5 Telling Stats From Notre Dame-Syracuse

After a dismal showing against Duke in which the Irish were gashed multiple times and allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown, Notre Dame was improved on special teams against Syracuse. After Syracuse’s second touchdown cut the Irish lead to 16-13 early in the game, C.J. Sanders’ 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown extended Notre Dame’s lead to 23-13 with 10:06 left in the first quarter.

Notre Dame is now one of 20 teams in the country to have a kickoff return for a touchdown.

“We lost special teams today. It’s been one of our strengths. It was one of those things we knew we had to win today,” Syracuse coach Dino Babers said after the game. “...We just had some breakdowns. And then the things you have to remember is when we play teams like Notre Dame. We have guys on scholarship and non-scholarship guys on our special teams. They have four-star and five-star guys on their special teams. It’s going to happen when you’re playing teams like that.”

In the first four games, Brian VanGorder’s defense allowed opponents to convert on 26 of their 62 attempts, a conversion rate of 41.9 percent. Notre Dame was much improved in the first game under new defensive coordinator Greg Hudson, holding Syracuse to just 3-of-15 on third down, a rate of just 20 percent. The Irish were particularly effective in the second half, forcing punts on the first four Syracuse drives after halftime.

Notre Dame had a school record 15 touchdowns of at least 50 yards in 2015, and DeShone Kizer and the offense showed similar explosiveness against the Orange. The Irish had five touchdowns of 50-plus yards, and narrowly missed on two other long scores to Equanimeous St. Brown and Kevin Stepherson.

St. Brown had touchdowns of 79 and 67 yards in the first quarter. Stepherson caught a 54-yard TD in the third quarter. Dexter Williams ran for a 59-yard score in the third quarter. And Sanders had a 93-yard kickoff return TD in the first quarter.

Despite the big plays success, Kizer said the Irish left points on the board.

“This is the sloppiest 50 points I’ve ever been apart of,” Kizer said. “The sloppiest 400 plus pass game I’ve even been apart of but were having fun and a good time but there’s still so much room for improvement.”

In Syracuse’s quick start offensively in the first half, the Orange tallied 122 yards on 20 plays on first down, an average of 6.1 yards per play. After halftime, Notre Dame’s defense tightened and allowed 81 yards on 18 first-down plays, an average of 4.5 yards per play. The Irish also forced seven plays of two yards or less.

“We just had a little pep talk in the locker room to make sure we really put our foot down and really just asserted ourselves on defense,” junior linebacker Nyles Morgan said of the second-half turnaround.

On the first 11 plays of the game, the Irish allowed 14 yards per play. On the last 52, that average was lowered to 4.3 yards a play.

Though the Irish didn't recover a third-quarter fumble by Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey, it led to an Orange punt. Senior linebacker James Onwualu knocked the ball out, and it was recovered by Syracuse's Aaron Roberts. It was the first forced fumble of the season for Notre Dame.

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