Notre Dame football at Syracuse: Game preview and prediction
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football team takes on Syracuse in Week 9, and here is our game preview for the matchup inside the Carrier Dome.
In Week 9, the Notre Dame football team will battle it out against Syracuse in a game that many felt would be a lot different heading into this season. At this point in the year, you could have easily seen Notre Dame with only one loss, and Syracuse sitting at 4-3, but here we are with the records reversed.
Notre Dame has some bad losses this season, losing at home to some down teams in Marshall and Stanford, while the Orange have been shockingly good. Their only loss came last week against undefeated Clemson, and they were in that one the entire way.
Today, Notre Dame football can make a real statement against a very good team, but as has been the case all season, it depends what Irish team will show up.
Notre Dame football at Syracuse preview and prediction
This is a game that is going to be closer than some may think, as the Orange may only have one loss, but the Irish have shown they can play up to their competition this season. While the struggle has been real against lesser teams, Notre Dame football played well against Ohio State and BYU, the only other ranked teams they have played before this matchup against the Orange.
Notre Dame seems to get up for games like this and though they are on the road, they are going to be in this one throughout. Drew Pyne looked much better last weekend in their win against UNLV, and the run game continues to thrive with the three-headed monster of Audric Estime, Logan Diggs, and Chris Tyree.
On defense, Isaiah Foskey has been as good as advertised, and so has Brandon Joseph, but the group as a whole has been up-and-down. Saturday, they play a strong Syracuse team with a dynamic signal-caller in Garrett Shrader, and he should have his way against a secondary that has been wildly inconsistent this season.
In the end, the Orange are a team that will be a serious contender to lose only one game this regular season, and a second won’t be coming from the Irish. Notre Dame football has been too up-and-down this year, and against a good Syracuse team, in a hostile environment, I like the Orange to win by one point.
Final Score: Syracuse 24, Notre Dame football 23