Notre Dame is back in action this weekend after an agonizing bye week for fans. The Irish will play their first true “road” game of the season when they travel to East Rutherford, NJ for their second straight game in a NFL Stadium when they take on the Syracuse Orange in MetLife Stadium – home to the New York Giants and Jets. Notre Dame will also be playing in prime time for the third straight game with an 8:00 PM ET kickoff following back to back 7:30 kickoffs.
Game Details
- Date: September 27, 2014
- Kickoff: 8:00 PM ET
- Location: MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, NJ (New York City)
- Tickets: As of Monday, there were tickets available starting at $59 before frees from our partners at Ticket City. Buy Tickets
- Television: ABC (National Broadcast)
- Internet Broadcast: None. Because the game is on ABC, it will not be available for live streaming through the Watch ESPN website or App. It will be available after the game for replay however at WatchESPN.com
- Mobile: None.
- Radio: ISP Sports Network
Game Weekend Events
We will post more events for the weekend as we find more out, but for now, the Notre Dame Club of NYC has an updated page on their website with all of their events for the weekend. Check back throughout the week for more updates.
Game Day Weather
Current gameday conditions call for a high of 80 degrees with lows in the low 60’s/high 50’s for East Rutherford on Saturday. MetLife Stadium is an open air stadium unlike Lucas Oil Stadium which has a retractable roof for Notre Dame’s game with Purdue.
Opponent Details
- Conference: ACC
- Head Coach: Scott Shafer (2nd season, 9-7)
- 2014 Record: 2-1
- 2013 Record: 7-6, W Texas Bowl
- Social Media: Facebook // Twitter
- Official Website: www.cuse.com/
Odds
As of Monday morning the odds are:
- Line: Notre Dame -13
- Over/Under: Not yet posted
Series History
The Notre Dame – Syracuse series is currently tied at 3-3 with the most recent meeting coming in 2008 when a 2-9 Syracuse team that had already fired their head coach came into South Bend and erased a double digit 4th quarter deficit to shock the Irish and send the Charlie Weis era into a full on tailspin.
Syracuse has won 2 of the last 3 meetings in the series with each victory coming at the beginning of the end for the last two Notre Dame coaches. After Weis and the Irish lost in 2008 there was wide spread speculation that Weis would be fired, but he managed to survive for another season. His reprieve would be shorted lived however as he was fired following the 2009 season.
In 2003, Tyrone Willingham’s troops suffered an embarrassing loss to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome in their final game of the season. An unranked Syracuse team beat the Irish down 38-12 in a game in which Notre Dame simply gave up. To make matters worse, Justin Tuck suffered a torn ACL injury in the game and was never quite the same in 2003. As we all know he eventually did recover though and went on to have an outstanding NFL career with the New York Giants and now Oakland Raiders.
Notre Dame’s last win in the series came in 2005, the first year of the Charlie Weis era. The Irish won 34-10 in Notre Dame Stadium. Here’s a fun Notre Dame trivia nugget on that game. The Irish scored 6 of their points via an interception return for a touchdown from an unlikely defensive back. That corner? Leo Ferrine. It was his only interception of his career.
We could see a Syracuse effort like the one that beat Central Michigan by 37, not the one last week vs. Maryland in which ‘Cuse, despite having 9 more FDs and over two hundred more yards offense, had a costly fumble and an interception returned 88 yds. against them for a TD, and also missed a chip shot 25 yd. FG. I’m anticipating a focus from them (see: Purdue – who didn’t show up vs. Central Michigan their game before us).
It’s about how you play and who you play, but it’s when you play them, too.
Our D line will be up against an OL from Syracuse that returns four starters. Like last year, Syracuse O’ has been mistake-prone, and our pressure D’ ought to force the issue. What happens in the trenches this week determines a blowout or a struggle.
As for our OL, I’m anxious to see if Elmer is lined up at guard this week.
The “lack of a push up the middle” BK mentioned after the Purdue game could be Steve Elmer at guard. Elmer might be more comfortable and effective there. It appears we had more guards than tackles game ready in August, which might have prompted the move of Elmer in the first place.
I’m still hoping Ishaq is in uniform to return home to NY to play this week. Have KeiVarae Russell, Davarius Daniels, Eilar Hardy, and Kendall Moore come along with him and the team, too.
my beautiful wife just surprised me with tickets!!
my 3rd ever ND game (all @ meadowlands)
hope this outcome is a W like the previous two Go irish!!
You’ll never guess what she surprised me with.
The doctor’s report indicating you have crabs?
Possibly, but that might be more of an insult to Johnny’s beautiful wife.
ND will score 28 points in the 1st half. Golson will run/pass for at least 3 TD’s. GO IRISH !!!
Is this the George Kolasa, ’54 monogram club? How have you been?
WAKE UP !!!!! ND will score 28 points in the 1st half !!!
Golson will run and/or pass for 3 touchdowns. GO IRISH !!!! George Kolasa
Although ND should win this game by at least 13 pts., don’t expect the Orange to not put up a battle. The superior athletes will wear down the Cuse and Golson and the passing attack will flourish. Go Irish! ND 28 – 7.