After a 22-point victory on the road, Notre Dame Football returns home for their final “regular” season game in South Bend. Although not perfect, this Irish Football team is starting to look like not only a playoff team, but a National Championship contender. Marcus Freeman’s team has taken a different path than last season and must solidify their playoff spot with two exclamation points against Syracuse and Stanford.
Essential Game Info:
- Game Time: Saturday, November 22, at 3:30 PM ET on NBC
- Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
- Matchup History: Notre Dame Football is 8–3 all-time against the Syracuse Orange (Last Meeting 2022: Irish won 41–24)
- Odds: Notre Dame -35.5
Syracuse Details
- Conference: ACC
- Head Coach: Fran Brown
- 2025 Record: 3–7 (1–6)
- 2024 Record: 10–3 (5–3)
Syracuse Storylines:
Syracuse’s season was derailed with the loss of Steve Angeli. The former Notre Dame quarterback, who was infamous for his field goal drive in the Orange Bowl to turn the tide of the National Semi-Final, will not be suiting up this weekend.
This is Fran Brown’s second season as head coach. In his first campaign, he led the Orange to 10 victories, which was tied for the most ever by a 1st-year Syracuse coach. However, this season has not gone according to plan. In their past three contests, the Orange lost to Georgia Tech (41–16), North Carolina (27–10), and Miami (38–10).
Freshman Walk-On quarterback Joe Filardi will get the start Saturday. In his career, Filardi is 7 for 21 with 78 passing yards, 1 passing touchdown, and 4 sacks taken. On the ground, he has 8 attempts for 0 yards (sacks are included).
Notre Dame Storylines:
Chris Ash’s defense is “playoff ready.” Last week, the Irish Defense only surrendered 9 points. One of those drives started on Notre Dame’s 12-yard line (CJ Carr interception), and the Irish held them to a 6-yard drive and field goal. Meanwhile, the final 6 points were scored by Pittsburgh on the last play of the game, after Pat Narduzzi called a timeout with 6 seconds left to make the game look closer.
Now this is the “Syracuse Primer,” but I do want to say something about how “cowardly” that Pittsburgh timeout was late in the game. Pat Narduzzi has shown himself to be jealous of Notre Dame and looked very hypocritical trying to score a “late 6 points” in a game that he supposedly did not care about. Well Pat, have fun obsessing over your conference, while the big boys are worried about the playoffs.
Notre Dame Football had a balanced attack at Pittsburgh. CJ Carr went 21 for 32 with 212 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and 1 rushing score. On the ground, Jeremiyah Love added 23 carries for 147 yards and 1 rushing touchdown. Jadarian Price was fairly quiet in the rushing attack with 8 attempts for 21 yards.
The biggest wildcard in Notre Dame’s playoff run is CJ Carr. He did not have his best game of the year against the Panthers (albeit the screen pass “pick 6” was just a great read by the defender). It was fantastic to see him take advantage of a few offsides calls and target Fields via “free plays.”
CJ Carr has shown a lot of maturity by how he handles adversity this fall. If offensive players such as Cooper Flanagan, Jaden Greathouse, Billy Schrauth, and Charles Jagusah become available for the postseason, it will undoubtedly help the Irish.
Head-to-Head Matchups:
Notre Dame Offense vs. Syracuse Defense:
The Fighting Irish Offense is averaging 458 yards per game, while the Orange Defense is allowing 430 yards per matchup.
Mike Denbrock’s Offense put up a lot of points last Saturday afternoon, but they were not perfect by any means. I believe Notre Dame’s group will execute better this week and score more points than anyone has on Syracuse in 2025.
Fran Brown’s team is giving up 430 yards per contest, and the Irish are primed for the final playoff push. I would not want to be a defender for the Orange on Saturday afternoon.
The Fighting Irish have the advantage.
Advantage: Notre Dame
Syracuse Offense vs. Notre Dame Defense:
The Syracuse Offense is averaging 362 yards per contest, while the Notre Dame Defense is allowing 323 yards per game.
Chris Ash performed a rare turnaround in sports. Typically, when a group starts off the season as bad as the Irish Defense, things do not get fixed until the following season. The Fighting Irish have transformed into a playoff-caliber group and completely shut down a solid Pittsburgh Offense on the road last week.
Chris Ash’s group has the advantage in this category.
Advantage: Notre Dame
Special Teams:
Tripp Woody is 10 for 11 this season with his longest conversion at 49 yards. Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s Erik Schmidt is 0 for 3 this season, including a 46-yard missed field goal last Saturday.
Last year, Mitch Jeter was hurt throughout the year but came back clutch during the playoffs (minus field goal in title game). Fans should hope to get Noah Burnette back for the playoffs. He is 5 for 6 at Notre Dame and 54 for 68 in his college career.
For this weekend’s matchup, Syracuse has the advantage.
Advantage: Syracuse
My Prediction:
Notre Dame did not play to their full potential against the Panthers and still dominated Pittsburgh the entire contest. I believe the Fighting Irish will do the exact same thing to Syracuse in South Bend. If North Carolina can put up 27 points on the Orange and hold them to 10, I expect the Irish to score even more.
Fans all know that Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are the best running back duo in the nation. But I expect to see even more out of the passing attack on Senior Day. CJ Carr to Fields was a great connection against Pittsburgh, and I anticipate a lot of receivers will be involved in the scoring against the Orange.
I have the Fighting Irish winning by 43 points.
Prediction: Notre Dame 49, Syracuse 6
