Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541560
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 29, 2025 21 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: B What are you supposed to give to a unit that only went 9 of 15 for 67 yards with 1 touchdown? It wasn't the Notre Dame passing game's fault by any means; the game flow just didn't dictate the worthiness of an 'A' type of performance through the air for the Fighting Irish. Redshirt freshman starter CJ Carr completed 5 of 9 throws for 49 yards with 1 touchdown, a 6-yard score to redshirt senior wide receiver Will Pauling on third-and-goal. Redshirt sophomore backup Kenny Minchey mopped up in the second half and connected on 4 of 6 passes for 18 yards. He just missed redshirt freshman receiver Cam Williams on what could have been a stout touch- down toss or else maybe this would have been an 'A' game after all. But since it was so ho-hum in this phase, we'll keep it at a 'B.' NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: A+ Notre Dame ran 24 times for 329 yards. That's an astronomical 13.7 yards per carry. Heisman Trophy candidate Jeremiyah Love only needed 8 rushing attempts to pile up 171 yards and 3 touch- downs. Redshirt junior Jadarian Price? Seventy yards and a touchdown on 4 carries. Sophomore Aneyas Williams got in on the action with 3 carries for 39 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown, and Minchey had a 25-yard touchdown of his own. It didn't matter who carried the ball and what position he played. The Irish were out for blood on the ground. And they absolutely took the Orange to task. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: A+ Notre Dame started the game with an intercep- tion returned for a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage. The eighth play from scrimmage was also a pick six. Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Stro- man had the first one. All-American sophomore Leonard Moore had the second. Syracuse tried to replace starter Joseph Filardi with fellow true freshman Luke Carney. That didn't work out too well; Carney lasted two series, going 3 of 4 for 12 yards, before the Orange went back to Filardi, who finished 14 of 26 for 83 yards. He had 0 touchdown passes and 3 interceptions. Notre Dame would have had three interceptions returned for touchdowns if not for a roughing the passer penalty that negated one for freshman safety Ethan Long. Even without that score stand- ing, it was an unreal night for the Notre Dame passing defense. Lights out. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: A+ Syracuse stayed committed to the run because it wasn't going to have success flipping the script and throwing the ball 50 times against this Notre Dame defense, so the Orange were credited for 50 rush- ing attempts instead. Those went for 112 yards. The longest run Notre Dame gave up all game was a 12-yarder. The Irish will want the 6-yard touchdown run by Filardi with seven seconds re- maining in the game back, being that Notre Dame could have pitched its first shutout since Senior Day 2022, but only allowing one offensive touch- down for the seventh time in the last eight games wasn't such a bad accolade to settle for. NOTRE DAME SPECIAL TEAMS: A+ There are tone setters and then there is blocking a punt and returning it 22 yards for a touchdown in the first three minutes of a game. That's what Notre Dame did versus Syracuse; Stroman had the block, and redshirt junior safety Luke Talich had the return. A perfect way to back up Stroman's pick six on the series prior. Outside of that, Notre Dame made all of its extra points — 10 of them — which hasn't been a given this season. Freshman Erik Schmidt has made 23 of them in a row dating back to the end of the Boston College game. James Rendell punted twice for an average of 49.5 yards on Senior Day. Only good things to talk about as far as Notre Dame special teams go, even without involving a Jadarian Price kick return. NOTRE DAME COACHING: A+ The tailgate lots outside of Notre Dame Stadium seemed a little sleepier than normal for what- ever reason, and it was a late-arriving crowd. The Fighting Irish showed up from the opening kickoff, though, in a game they could not afford to play down to the lowly level of their competition. That goes back to solid coaching. There wasn't any way Notre Dame was not going to be ready to completely blow Syracuse out of the water. Not under Marcus Freeman's watch. In the process, his team blew any expectations anyone had for it in this game away, too. Seventy points? A 63-point margin? That's stout stuff. REPORT CARD BY TYLER HORKA Sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore's 46-yard pick six was part of an impressive day for the Fighting Irish pass defense. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER