Players to Watch: Notre Dame vs. Syracuse

Notre Dame’s next task will not be an easy one.

After the Irish faced unranked opponents in back-to-back home games, ND (4-3) is back on the road to take on No. 16 Syracuse (6-1) on Saturday. The Orange are coming off a near upset of No. 5 Clemson and a conference victory over then-No. 15 NC State the previous week. At that same time, the Irish split against Stanford and UNLV.

Despite Notre Dame’s recent lackluster performances, the Vegas Insider consensus only has the Irish as a 1.5-point underdog. Not to mention, they’ll also enter one of college football’s unique environments in the JMA Wireless Dome for just the second time.

Here are the players to watch as the Irish look to knock off Syracuse at noon EDT on ABC.

The Drew Pyne that shows up for Notre Dame in Syracuse will make a difference in the outcome. And in its favor, ND’s current starting quarterback has played much better away from Notre Dame Stadium this season.

In Pyne’s two starts (2-0) outside of South Bend, he completed 46-of-62 (74.2%) passes for 551 yards, six touchdowns and one interception. Compared to 44-of-78 (56.4%) for 506 yards, five touchdowns and one interception in one more start (2-1) at Notre Dame Stadium.

But the Syracuse defense is no pushover, especially at home.

In the dome, the Orange defense has held opposing offenses to 13 points per game while also intercepting five passes. They’ve also come away undefeated, 5-0, in those games.

Pyne is challenged by a Syracuse defense that has only allowed 15.1 points per game overall on the season, which ranks No. 6 among the 131 FBS teams. The Orange also pose the No. 10 passing defense — only allowing 171.4 yards per game to opposing quarterbacks each game.

The 6-foot-1, 239-pound Marlowe Wax is one of the top overall players on college football’s No. 12 ranked total defense.

Through seven games during his sophomore season, Wax is top five on the team in total tackles (45), solo tackles (28), tackles for loss (6.5), sacks (2.5), quarterback hurries (4), fumble recoveries (2) and forced fumbles (2). He is also coming off perhaps the best game of his career against Clemson.

For the first time in 30 games, Wax had at least five tackles, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a quarterback hurry all in one game.

His forced fumble on Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei prompted a return for a touchdown, which resulted in Syracuse’s first lead in its Clemson upset bid.

This week, Wax will look to slow down sophomore running back Logan Diggs, who is coming off a career-high 130 rushing yards and 28 carries. Wax should also see a heavy dose of Audric Estimé and Chris Tyree.

“We got to be a team that continues to use multiple running backs,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said Monday. “We're not going to be a one-running back team. You can't. Not with the teams we play, the physicality, the amount of times we rush the ball, we got to use multiple running backs."

Wax and Syracuse have the country’s No. 38 rush defense, holding its opponents to 123.3 yards per game.

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Notre Dame hasn’t seen an offensive player quite like Oronde Gadsden II this season.

At 6-5, 216 pounds, Syracuse lists Gadsden as both a wide receiver and tight end. Regardless of his position, he has found a way to terrorize defenses during his sophomore season.

Coming into week nine, Gadsden is top 40 in the country in receiving yards (599) and receiving touchdowns (5). He also ranks in the top half in receptions per game (5.3) and yards per reception (16.9).

It’s a matchup Freeman and the Irish defense have circled going into this week’s game.

“He can be a mismatch at times,” Freeman said. “We have to try to be physical with him. You're going to have to win some jump balls. He's got great body control and the ability to get the ball out of the air. He’s a tough guy to defend.”

Notre Dame’s pass defense enters this week as No. 35 in yards allowed per game with an average of 202.0. And the Irish secondary should get a boost of full health too.

On Thursday, Freeman said both safeties Brandon Joseph and Xavier Watts are expected to play after sustaining minor injuries. Cornerback TaRiq Bracy will also be two weeks removed from a hamstring injury that held him out of the Stanford game.

Despite playing about 70% of snaps in every game this season, Marist Liufau has had his ups and downs this season.

Only once this season has the 6-3, 235-pound Liufau registered more than five tackles in a game. It came in Notre Dame’s only game against an ACC opponent when the Irish received a six-tackle (four solo) showing from the junior linebacker.

However, Liufau has found some momentum heading into Notre Dame’s second ACC clash of 2022. Last week against UNLV, he recorded a career-high 2.0 tackles for loss. He also had five tackles for the third time this season.

Liufau and the Irish linebackers face a tough test this week in the tandem of quarterback Garrett Shrader and running back Sean Tucker. Shrader and Tucker have combined for 1,069 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns through seven games.

Even with just five carries last week, Tucker racked up 54 yards to bring his season total to 698. That ranks 21st among 200 qualified running backs. Meanwhile, Shrader rushed for 71 yards against Clemson — the fourth time he’s run for at least that many yards this season.

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