10/29/2022 football Edit

Game Balls: Teamwork takes precedent in Irish upset of No. 16 Syracuse

Head coach Marcus Freeman congratulates his team after scoring a touchdown against Syracuse. (© Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports)

Kyle Kelly • InsideNDSports

Recruiting Writer

Notre Dame football recruiting writer with past experience covering Ohio State football recruiting for cleveland.com. Current Northwestern University graduate student and John Carroll University grad.

Notre Dame silenced the naysayers.

On the road against No. 16 Syracuse (6-2), the unranked Irish (5-3) used a team effort to trounce the Orange 41-24 on Saturday at the JMA Wireless Dome. And Notre Dame did it with the help of one offensive position group and a two-player game-altering play,

Inside ND Sports has awarded game balls on each side of the ball following Notre Dame's second consecutive victory.

Notre Dame offense: The offensive line

The Notre Dame offensive line was dominant in Saturday's game against Syracuse. (Jeff Douglas, Inside ND Sports)

By no means were the Irish front-five perfect. However, the tone of physicality the quintet of Joe Alt, Jarrett Patterson, Zeke Correll, Josh Lugg and Blake Fisher set from the onset helped propel the Irish to victory.

In running behind the Irish offensive line in the first half, Notre Dame rushed a season-high 25 times to total 120 yards (4.8 yards per carry) and a touchdown.

Although the Irish came out of the locker room with 14 carries for just 52 yards (3.7 yards per carry) and allowed its only sack of the game in the third quarter, the O-line picked it back up in a big way to close out the game.

Alt, Patterson, Correll, Lugg and Fisher helped pave the way to 74 rushing yards on 17 carries (4.4 yards per carry) and two Audric Estimé touchdowns in the final quarter. They also did not allow a sack and only surrendered one quarterback hurry.

For the game, Notre Dame ran the ball 56 times for 246 rushing yards (4.4 yards per carry) and three touchdowns. The offensive line allowed just three quarterback hurries on 19 pass plays.

Notre Dame defense: LB Marist Liufau

Linebacker Marist Liufau made several plays against Syracuse on Saturday. (Jeff Douglas, Inside ND Sprots)

A leaping Liufau interception dramatically shifted the momentum back in Notre Dame's favor when it needed it most.

After Syracuse trailed 24-7 as the third quarter approached its midway point, the Orange came alive behind backup quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson. Under Del Rio-Wilson's direction, Syracuse scored on back-to-back possessions to cut the Irish lead 24-17 with 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

But three plays into its next drive, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Liufau came away with an acrobatic pick with the help of a tipped pass by Howard Cross III.

Following the spark created by Liufau, the Irish offense went 46 yards in seven plays to go ahead 31-17 with 9:11 left in the game.

Liufau finished the afternoon with three tackles.

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