Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1482992
18 NOV. 5, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA T rying to make sense of the 2022 Notre Dame football season is as confusing as it is for a 4-year-old attempting to solve a Rubik's Cube. Not gonna happen. The Fighting Irish, coming off a 16-14 loss to previously 1-4 Stanford and a less than dominant 44-21 win over UNLV in the prior two weeks, went into the noisy JMA Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., and whooped an Orange team that had only lost one game all fall. Notre Dame 41, No. 16 Syracuse 24. Not bad for a 2.5-point underdog. The Irish (5-3) were better when they had the ball, rushing for 246 yards. The Irish were better when the Orange had the ball, allowing only 61 yards rushing and notching their first defensive score of the season. Senior safety Brandon Joseph returned an interception for a touchdown on the very first play from scrimmage. The Irish were also better on special teams, blocking a punt for the third time in the last two games to set up a 2-yard touchdown run for sophomore running back Audric Estime. Sure, it wasn't a day junior quar- terback Drew Pyne would write home about (again), but Notre Dame found a way to beat the No. 16 team in the country quite soundly even with its quarterback completing 9 of 19 pass at- tempts (47.4 percent) for 116 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Football has three phases for a reason. They're all important. And Notre Dame was better than Syracuse in all of them. "I'm really, really proud of our guys," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free- man said. "That's a big win against a really good football team in a hostile en- vironment. It was good to see all three phases — for the most part. "We had some adversity, but all three phases were able to impact the game in a certain way." This is the same Syracuse team that just last week took undefeated Clemson to the wire in South Carolina's version of Death Valley. Clemson barely escaped in its home venue at which it has won an FBS-record 38 times in a row. Now those 8-0 Tigers trek to South Bend. The Irish's demolition of the Orange should have Freeman and company thinking they can at least compete with Clemson — but only if Notre Dame fig- ures out why it has played so much bet- ter away from the friendly confines of the "House That Rockne Built" than it has within them. FIRST QUARTER NOTRE DAME 7, SYRACUSE 7 Top Moment: Joseph, a transfer from Northwestern, intercepted Syra- cuse quarterback Garrett Shrader on the first play from scrimmage and returned it 29 yards for an opening score. Feature Performer: Estime ran 6 times for 36 yards one game after he was benched for losing his third fumble in the last four games. He set the tone early for the Irish ground game. Stats: Notre Dame outgained Syra- cuse 81 to 60 in total yards. The Irish racked up 5 penalties for 50 yards, while the Orange had 0 penalties. Notre Dame possessed the ball for 9:03 and ran 16 plays to Syracuse's 13 plays. Notre Dame averaged 5.1 yards per play and Syracuse averaged 4.6 yards per play. Items: Notre Dame was hit for 30 yards of penalties following the Joseph TD on unsportsmanlike conduct after the score and a face mask foul on the kickoff; Syracuse only had to go 53 yards to tie the game, and the Orange did so rather easily … Graduate student kicker Blake Grupe missed a 39-yard field goal after an 11- play, 55-yard drive for the Irish. SECOND QUARTER NOTRE DAME 21, SYRACUSE 7 Top Moment: Pyne hit junior tight end Michael Mayer for a gain of 37 yards down the right sideline. He hit Mayer on the next throw for 11 yards and sopho- more wide receiver Jayden Thomas for a 3-yard touchdown to complete a se- quence of three perfect passes in a row. Notre Dame went ahead 21-7 with 17 seconds left in the half. Feature Performer: Mayer was tar- geted 5 times in the second quarter. He caught 3 passes for 54 yards, which was his final stat line. He led Notre Dame in both categories. Stats: Notre Dame outgained Syra- cuse 144 to 13 in total yards. Notre Dame was balanced, passing for 83 and rush- ing for 61. The Irish had 1 penalty for 5 yards, while Syracuse had 0 penalties. Notre Dame possessed the ball for 9:45 and ran 23 plays to Syracuse's 15. The Irish averaged 6.3 yards per play. The Orange averaged 0.9 yards per play. Items: Sophomore Logan Diggs scored his first rushing touchdown of the season to give the Irish a 14-7 lead … Pyne threw his fourth interception of the season … The Irish defense allowed only 1 first down. THIRD QUARTER NOTRE DAME 24, SYRACUSE 17 Top Moment: Grupe connected from 31 yards out to push the Irish's lead to 24-7 with 7:41 left in the frame. Feature Performer: Diggs rushed 7 times for 26 yards. Stats: Syracuse outgained Notre Dame 118 to 52 in total yards. Notre Dame did not complete a pass and was 0 of 4 on third down. The Irish pos- sessed the ball for 9:07 and ran 17 plays to Syracuse's 15, but the Orange aver- aged 7.9 yards per play to the Irish's 3.1. Items: Notre Dame punted from the Syracuse 40 on the first possession of the second half … Syracuse went three and out on its first drive of the second half … Notre Dame settled for the field goal after starting that drive on the Syracuse 35; Pyne could not find Mayer on third-and-6 from the Syracuse 13 ORANGE YA GLAD? Notre Dame dominates Syracuse from start to finish en route to 41-24 victory Sophomore running back Audric Estime carried the ball 20 times for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns, and the Irish outrushed the Orange 246-61. PHOTO BY JOSHUA BESSEX