Syracuse Week

Prime Time 8 PM EST (ABC) in the NYC area Giants/Jets Stadium against a good Syracuse team sets ND up in a classic trap game.

Syracuse standing at 2-1 and just lost to Maryland 34-20… But… Syracuse rolled up 576 yards, had 26 first downs and ran 80 plays. They went up and down the field but collapsed in the red zone. They also held Maryland to 89 rushing yards – by stats alone Syracuse won this game.

Syracuse likes to run the ball 357 against the Terps propelled by a big running QB Terel Hunt and a 240 lb running back. Hunt is not a particularly good passer but he hits a few when it counts. This is the best running team ND has faced thus far and we’ll get an up close look as to whether ILB’s Schmidt and Smith can handle big runners.

On defense Syracuse plays very tough against the run, but leaves their undersized CB’s on an island so Golson should go to the air early and often, get a big lead and finish them off by pounding the running game. Their DL is very good but undersized and have trouble against an uptempo offense–they needn’t worry here as ND can barely get the play in.

As an aside, Syracuse beat Central Michigan 40-3, and Central Michigan beat Purdue 38-17.

Now what does ND do? The whole purpose of a no-huddle offense is to play very fast and ND can’t seem to do that. That being the case why doesn’t ND huddle, get the play in and run the play before the defense can adjust. Our OL dwarfs Syracuse and absolutely no excuse for those guys not blowing Cuse off the ball.

We’ll get a good idea in the 1st quarter. Syracuse fans love their team and travel well – don’t be surprised if they have the same number of supporters in the stadium as ND.