We expected the Week 13 slate of the 2025-26 season to be “less than competitive.” There weren’t a lot of big shocks across the sport but Notre Dame did stand out for the punishment it dealt to Syracuse.
The game’s final score was 70-7 and it presents us with some of the wildest stats College Football has seen up until this point in the season.
Let’s dig into it.
Scoring Context
Notre Dame hit a season high of 70 points scored against Syracuse. And the Orange were the third opponent through Week 13 to be capped at seven points.
The differential is the real standout, though. I honestly didn’t expect this team to do better than their +43 win over Purdue. They had a similarly dominating performance over the Boilermakers last season and it made sense. But the +63 differential in the Syracuse game leaped the Purdue rout by a lot.
Total Offense
It was a somewhat pedestrian offensive showing, when compared to earlier games. The Irish are averaging 450 yards of total offense per game through Week 13, and they put up 396 yards against Syracuse.
But the deeper stats are where the real story lies. Notre Dame’s offense earned an average of 10.2 yards per offense play against Syracuse. The next best showing was 8.9 yards per play against Arkansas. The offense has been impressively efficient but this was a real standout performance.
Passing Context
Notre Dame hit a season floor of 15 pass attempts in Week 13. The team completed nine of its 15 attempts for a 60% completion rate.
It wasn’t a bad passing game, just not one that required or produced a lot of output. The Irish recorded only 67 yards through the air, and the previous floor was 136 passing yards against USC.
Receivers
No receiver recorded more than two catches and Jordan Faison led the group with 21 yards. Will Pauling was responsible for the sole passing touchdown against Syracuse.
Rushing Context
Notre Dame had a season low 24 rushing attempts in the Syracuse game, but they walked away with a season high of 329 yards earned on the ground. They also hit a season high of six rushing touchdowns.
The deep stats are where it’s at, again.
Irish rushers averaged 13.7 yards per carry. The second-best outing was the seven yard per carry performance against USC.
Rushers
Jeremiyah Love finished with an eyebrow raising eight carries for 171 yards. He averaged 21.4 yards per attempt and accounted for three of the team’s six touchdowns. Jadarian Price racked up 70 yards on only four carries and turned one of those into a touchdown. Kenny Minchey earned 59 yards on two carries and a touchdown too. Aneyas Williams was the #4 rushers. He finished the game with three carries, 39 yards and one touchdown.
Defense (Passing)
Notre Dame’s defense held Syracuse to 95 yards through the air. The unit has gotten significantly better over the season in the big picture as well as in terms of turnovers. Leonard Moore, Jalen Stroman and Ethen Long finished the game with an interception a-piece. Moore and Stroman returned both of their picks for touchdowns.
Defense (Rushing)
Syracuse ran for 112 yards total but a measly 2.2 yards per carry against Notre Dame. They did better than recent opponents, excluding Navy, in term of overall production but it wasn’t gained in anywhere near an efficient manner.
Defense (Impact)
The defense recorded five sacks, 15 tackles for loss and three pass deflections against Syracuse. Boubacar Traore produced some of the best stats up front and freshman linebacker Madden Faraimo tallied up one sack and two tackles for loss. But the impact play wealth was spread pretty widely across the unit.
Final Thoughts
Syracuse is only 3-8, with a 34-21 win over Clemson being its only notable victory. So there’s not really much about these stats that we can apply to what is pretty much a locked College Football Playoff berth for Notre Dame. But they do make for some cool visuals and data additions to really strong trend lines for the team.
