshirt after 11 carries for 42 yards. Landing in Raleigh from the portal last season, all Smothers did was start the last six games and average 6.4 yards per carry, sixth best in school history. He had at least 100 all-purpose yards in four of those six games.
Smothers has rushed for 123 yards or more in four of the last five games, including 164 at Wake Forest. Last week against Campbell, he carried four times and gained 123 yards. Notre Dame has not allowed an opposing back to hit for at least 100 this season. Smothers will test that streak something serious Saturday.
No. 16 NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (3-2)
WR Jordan Faison (6)
From gadget guy to big-play guy seemingly overnight.
It was barely two years ago when Faison announced his arrival on the college football stage in Louisville by running only a few routes and still making catches. Like, wait, who’s that No. 80 (his previous number). A lacrosse guy? Huh?
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound junior has gone from lax standout to football standout. Faison is coming off the Boise State game in which he was targeted seven times with six catches for 83 yards, all team highs. In the last three games, he’s made five, seven and six catches after a combined seven through the first two weeks.
With 25 catches for 327 yards and two scores, Faison is the team’s leading receiver in a room stacked with some serious talent. He’s developed a connection with quarterback CJ Carr, who just knows that if all else fails, find No. 6.
Faison runs with the ball like he runs with a lacrosse stick. He bounces off guys. He spins. He finds daylight. He finishes plays. Maybe best of all, a lot of what he does now is no longer a novelty. It’s like, yep, he’s a football player. A good one at that.
DE Boubacar Traore (5)
One day after Notre Dame’s most complete victory at Arkansas marked the one-year anniversary of a day that defensive end Boubacar Traore would like to forget.
September 28, 2024, was the day that Traore suffered a season-ending left knee injury at home against Louisville. They say it takes a full year to recover from that injury to the point where you feel confident and you feel healthy and you feel like your old self. That Traore has passed that date is good news for him and the Irish, bad news for opposing teams.
Now five games into 2025, Traore already has registered career numbers. He has 20 tackles, including 11 solos. He has 4.5 tackles for loss for 27 yards (both tops on the team) and 3.5 sacks for 26 (also Irish bests). He also has a program-best three quarterback hurries.
The 6-4, 250-pound Boston native seems to be getting better on a defense that also seems to be getting better. The Irish have allowed an average of 10.0 points over the last two games. They’ve delivered dominant stretches of 33 and 34 consecutive minutes without allowing points.
More from the defense, and from Traore, may be yet to come.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Who to watch when Notre Dame football hosts North Carolina State
Reporting by Tom Noie, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
