Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 NOV. 22, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: SYRACUSE lapse. "You look at just a couple plays they're gonna make, because they have playmakers. If you don't make that throw at the end of the half — I think the first play, we should've ran the ball." Collins eventually gave way to Filardi in mop-up duty, and at this point, the quarterback situation in upstate New York is beyond saving until Angeli comes back next year. "We just felt Rickie would have given us the best opportunity of being able to compete," Brown said. "[His perfor- mance was] sometimes good, some- times bad. It was a mixture. It was up and down." HOPE FOR 2026? Defensively, Syracuse has struggled against both the run (116th in the country in yards per carry) and the pass (tied for 97th in yards per attempt). There are few silver linings for a unit that has neither the talent nor the experience to compete with the upper echelon of the ACC. At least, none that will save the Or- ange in 2025. In 2026, though, Syracuse will return defensive back Demetres Samuel Jr., who has 42 tackles, 8 passes defended and an interception as a 17-year-old true freshman. He plays some offense, too, and returns punts. Samuel is likely one of the better young college football players you've never heard of, and he still believes in Brown. "I'm here," Samuel said, according to Syracuse.com. "I'm trying to build something. I think next year, we got a lot of talent coming in. I feel like we're going to shock a lot of people next year." Samuel was one of four true fresh- men whom Brown named team captains for the Miami game. Doing so, Brown explained, was a nod toward the future. "We're building a program," Brown said. "I've been saying that since the beginning, but we're trying to build a program." ✦ 1. The Present Looks Bleak, But The Future Might Not Be Former Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli can and likely will return to lead Syracuse in 2026, and, yes, the Irish and Orange do meet again that season — on a date yet to be announced, in Syracuse. But what will the team around Angeli look like? What it looked like this year at 3-1 with him and 0-6 without him, post- Achilles tendon tear, is a team with the third-most players — 19 — in the FBS who made their first career starts this season. That includes 17-year-old starting cornerback Demetres Samuel Jr., who reclassified recruiting classes and enrolled early at Syracuse in January as a 16-year-old. He then became just the fourth Orange freshman since 1985 to start in the defensive backfield in a season opener. He's the second-youngest player in the FBS, and 27 days older than Auburn kicker Kail Ellis. Angeli, meanwhile, threw for 1,317 yards in his four games starting for Syr- acuse. He completed 98 of 156 throws with 10 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and a 152.3 pass efficiency rating. His replacement, LSU transfer Rickie Col- lins, has a rating of more than 50 points lower (101.84). Collins has connected on 97 of 181 passes for 1,042 yards and 6 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. 2. There's A Short History In This Series But A Twisted One Short, as in 11 games total, with four at neutral sites and with the first meeting actually way back in 1914, the season after Knute Rockne's playing career ended. The last eight have been staged since 2003, and Notre Dame has won the last five. The oddest one came just before the five-game win streak started — on a frigid Senior Day in 2008, in which snow fell so rapidly and heavily in South Bend on the eve and day of the game that the stadium crew couldn't keep up with it. Syracuse came in as a 20-point underdog, with a lame-duck coach in Greg Robinson and a former walk-on as its default starting quarterback, Cameron Dantley. And yes, he is the son of former Irish All-American basketball player Adrian Dantley. Syracuse's 24-23 upset of the Irish and the ensuing 38-3 blowout loss at Southern Cal the following November Saturday nearly cost head coach Charlie Weis his job. Meanwhile, the Notre Dame Stadium crowd pelted Notre Dame's own play- ers with snowballs, especially in the second half. A top recruit taking an official visit did not come to the game with proper winter attire, so he missed getting hit with the snowballs and took in the second half in a recruiting lounge. A little more than two months later, one of the best defensive players in Notre Dame history, linebacker Manti Te'o, signed with Notre Dame anyway. 3. The Schedule-Maker Did The Orange No Favors Four of the 12 participants in last season's College Football Playoff ap- peared on Syracuse's 2025 schedule, and all four of those games were played away from home. The Orange played Tennessee in Atlanta, and Clemson and SMU on the road, before visiting Notre Dame this coming weekend. Additionally, Syracuse drew some of the ACC's top teams on the road, in Georgia Tech and Miami, and had a home game with Pitt to deal with. All 11 of the Orange's FBS opponents played in a bowl game or playoff game in 2024, and six of them won nine games or more. — Eric Hansen Former Irish quarterback Steve Angeli threw for 329.3 yards per game with 10 touchdowns and 2 interceptions while leading the Orange to a 3-1 record, but since he has been lost for the season due to an Achilles tendon tear they have gone 0-6. PHOTO COURTESY SYRACUSE ATHLETICS Three Things To Know About Syracuse