Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541365
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 22, 2025 35 GAME PREVIEW: SYRACUSE BY TYLER HORKA SYRACUSE RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE None of Syracuse's top three ball carriers in terms of rushing attempts are averaging at least 5.0 yards per carry. You'd think at least one of the Orange who have carried the ball at least 50 times would be up over 5.0 yards per carry, but nope. Not one of them. Sophomore Yasin Willis leads Syracuse with 129 carries for 448 yards and 4 touchdowns. Senior Will Nixon has rushed 77 times for 326 yards and 3 scores. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Rickie Collins has 54 rushing attempts for 126 yards and a touchdown. He's lost 109 yards on 15 sacks, though, so if you adjust for all of those quarterback takedowns he's actually ran 39 times for 235 yards. That's an average of 6.0 yards per carry. Collins can scoot, but outside of one big gain here and there, Notre Dame has done pretty well against dual-threat quarterbacks this season. Texas A&M's Marcel Reed, for instance, only ran 7 times for 37 yards. When the game plan has to be "contain the quarterback," Notre Dame tends to contain the quarterback. Good coaching. Good execution. That's what it takes. This is what it comes down to; even with Collins' ability to move, Syracuse ranked No. 126 in the country through 10 games with just 97.62 rushing yards per game. At the same point in the season, Notre Dame ranked tied for 15th in rushing yards allowed per game (102.56). Opposite ends of the spectrum. Give the edge where the edge is due. Advantage: Notre Dame SYRACUSE PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE Picture this: Steve Angeli hasn't played since Syr- acuse's fourth game. So, give him three and a half games played. And give Collins six and a half games played. Angeli still has more passing yards than Collins, and it's not really close; 1,317 to 1,042. Angeli was averaging 8.4 yards per pass attempt. Collins is down at 5.8. Angeli had 10 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Collins has 6 and 10, respec- tively. Angeli was completing 62.8 percent of his passes. Collins is nearly 10 percentage points worse at 53.6. Any way you slice it, Angeli was an answer for the Orange and Collins just has not been. So much so, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown tried to make a change to freshman Joseph Filardi as the starter for the North Carolina game Oct. 31. He com- pleted only 4 of 18 throws for 39 yards without any touchdowns or interceptions. He was sacked three times. Collins started the next week versus Miami and completed 12 of 25 passes for 85 yards with 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Filardi was 3 of 3 for 39 yards with 1 touchdown and no interceptions. We've seen two or more opposing quarterbacks play against Notre Dame because of blowout situ- ations in the second half multiple times this sea- son. The Irish have figured things out with their secondary. It's mainly personnel driven, having a healthy sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore at the forefront of that. But it's also the investment in redshirt freshman safety Tae Johnson and the way he complements redshirt sophomore safety Adon Shuler. We know what junior cornerback Christian Gray can do at his best. Redshirt senior nickel DeVonta Smith is good when he doesn't have a bum calf, too. It'll all be too much for whoever Syracuse trots out there at quarterback, especially if the Orange can't protect him. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. SYRACUSE RUN DEFENSE Let's boil this down in as basic terms as possible. On one hand, you've got the two best running backs in the country in junior Jeremiyah Love and redshirt junior Jadarian Price. Touchdown machines, with 22 rushing scores between them through nine games. Yards after contact machines — yardage ma- chines, period, with both of them sitting at 6.0 yards per carry or better through nine games. They're going against the 98th rushing defense in the nation as of games played through Week 11. Syracuse has allowed at least 200 rushing yards in four of 10 games. North Carolina hadn't rushed for 200 yards in any game this season … until the Tar Heels got to their get-right game versus the Orange. Then they ran for 210. It's not about voluminous numbers with this Notre Dame rushing attack. But if the Irish really On PaPer Junior wide receiver Johntay Cook, a transfer from Texas, is the Orange's leading pass catcher with 41 receptions for 518 yards and 2 touchdowns. PHOTO COURTESY SYRACUSE ATHLETICS