This year's ACC upstart. QB driven team with good defensive numbers. I don't think the strength of schedule is too strong. In fact I think Stanford had faced a stronger schedule. They did open some eyes defeating NC State. Yesterday they lost a lead vs Clemson. ND has done well vs the ACC. Here's there schedule. Source: http://cfbstats.com/2022/team/688/index.html

 

for readers:

https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/LongFormArticle/Everything-Marcus-Freeman-said-Monday-before-Notre-Dame-Syracuse-196076627/

 

 

From the little we’ve seen of Freeman, it seems like his teams play up and down to competition. 
 

Syracuse is 68th in 247’s team talent composite ranking. ND should win this game handily but won’t because Syracuse is a better coached team. 
 

The ACC is awful and Cuse has beaten absolutely no one. A loss here is inexcusable, but I think ND squeaks out a win… if not, Clemson will likely get ugly. 

 

Our team is playing like it’s being coached by someone young and inexperienced who is taking his players’ motivation for granted.  He’s assuming they’re ready versus coaching them to be ready and motivated.  Freeman needs to visit with Saban and other hard asses to learn how to be tougher on the players to have them ready.

25 minutes ago, irishwavend said:

Our team is playing like it’s being coached by someone young and inexperienced who is taking his players’ motivation for granted.  He’s assuming they’re ready versus coaching them to be ready and motivated.  Freeman needs to visit with Saban and other hard asses to learn how to be tougher on the players to have them ready.

I hear ya man. Crazy because I listen to Sirius radio and they Neuheisal on and said the same thing. Cant remember the game they were talking about today. But he said when there was a big game all he had to do was walk in the room. That if his players weren’t ready then something was wrong.  Big games don’t need big pep talks. I was like, what?  I’ve also heard Kelly echo these same sentiments. I’ve also heard other head coaches say this. I guess I’m just blown away. I always thought you get guys jacked up for big games. 

 

 

 

What I see:

Cuse has a veteran QB. A wide open scheme. Imagine North Carolina with not quite the athletes

Well coached. They Like to match their RB with LB and Defensive ends in the pass game.

They will use the zone read and the QB will keep it.

 

I see a light defense the typical ACC nickel scheme/4-2-5.

It begs ND to run against it.

They will slant, run blitz and come from all angles and still be only bringing 4 or 5.

 

Attack points

as usual run and play-action

 

Things that concern me:

Trap coverage They intercepted Clemson on zone that looked like man

Angle Blitzes.

Our LB's in space.

QB run, hes a big dude.

 

Is it winnable yes, does ND need to play well Absolutely

 

Hey I live near Syracuse University so I am very familiar with their team. They are NOT very good. Their offense has only two players that ND take. Their RB Tucker who reminds me a lot of Williams from last year but Tucker has break away speed. Their QB is a big athletic guy not a very good passer Payne is a better passer imho ( can’t believe I said that) but the dude can RUN. If we can contain him we win. We’ll see how good our defensive ends really are.

SU defense is not impressive on paper ( e.g. the defense line is young and small) but they play really tough. They create a lot of turnovers . Against Clemson they had several takeaways . That kept them in that game. Because our offense has not proven that they are good enough we can not afford to have SU win the turnover battle.

Yes we should win talent wise. But will we play motivated??? SU coach does a GREAT job motivating his team to play over their talent level.

Edited October 26, 20222 yr by ND_JACK

5 hours ago, ND_JACK said:

Hey I live near Syracuse University so I am very familiar with their team. They are NOT very good. Their offense has only two players that ND take. Their RB Tucker who reminds me a lot of Williams from last year but Tucker has break away speed. Their QB is a big athletic guy not a very good passer Payne is a better passer imho ( can’t believe I said that) but the dude can RUN. If we can contain him we win. We’ll see how good our defensive ends really are.

SU defense is not impressive on paper ( e.g. the defense line is young and small) but they play really tough. They create a lot of turnovers . Against Clemson they had several takeaways . That kept them in that game. Because our offense has not proven that they are good enough we can not afford to have SU win the turnover battle.

Yes we should win talent wise. But will we play motivated??? SU coach does a GREAT job motivating his team to play over their talent level.

Excellent post thats the read I got as well. They play really smart, Like when Temple was rated so high when I went to the link. Kizer and Fuller connected for the winning score at the end.

I'll go 30-29  Irish. No game has been easy this year. Predictions?

‘Cuse 27, Irish 20. 
I don’t think ND blocks 2 punts this week. Still not a believer in Rees being able to call a good game. 
Hate to pick against the Irish. 

I’m still believing that ND will turn this season around and start playing like they should be playing. Maybe this is the week. ND 37 - Cuse 17

If I’m the Syracuse defensive coordinator, I would put all the people I could on Mayer on every third down play. Seems like he’s ND’s go-to guy on third down. 
Maybe other DC’s have tried it and failed. I’m hoping that’s the case. 

My predictions:

defense plays well and holds Syracuse mostly in check save for some qb runs that make me want to lose my mind.

offense continues to run the ball, Rees also calls plays that make me want to lose my mind, Pyne locks onto Mayer all game.

lower scoring than expected, somehow ND wins

Tessitore and McElroy thoughts?

Go Irish! Run the ball Rees!

Just now, cali_domer said:

Go Irish! Run the ball Rees!

He definitely will. I just hope We can find our WRs on 3rd down sometimes