Teams: Syracuse Orange (3-7, 1-6) at No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-2)
Day & Time: Saturday, November 22, 3:30 pm
Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
Line: As is the norm nowadays with Syracuse
football, the Orange are big +35.5 point underdogs according to Fanduel’s odds.
TV/Streaming: NBC, Peacock
Radio: Cuse.com, TK 99/105, WAER 88.3, SiriusXM 85
Rivalry: Notre Dame, 8-3
Current Streak:
5, Notre DameFirst Meeting: The two programs met for the first time way back in 1914 playing at Cartier Field in South Bend. The Fighting Irish shut out the visiting Orange 20-0 in the final game of the season for both teams. Notre Dame finished the 1914 campaign with a 6-2 record, while Syracuse’s record stood at 5-3-2 at season’s end.
Last Meeting: Notre Dame rushed for 246 total yards while Sean Tucker could only get 60 yards on the ground. Garrett Shrader didn’t play the second half due to injury. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson looked good in relief with 190 yards of passing but the Fighting Irish still won 41-24 in 2022.
Head Coaches: Syracuse: Fran Brown (second year, 13-10) | Notre Dame: Marcus Freeman (fourth year, 41-12)
Coach Bio: Freeman earned two second-team All-Big Ten awards as a linebacker at Ohio State in 2007 and 2008. He was a fifth round draft pick by the Chicago Bears and bounced around with three other organizations before retiring due to a medical condition. He started his coaching career as a grad assistant with Ohio State before taking linebacker coaching jobs at Kent State and Purdue. Freeman would be promoted to co-defensive coordinator with the Boilermakers in 2016 before moving to Cincinnati to take the same position. After notable success with the Bearcats, he moved to Notre Dame in 2021 to become defensive coordinator before being promoted to Head Coach after Brian Kelly’s shocking move to LSU.
Last Year: A shocking early season loss to Northern Illinois didn’t deter Notre Dame. That would be the only game the Fighting Irish lost in the regular season. Notre Dame earned the No. 7 seed in the College Football Playoff and made it all the way to the National Championship. The Fighting Irish would lose to Ohio State in the Finals.
Last Game: Notre Dame took control at Pittsburgh and didn’t look back as the Fighting Irish cruised to a 37-15 win over the Panthers in the Steel City. Notre Dame had 168 more yards of offense than Pitt.
“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Jeremiyah Love’s 1,135 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns are enough to put him into the Heisman conversation.
If Syracuse Wins: This gets really funny for College Football Playoff talks.
If Syracuse Loses: Can we at least keep the flights to South Bend for the next trip?
Fun Fact: To go with Syracuse’s emphasis on youth, 26 freshmen, 11 redshirt freshmen, eight sophomores and 12 redshirt sophomores have featured in at least one game for the Orange this season.
