Brian Kelly Previews Syracuse
The Notre Dame defense will face arguably its toughest test so far in 2018, when it squares of with a potent Syracuse offense at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
The Orange rank 14th nationally in total yards per game (482.2), which is the highest of any current Notre Dame opponent so far through 11 weeks. Wake Forest (32nd) and Virginia Tech (44th) are the others inside the top 50 nationally.
Head coach Dino Babers’ group has been balanced thus far, ranking 27th in rushing (216.1 yards per game) and 36th in passing (266.1) while averaging 44.4 points per contest (seventh nationally). Babers and company will look to go fast and spread the Irish out on Saturday afternoon.
“This is somebody that has had success as a head coach,” Brian Kelly said of Babers. “You can see that starting to show itself in its third year, and that is a consistency in his approach and player development.
“They haven’t changed who they are. They are who they are. They’ve stayed the course. They’ve had to avoid the noise of is this going to work, and they’ve developed their players.”
The offense is led by senior quarterback Eric Dungey, who has accounted for 2,883 yards of total offense (2,193 passing and 690 rushing) and 26 touchdowns (14 passing and 12 rushing) with just five interceptions this season.
“Four-year starter with Dungey, he’s a guy that does a lot of great things for them,” Kelly said. “Not only does he run the offense, he’s fearless. The guy’s fearless as a player. He’s big, he’s strong.
“Play breaks down, he’s scoring on the run. And certainly can throw the football extremely well. Again, a four-year starter who has seen it all. He’s got great intangibles, great leadership.”
Dungey certainly has support in the backfield as well with junior running back Moe Neal (117 attempts for 712 yards and five touchdowns), senior running back Dontae Strickland (84 rushes for 381 yards and six touchdowns) and freshman running back Jarveon Howard (60 carries for 298 yards and six touchdowns).
“I think one of the things they’ve done well is they’ve upgraded at the running back position to the level where they’ve got some home-run threats,” Kelly stated. “Moe Neal, Dontae Strickland, big downhill guy. Really have done a nice job there.”
The big-play potential continues out wide at the receiver position with fifth-year senior Jamal Custis (42 catches for 748 yards and five touchdowns) and junior Sean Riley (54 receptions for 603 yards and two touchdowns) leading the way.
“Sean Riley reminds me of Greg Dortch at Wake Forest with great speed and is a home-run guy and special teams when he touches the football,” Kelly said. “Custis is a great matchup guy. I think he's averaging 17 yards per catch on the notes that I have here, and [freshman] Taj Harris, is a 6-foot-3 guy.
“So plenty of players to surround Dungey and an offensive line that’s veteran.”
When Notre Dame last saw Syracuse, a 50-33 Irish win in 2016, the Orange ranked as one of the worst defenses in the country. Babers’ group finished that season 122nd in total defense (501.1 yards allowed per game) and 120th in scoring defense (38.6 points allowed per game).
Two years later, the Orange have improved in both areas — ranking 97th in total defense (430.3) and 70th in scoring defense (27.6).
“We’ve seen a difference in this defense in a very, very short period of time, and it starts with the defensive ends [juniors Alton Robinson (9.0 sacks) and Kendall Coleman (7.0 sacks)]. Two guys that can legitimately come off the edge and rush the passer and then an inside guy in [fifth-year senior] Chris Slayton [3.5 sacks] that does a really good job with his hands, gets off blocks.
“Linebackers are young, but they’re playing really well. I think [senior] Ryan Guthrie [77 tackles] at the Mike is playing downhill, extremely athletic. They lost a lot of linebackers last year, and that group's emerging.
“The secondary, they played a lot of guys back there. [Redshirt junior] Chris Frederick is a really good boundary corner that can play man-to-man, and [they] got a lot of depth back there.”
Syracuse enters Saturday on a four-game winning streak following its lone two defeats against Clemson (27-23) and Pittsburgh (44-37), the two teams that could end up playing each other in the ACC championship game.
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