Notre Dame football: Naming the top-5 Shamrock Series games
By Ryan Shanko
Notre Dame football: Naming the top-5 Shamrock Series games
2. 2018 — #3 Notre Dame 36, #12 Syracuse 3
2018 was another one of the most memorable seasons in recent history for the Fighting Irish. It’s crazy to think that it’s been four years now since Ian Book took over for Brandon Wimbush and led the Irish to their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance.
Like the first game on this list, it was a season with no losses, so it’s only right that the Shamrock Series game was yet another dominant win for a dominant Irish team.
This year’s Shamrock Series game stands out for a few reasons. First, Syracuse was supposed to be bad in 2018. They were one of the surprises of the season and entered this matchup with the Irish 8-2 and ranked in the top 15. The second reason is tied in with the first, and it is just how insanely dominant the Irish were against this talented Orange team.
Following an early injury to Syracuse’s star QB Eric Dungy, the Irish scored the first 36 points of the contest and safety Alohi Gilman snagged 2 interceptions off of Syracuse backup QB Tommy Devito to suck any life out of Syracuse’s offense, which struggled mightily without Dungy at the helm.
The 2018 team will go down in the history books as one of the best in program history and was bursting at the seams with NFL talent. Players like Ian Book, Miles Boykin, Chase Claypool, Cole Kmet and others would go on to become NFL draft picks, and the 2018 Shamrock Series game showed why exactly these guys were drafted into the league. This game was wildly entertaining for Irish fans and earns the second slot on my list.