No. 9 Notre Dame Clobbers Syracuse In 70-7 Blowout In South Bend
Pure domination, those are the two words that can best describe this outcome between the stalwart, ninth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Syracuse Orange. The Fighting Irish scored a massive 70 points for the first time in over 93 years, with the last 70-point outing coming all the way back in 1932.
Notre Dame Scores Every Way Possible Against Syracuse
When looking at just the score, one would assume that the Notre Dame offense had a field day. However, the first 21 points of the game came from a few different sources. The Fighting Irish defense had two pick-sixes while the special teams was able to take one back for a score early in the first quarter. The offense did not touch the field until the midway point of the first.
Jeremiyah Love Has His Heisman Moment
Shortly after the Notre Dame offense entered the field, it was the Jeremiyah Love show from that point forward. The star running back for the Irish rushed for 171 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 8 carries total for the game. Love struck a Heisman pose after his 68-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. As the Heisman race continues to heat up even this late into the season, this performance will perhaps solidify Love as a potential Heisman finalist and winner in New York City next month.
Notre Dame’s Ground Game Dominates
While Love accounted for the bulk of the Fighting Irish’s rushing attack on Saturday, the other running backs on Notre Dame’s roster also got in on the action. Junior Jadarian Price gave the Irish his best Love impression, too, accounting for 70 rushing yards and a touchdown on just 4 carries. The Notre Dame offense finished the game with 396 yards total, with a staggering 329 of those total yards coming on the ground.
Does This Win Move the Needle For Notre Dame in the CFP Picture?
When it is this late in the season, it’s hard to find more quality wins to bolster a team’s CFP resume. For Notre Dame, they’ll likely stay put at number nine in the CFP bracket as the now 3-8 Syracuse Orange doesn’t technically count as a quality win.
However, this is the Fighting Irish’s ninth straight win this season, after starting 1-2 on the year with both of those losses coming against No. 13 Miami and No. 3 Texas A&M. At the end of the day, the Fighting Irish will be in the College Football Playoff barring any hiccups in their final game against Stanford next Saturday.
