Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1482992
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 5, 2022 21 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: C- Don't let the final score fool you. Notre Dame still had a tough time throwing the football against Syracuse. For the third straight game, junior quarterback Drew Pyne completed 50 percent or less of his passes. He connected on 9 of 19 throws (47.4 per- cent) for 116 yards with 1 touchdown pass and 1 interception. The pick came on a forced attempt to junior tight end Michael Mayer, who got one hand on the ball high above his head and tipped it into the arms of one of many Orange defensive players swarming around him. Bad decision by Pyne. He had a few of those yet again. He did connect with Mayer on a 37-yard go route. It was perfectly placed. Then he found Mayer for 11 more yards to set up a goal-to-go situation. He capped the sequence off with a 3-yard touchdown toss to sophomore wide receiver Jayden Thomas on a well-crafted play-action call. Pyne is very much up and down of late. Hit or miss. He's got to be better, but it might just be who he is. Of note, sophomore wide receiver Deion Colzie notched his first 3 receptions of the season for 44 yards. He moved the chains on third-and-6 with on a drive Notre Dame eventually scored a touch- down on. Colzie's play was a plus for the Irish. NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: A- Ground and pound. Notre Dame ran 56 times for 246 yards, and that's including 1 sack for a loss of 1 yard and two kneel downs. Without those plays, the Irish ran 53 times for 249 yards — an average of 4.7 yards per carry. That's not a flashy figure, but it's an effective one when a team commits to running the ball as much as Notre Dame did against the Orange. Sophomore running back Audric Estime bounced back from a stretch of losing 3 fumbles in four games with 20 carries for 123 yards and 2 touch- downs. Fellow sophomore Logan Diggs ran 20 times for 85 yards and 1 score. Junior Chris Tyree only had 8 carries for 23 yards, but he didn't need to have a big day with his fellow running backs performing well as they did. That's been the case for Notre Dame multiple times in 2022. When two of the three Irish tail- backs are churning out yards and touchdowns, it's usually a winning formula. All three is just a bonus. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: B+ Can we interest anyone in a pick-six on the first play of the game? Senior safety Brandon Joseph got the Irish off on the right foot. When Syracuse pulled within one touchdown in the second half, it was Joseph's score that was the difference at that point. It was a huge play in the game. Another huge play in the game, when Notre Dame was still only up by 1 touchdown in the fourth quar- ter, came when senior defensive tackle Howard Cross III tipped a pass and senior linebacker Marist Liufau dove to intercept it. The Irish outscored the Orange 17-7 from that point forward. Syracuse used senior Garrett Shrader at quarter- back in the first half and redshirt freshman Carlos Del Rio-Wilson in the second half. Shrader left with an undisclosed injury after completing only 5 of 14 passes for 35 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 inter- ception. Del Rio-Wilson provided more explosion in the passing game, but that could have been a byproduct of the Orange needing to air it out while trailing. He connected on 11 of 22 throws for 190 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. It was a decent day turned great for the Irish passing defense with the 2 takeaways. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: A Syracuse didn't run much in the second half while trailing. Notre Dame only allowed 61 yards on the ground on 25 carries. Syracuse workhorse running back Sean Tucker carried 16 times for 60 yards. The Irish didn't let him beat them. And Notre Dame didn't give up running lanes for Shrader, a dangerous dual- threat, to take off and run through. It was a solid day for the front seven. NOTRE DAME SPECIAL TEAMS: A+ Is there something better than an A+? OK, graduate student kicker Blake Grupe missed a 39-yard field goal. But he also made attempts from 31 and 20 yards out. One of the biggest plays of the game was junior cornerback Clarence Lewis' punt block that set the Irish up on the Syracuse 2-yard line. Estime punched in his second score of the game to put Notre Dame up 38-17 with 7:47 left. Lewis' punt block effectively ended the game. Special teams for the win. NOTRE DAME COACHING: A Give the coaching staff credit. Notre Dame has somehow played its best football of 2022 away from South Bend. UNC in Chapel Hill, N.C.? Check. BYU in Las Vegas? Check. Syracuse in the JMA Dome in Central New York on a day in which the 6-1 start of a previously dormant program was supposed to be celebrated? Check. All wins for the Irish. The only defeat away from home was the 21-10 loss at No. 2 Ohio State in the season opener, a game the Irish led in the fourth quarter. Head coach Marcus Freeman is pulling the right strings on the road. Now he just needs to do so at home — especially with undefeated Clemson coming to town. REPORT CARD BY TYLER HORKA Junior cornerback Clarence Lewis blocked a punt against Syracuse to give the Irish 3 in a two-game stretch and 5 for the season. PHOTO BY JOSHUA BESSEX