Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 29, 2025 19 BY JACK SOBLE AND TYLER JAMES J eremiyah Love hit the Heisman pose after reaching the end zone at Notre Dame Stadium for what might be the final time. His path there looked like many of the other touchdowns, although this one — a 68-yarder — tied him with Jerome Bettis for the most in a single season in program history with 20. He saw a mas- sive lane up the middle, hitting the gas as he streaked into the secondary. Once he cleared the second level, the center field safety thought he had an angle and quickly realized he was wrong. "The previous two touchdowns, I feel like they weren't good enough for that celebration," Love said. "It was already in my mind I was gonna do it if I hap- pened to break a long one." Notre Dame distributed pamphlets to every media member at the Syracuse game, laying out the case for Love to win the Heisman Trophy. It gave him all the airtime it possibly could in postgame interviews, too. As always, the junior running back let his play do the talking with 171 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 8 carries. So did the rest of the Irish, who strengthened their case for the College Football Playoff and utterly crushed the Orange. No. 9 Notre Dame annihilated Syracuse 70-7 on Senior Day, winning its ninth straight game and improving to 9-2. "I haven't been a part of a game like that," Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. "I don't know if I've ever seen any- thing like that." While Love is the headliner, his ser- vices were not exactly required: The Irish led the Orange 21-0 before they played an offensive snap. On the second play from scrimmage, Syracuse true freshman quarterback Jo- seph Filardi stared down a receiver over the middle and threw it right into the hands of redshirt senior Notre Dame safety Jalen Stroman. Stroman, starting for injured redshirt freshman Tae John- son (hand), read Filardi all the way and blitzed the coverage. He took it 44 yards for a touchdown, and he wasn't done. The Orange's ensuing possession ended with a punt, which Stroman de- flected into the hands of junior safety Luke Talich near the left sideline. Talich walked into the end zone, giving Notre Dame a 14-0 lead. Filardi got the ball back and decided to test junior Irish cornerback Leonard Moore, which is a mistake under any circumstances. Moore intercepted the walk-on signal-caller on the right side- line, kept his footing and waltzed to pay dirt, essentially ending the game before Love so much as touched a football. "I've never been a part of something like that, but that was a great feeling," Moore said. "Especially scoring defen- sive touchdowns, that's something that gives you confidence and momentum." Stroman, Talich and Moore jump- started an evening of unprecedented dominance from Notre Dame. The Irish set a program record for most points in the first quarter with 35, and they reached 42 four seconds into the second. Syracuse won time of possession 41:50-18:10, because Notre Dame usu- ally scored as soon as it got the ball. The Irish averaged 10.2 yards per play to the Orange's 2.6. Redshirt freshman quar- terback CJ Carr threw for only 49 yards, because Notre Dame ran for 13.7 yards per carry. Love, redshirt junior Jadarian Price (4 carries for 70 yards and a touch- down) and sophomore Aneyas Williams (3 for 39 and a score) gashed the Syracuse on the ground, behind an offensive line that mauled its opposition. It was pure, unadulterated carnage in all facets of the game. Redshirt soph- omore quarterback Kenny Minchey capped it off with a 25-yard scramble for 70, which is the most points Notre Dame has scored in one outing since 1932. "The score shows a dominant vic- tory," Freeman said. "It wasn't perfect, and we need to make sure that we attack those things and enhance the things we're doing well, but it was a pretty good performance. It was." SU ND FIRST QUARTER ND Stroman 44-yard interception return (Schmidt kick) 14:03 0 7 ND Talich 22-yard blocked punt return (Schmidt kick) 12:19 0 14 ND Moore 46-yard interception return (Schmidt kick) 9:43 0 21 ND Love 45-yard run (Schmidt kick) 6:32 0 28 Drive: 2 plays, 59 yards, 0:36 ND Price 58-yard run (Schmidt kick) 4:01 0 35 Drive: 3 plays, 69 yards, 0:52 SECOND QUARTER ND Pauling 6-yard pass from Carr (Schmidt kick) 14:56 0 42 Drive: 6 plays, 36 yards, 2:23 ND Love 14-yard run (Schmidt kick) 6:49 0 49 Drive: 4 plays, 59 yards, 3:46 THIRD QUARTER ND Love 68-yard run (Schmidt kick) 14:23 0 56 Drive: 3 plays, 75 yards, 0:37 FOURTH QUARTER ND Williams 30-yard run (Schmidt kick) 13:32 0 63 Drive: 6 plays, 79 yards, 2:23 ND Minchey 25-yard run (Schmidt kick) 6:06 0 70 Drive: 7 plays, 39 yards, 4:14 SU Filardi 6-yard run (Woody kick) 0:07 7 70 Drive: 12 plays, 75 yards, 5:59 SU ND Total First Downs 18 17 Rushing 9 11 Passing 5 4 Penalty 4 2 Rushing Attempts 50 24 Yards Gained Rushing 147 344 Yards Lost Rushing 35 15 Net Yards Rushing 112 329 Net Yards Passing 95 67 Passes Attempted 30 15 Passes Completed 17 9 Had Intercepted 3 0 Percent Completion 56.7% 60.0% Yards Per Attempt 3.2 4.5 Yards Per Completion 5.6 7.4 Total Offensive Plays 80 39 Total Net Yards 207 396 Average Gain Per Play 2.6 10.2 Fumbles: No.-Lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties: No.-Yards 5-39 5-55 Punts: No.-Yards 6-240 2-99 Average Per Punt 40.0 49.5 Average Net Punt 29.7 49.5 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 3-42 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 4-79 1-5 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 3-99 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 41:50 18:10 Third-Down Conversions 7-18 4-7 Percentage 38.9% 57.1% Fourth-Down Conversions 1-3 1-1 Percentage 33.3% 100.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 1-10 5-24 NOTRE DAME 70, SYRACUSE 7 Nov. 22, 2025 ✦ Attendance:77,622 Notre Dame Stadium ✦ South Bend 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Syracuse 0 0 0 7 7 Notre Dame 35 14 7 14 70