Notre Dame faces tough test in Syracuse

Senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush’s “redemption” game turned out to be a gem as he led the Irish to a convincing 42-13 win over Florida State last week. With the win the Irish move to 10-0 with two games remaining.

ND wore green jerseys for the game, at the request of the players and granted by head coach Brian Kelly, but the color of the jerseys didn’t matter on a very cold night in South Bend.

In Wimbush’s three prior starts before being replaced by Ian Book, ND never scored more than 24 points. Three and a half minutes into the second quarter the Irish were already by that tally and finished the first half with a commanding 32-6 lead.

Wimbush’s performance was not completely perfect. In the second half he became tentative and threw two interceptions, one of which led to FSU scoring a third quarter touchdown.

But overall the Irish win was keyed by another dominating performance by the defense, which allowed just 13 points.

Book will return as the starter today. Kelly said Book is ready and took most of the snaps this week. He said his rib injury won’t prevent him from running the ball, as needed.

On a day where the senior members of the team were honored prior to the start, ND scored on its first possession of the game and rolled from their.

Wimbush finished with 12 completions on 25 attempts for 130 yards and three touchdowns. Dexter Williams had another big night with 202 yards on just 20 carries and two TDs, including a 58-year run for a score. Wimbush had 68 yards on 12 carries and Jafar Amrstron 44 on seven. The top receivers were Chris Finke with four catches for 59 yards and Miles Boykin with four catches for 30 yards and a score. Alize Mack had a big night, catching just three passes for 29 yards, but two of the three were for touchdowns.

Defensively Alohi Gilman had 10 tackles with Julian Love getting nine and Te’von Coney and Drue Tranquill seven each.

Justin Yoon was two for two in field goals, hitting from 26 and 35 yards.

ND worked on its running game in the second half. The last 25 offensive plays of the game by the Irish were runs, including all 12 in a 97-yard drive capped by Williams’ 32-yard TD run. Freshman QB Phil Jurkovec handled the last few handoffs and ran the ball himself for two yards on the last play of the game.

Today the Irish face a very serious challenged in the Syracuse Orange.

The Orange enter the game with a impressive 8-2 record. Syracuse started with four wins in a row before losing their first game, then lost again the next week, but are now on another four-game winning streak.

The wins have been over Western Michigan, 52-42; Wagner, 62-10; Florida State, 30-7; Connecticut, 51-21; UNC, 40-37; NC State, 51-41; Wake Forest, 41-24; and Louisville, 54-23. The two losses were back-to-back to Clemson, 27-23; and Pittsburgh, 44-37, in overtime. The Clemson loss was impressive since it was at Clemson and the game was in doubt late into the fourth quarter.

The Orange are led by Quarterback Eric Dungey who has passed for 2,193 yards and 14 touchdowns with just five interceptions. He has also rushed for 690 yards on 147 carries and 12 scores. Backing him in the run game is Moe Neal with 716 yards on 119 carries and five TDs. The top receivers are Jamal Custis with 42 catches for 748 yards and five TDs and Nykeim Johnson with 33 ctaches for 527 yards and four TDs.

ND leads the series, 5-3-0 with the last ND win in 2014, 31-15. The last Syracuse win was in 2008, 24-23, in overtime.

The game in part of the Shamrock Series, an ND home game away from home, and will be televised nationally by NBC-TV with a 2:40 p.m. scheduled kickoff. The game, of course, is being played in Yankee Stadium.

IRISH NOTES ... Syracuse plays an uptempo game, but that should not be a problem for ND, as they have faced three other teams this year that play that style — Ball Stare, Wake Forest and Northwestern. At 82.2 offensive snaps per game, Syracuse ranks fourth nationally in terms of offensive play volume ... Pro Football Focus unveiled its college pass-rush grades this week and Notre Dame had the third-best pass rush nationally, with a grade of 84.1. Clemson topped the list at 89.9, with Alabama second (87.3) and Ohio State fourth (83.7). The pass-rush grade goes well beyond sacks. It also figures in quarterback hits and QB hurries ... By the way, Syracuse is ranked 10th in the nation in sacks averaging 3.3 per game ... Notre Dame has an impressive 17-6-3 record (.711) all-time at Yankee Stadium (including the vacated Pinstripe Bowl win over Rutgers). Syracuse has been even better. The Orange are 7-1 all-time (.875) at Yankee Stadium, and that includes a 14-7 win over Notre Dame in 1963 .... According to the South Bend Tribune, Notre Dame’s 75 offensive plays against Florida State without any lost yardage is believed to be the first time the Irish have been able to get through a game without any negative yardage since at least 1964, Ara Parseghian’s first year as head coach of Notre Dame. The Seminoles came in averaging 6.4 tackles for loss per game .... Wimbush is now 13-3 as a starter .... Syracuse has great special teams — third in kickoff coverage, second in punt coverage, seventh in net punting and 14th in punt returns ... The Irish run game could be the difference in today’s game. Syracuse is ranked 91st in run defense and 80th in passing efficiency on offense .... The Yankee Stadium grounds crew has installed a new natural grass surface for Saturday’s game ... With Syracuse not rated high against the run, and the number of talented running backs the Irish have, we’re expecting Kelly to use the run game a lot today ... The new playing surface at Yankee Stadium might not help both teams’ run offense. In fact, the last time the Irish played in Yankee Stadium in 2013 Pinstripe Bowl 2,500 yards of new sod that was installed had all the grip of a Slip ‘N Slide .... Today’s game will feature the Irish in special uniforms for the contest. The famed New York Yankee pinstripes are sported on the pants and outer shoulders and encompassed around the helmet’s ND logo .... There will be plenty of Irish fans from this area at the game today. Many bus trips will be leaving from Tamaqua and the Panther Valley area as well as the Pottsville area .... With Book back, the Irish offense should pick up the tempo a little bit. This is a scary game for me as Syracuse has played some good football this year. ND is favored by 10. In my preseason picks I have the Irish winning today. I’m not that confident with that selection having seen what the Orange can do.