Key Takeaways From The Notre Dame Win Over Syracuse

Notre Dame (5-3) earned a much-needed and convincing 41-24 win over #16 Syracuse, giving the Irish their second straight win and fifth victory in six games. The Irish defense got things started off right and played a big role in the win.

As is the case in most games, there were areas where improvement is needed or corrections need to be made, but overall the Irish defense outplayed the Orange offense and once again played a key role in a victory.

Here are the key takeaways of the Notre Dame defense from the win.

Disruptive Play Was Key To Success - Notre Dame has had moments where it was disruptive in certain areas this season, especially when it comes to the pass rush. What we have not seen, however, is the all-around disruptiveness we saw in the win over Syracuse. In fact, there were times in the second half when the pass rush wasn't there, but the Irish were able to make stops because of other methods of disruption.

Notre Dame came into the game ranked 16th nationally in sacks per game, but the defense ranked just 51st in tackles for loss per game. That means the run game disruption was not there. That was not the case against Syracuse, as the Irish defense racked up four run game stops behind the line.

The Irish had picked off just one pass all season, but they doubled up that mark against Syracuse, and a third interception was negated by an offsides penalty. Cornerback Cam Hart also had a chance for another interception but he couldn't haul it in. That level of pass game disruption was needed, and not something we've seen enough of this season.

Notre Dame finished the game with eight tackles for loss, four sacks and the two interceptions that were already discussed. Notre Dame also went into the matchup against Syracuse as a middle of the road team in regard to forcing incompletions, giving up 58.7% completions on the season. Syracuse came into the game completing 69% of its passes on the season, but the Irish held them to 16-36 in the air, good for just a 44.4% completion rate. Syracuse's 104.16 passer rating against Notre Dame was its lowest of the season.

The Irish also held Syracuse to just 6.3 yards per pass attempt, 2.4 yards per rush attempt and season lows of 286 yards and 4.7 yards per play.

Run Defense Steps Up Big - Coming into the game we discussed the need for Notre Dame's inconsistent run defense to step up and not let talented running back Sean Tucker beat them.

Mission accomplished.

Tucker came into the game 19th in the country in rushing yards per game, which comes a year after he racked up 1,496 yards and 12 touchdowns. Notre Dame held the talented runner to just 60 yards on 16 carries, and 21 of those yards came on one run early in the game. Outside of that the Notre Dame defense held Tucker in check.

Syracuse finished with an average of just 2.4 yards per rush and just 61 yards on the ground, its lowest yards total of the season.

Shutting down the ground attack forced Syracuse to be more pass heavy, and that is not their strength. It played into what Notre Dame wanted to accomplish and played a key role in the Irish victory.

It was also a welcome sign for a defense that had been wildly erratic at stopping the run this season. Notre Dame will need this to be a sign of things to come moving forward.

Linebackers Continue Their Ascent - The play of the Notre Dame linebackers has been a major concern and issue all season. The unit had a much improved performance against UNLV, but against the Orange they broke down and looked like the unit we expected them to be this season.

Notre Dame's backers played fast, they were active, they made impact plays and they limited mistakes. The confusion and inability to get off blocks that plagued them for much of the season was not evident against Syracuse.

Mike linebacker JD Bertrand had an excellent game, attacking down hill throughout, sniffing out the screen game and the Syracuse blockers had a tough time getting a body on him. It was a throwback game for Bertrand, and the second quality performance in a row that he has achieved, which is a very good sign. Notre Dame is much, much better on defense when Bertrand is playing well.

Will linebacker Marist Liufau also played with more speed and decisiveness in this game. He was good in coverage, played with solid gap integrity on pressures and avoided the big missed assignments that resulted in big plays for the opposition. Liufau also made a huge fourth quarter interception that sparked an Irish rout.

Rover Jack Kiser didn't put up big numbers (one tackle), but his read on an early Syracuse reverse turned a 2nd-and-1 into a 3rd-and-7, which led to a quick three-and-out from the Syracuse offense.

Second Half Struggles - Notre Dame continues to struggle putting teams away defensively. Coming into the contest against Syracuse the Irish defense had allowed just 63 first half points in seven games, but the defense allowed 90 in the second half of games this season.

That trend continued against Syracuse, who had just one score in the first half. The defense allowed 10 third quarter points to help turn a 24-7 lead into a 24-17 game. It didn't get much help from the offense at times, but we saw some of the same mistakes that have plagued the defense show up in the second half. That included third-and-long struggles (the defense gave up a 3rd-and-8 conversion with a handoff), struggles containing quarterback runs and long plays in the pass game.

Syracuse had just one touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the defense closed things out late, but teams continue to be able to come out of halftime with adjustments that give the Irish defense problems.

That needs to be fixed at some point, and hopefully very soon.

Red Zone Woes Continue - Of course, nothing is more concerning than Notre Dame's inability to stop teams once they get into the red zone. After Syracuse turned all three of its red zone trips into touchdowns, Notre Dame has now allowed its opponents to convert all 20 of their red zone trips into scores, and even worse is that 17 of those 20 have resulted in touchdowns.

It's troubling, puzzling, concerning, pick whatever adjective you want to describe it, but it's a problem. Notre Dame has to find answers at some point, because red zone stops - even limiting touchdowns while allowing more field goals - could be the difference between winning and losing against Top 10 opponents like Clemson and USC.

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