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Notre Dame Football

GAME THREAD | Notre Dame at No. 16 Syracuse

October 29, 2022
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Notre Dame (4-3) at No. 16 Syracuse (6-1) 

JMA Wireless Dome| 12:00 p.m. ET | ABC | Syracuse -1.5 | O/U: 47.5

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WILL THE REAL NOTRE DAME PLEASE STAND UP

Notre Dame sits at 4-3 entering Saturday's clash with No. 16 Syracuse and the Fighting Irish have looked good, bad and everything else this fall. The mixed bag has made it hard to figure out the identity of the team, while also making it hard to predict which team will show up on Saturday. 

The good news for Notre Dame is they have played up to the competition and have been ready to play on the road. Syracuse is not the Syracuse of old as the Orange sit at 6-1 and are coming off road loss to Clemson, which was a game Dino Babers’ squad should have won. 

If Notre Dame wants to leave New York with a win, the game plan is simple. Run the ball and stop the run. Syracuse running back Sean Tucker is one of the best in the country and ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns against Notre Dame in 2020. 

The other piece of the puzzle for Notre Dame is for quarterback Drew Pyne to play consistent football and not make crucial mistakes. Pyne will need to use his receivers while also making sure Michael Mayer gets his touches, but he can’t force the ball as the Irish offense has missed a few plays in recent weeks. 


Five Players To Watch

Notre Dame DE Isaiah Foskey
Foskey had three sacks last week and his matchup against LT Matthew Bergeron should be must-watch. When he's matched up against RT Dakota Davis, it should favor the Irish.

Syracuse RB Sean Tucker
One of the best backs in the country, Tucker only had five carries against Clemson and they won't want to repeat that. They'll hand him the football and also target him frequently in the passing game.

Notre Dame CB Clarence Lewis
Lewis made a big play on a forced fumble vs UNLV, but the reason he's mentioned here is because they may need him to match up with Oronde Gadsden II in the slot. He has a big size advantage over TaRiq Bracy and they may want to have a bigger defender going up against Syracuse's best receiver.

Syracuse LB Mikel Jones
The best player on Syracuse's defense, he's a very good blitzer and leads their team in tackles.

Notre Dame RB Logan Diggs
If the Irish want to win this game, they'll have to run the ball. They should have success doing it against a pretty bad Syracuse run defense. Diggs was the workhorse last week and he might be the workhorse in the Notre Dame backfield going forward.


QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman:
”They’ve (Notre Dame’s receivers) actually had a really good week. I challenged them Monday and Tuesday - we have to continue to gain confidence in practice in terms of how to expand our passing game. That’s the wideouts, the quarterback, the offensive line and everybody. They’ve had a really good week. 

“It’s interesting. I spent a good amount of time with them this week and you realize you have to be so unselfish. You can do everything right, you can be wide open and you’re not always going to get rewarded for it. They’re continuing to battle and continuing to get better. I looked forward to seeing what they do on Saturday.” 

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees:
"I do not think we're using him too much. Did you ask Drew the question (he was walking by)? There are times where our eyes need to go somewhere else. 

"But yeah, there are looks….guys are going to give attention to Michael Mayer. We have to be able to react; see it and understand it. We have good players elsewhere.” 

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden:
"He (Sean Tucker) reminds me of Gio Bernard, who we had in Cincinnati — good long speed, shifty in the middle, the ability to bounce it and get to the edge, but can lower his pads at any point. There's a lot of times where he's on the sideline and you think he's going to duck out of bounds — and he doesn't.

"And I think he might be the best that we've seen. I mean, he is that good because he's complete. On third down, he's a matchup problem out of the backfield, whether it's the angle route or the wheels, they can displace him. You can run screens with him, so he is a really, really talented back."

Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne:
“I don't care about my stats at all. I care about winning, scoring and moving the ball. I don't really care about my completion percentage. I never check it. I don't know how many yards I threw for.”

Notre Dame linebacker Prince Kollie:
"I'm getting better at block destruction. Getting better at understanding the defense and just playing free. That's what you need in a linebacker is to be able to play free and play fast. I'm figuring that out. 

"I'm getting back to my high school days, where I was really, really physical. It's showing up now. It's reassuring for me. Like, 'OK, this is no different from high school. You can still do a lot of the same things you did then. So just go play." 


For Your Nerves 

TEAM STATS NOTRE DAME SYRACUSE
Points Per Game 26.6 33.9
Points Allowed Per Game 21.9 15.1
Total Yards 386.0 412.6
Yards Passing 207.9 233.3
Yards Rushing 178.1 179.3
Yards Allowed 340.9 294.7
Pass Yards Allowed 202.0 171.4
Rush Yards Allowed  138.9 123.3

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GAME THREAD | Notre Dame at No. 16 Syracuse

88,956 Views | 1005 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by jjt147
irishfan32489
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SHAMROCK said:

Do we try not to score. The personnel decision are stupid. Where are the 4 TEs!


Salerno needs his snaps. Especially at the goal line.
MAS
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OT - BC lost to UConn. Blech
tvanp63
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ejsjr said:

The weird use of personnel continues. Where's Estime inside the 5?

Exactly, would have loved to see Estime with 3 straight carries there.
mattfreeman
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Staff
And that's two sacks for Jordan Botelho.
socalirish17
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I saw Foskey held on nearly every rush and no holding calls. Terrible officiating today.
UNDone
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Made no sense to pull Estime out. He deserved to finish the drive.
jmsheridan
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Luke to see more bothello.
IrishFanWilm
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Should have let the kid bootleg or throw
section16
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Book it for next week. The ACC review and refs will be awful
UNDone
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Bothelo showing what he can do. Needs more PT.
mgmcool
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irten said:

Why was Kollie and Botelho touching the ball after the block?? almost gave back the ball to Syracuse...
Actually, unless the ball is advanced beyond the point of a first down, even if the other team recovers the ball it belongs to the defense.
pbrad28
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Pyne in to kneel?
MAS
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I mean rough QB play on the road and win by 17. Not a bad day.
irten
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Why I still feel so sick by the team's performance despite beating a 6-1 team ranked no.16 on the road by 3 scores?
tvanp63
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section16 said:

Book it for next week. The ACC review and refs will be awful

Dabo will make sure of it!
pbrad28
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Maybe all the games should be on the road..
MAS
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irten said:

Why I still feel so sick by the team's performance despite beating a 6-1 team ranked no.16 on the road?


I don't. I just have accepted with QB play like this games are gonna be a little painful
Rwolf101
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Syracuse does a lot of talking for a **** team.
irishdane20
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ejsjr said:

The weird use of personnel continues. Where's Estime inside the 5?


He's not 1 of Tahmmy's guys.
Pabobcat
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section16 said:

Book it for next week. The ACC review and refs will be awful
They were today.
DogGuy
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irten said:

Why I still feel so sick by the team's performance despite beating a 6-1 team ranked no.16 on the road by 3 scores?
I blame mine on getting the covid booster yesterday.
ejsjr
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irten said:

Why I still feel so sick by the team's performance despite beating a 6-1 team ranked no.16 on the road by 3 scores?


Mainly because Drew Pyne was really bad again and shows no signs of growth. What we see is what we get & it's not close to being good enough.
Joe1976
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I liked what the one commentator said '' Don't mess with ND''
Joe
DenverDomer88
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pbrad28 said:

Maybe all the games should be on the road..
Rockne won a national championship that way. Just sayin.
jjt147
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Right before the half, the commentator mentioned how TR called a great drive for the TD. Need to give some credit in all the negativity out there.
 
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