What To Look For: Notre Dame vs. Syracuse
Notre Dame ends its regular season today in hopes of going undefeated for the third time in the Brian Kelly tenure. All that’s standing in its way is 1-9 Syracuse, and the Irish are 34-point favorites.
The ideal scenario for Notre Dame is that it comes out on fire, puts this game away early and buries Syracuse. Part of that ideal scenario is Notre Dame jumping out to such a big lead that it can rest its starters for most of, if not all of the second half.
Of concern, however, is that Notre Dame knows Syracuse stinks, and combined with Senior Day it makes for a sloppy performance that requires the coaches to leave the starters in much longer than desired.
So which will happen? We’ll find out soon, but I know what I’ll be looking for early in the game to see which version of the Fighting Irish we get.
1. Offense comes out aggressive — The offense should overwhelm Syracuse, but only if it comes out and takes it to Syracuse. That didn’t happen against Georgia Tech, and the result was Notre Dame failing to put the game away far too late. That cannot happen against Syracuse, and the coaches can help by dialing up an aggressive game plan out of the gate.
I want to see offensive coordinator Tommy Rees attacking with the pass game, but doing so aggressively, with down the field shots, screens designed to generate big plays and to attack over the middle. When Notre Dame gets a one-on-one on the perimeter, take that shot.
Getting touches for Braden Lenzy early should be a part of that, same with tight end Tommy Tremble.
2. Offense needs to be sharp — Part of dominance in this matchup is being focused and locked in. No matter what game plan Rees calls, we’ll know early on if the unit is locked in. That means playing with fire and energy, it means executing at a high level and it means taking the first several drives of the game right down the field for scores.
A sharp Notre Dame offense will be an effective Notre Dame offense, which means a high-scoring Notre Dame offense that puts this game away early.
3. Offensive line gels quickly — One of the keys I’m looking at that has as much to do with the future as it does today’s matchup is the performance of the offensive line. You can be assured that Syracuse is going to take a page from the North Carolin defense, which means Syracuse is going to attack, its defense is going to throw a lot of different looks and pressures at the Irish line and they are going to attempt to create mistakes from the Irish blockers.
If Notre Dame plays well up front it will result in dominance in this game, but it will also make me feel much better about how prepared this new-look line is to thrive against Clemson.
DEFENSE
1. Defensive line dominates — The Notre Dame defense is arguably the nation’s best, and the defensive line has been the driving force behind that for much of the season. Part of know a team is ready to handle its business is that the best aspects of it play to their normal standard. Against a porous Syracuse offensive line, that means the Irish line comes out and dominates from the opening snap.
That means blowing up the Syracuse run game and putting pressure on the quarterback. If the Irish front four is controlling the action, the Orange offense will have no chance at getting its run game going, and it won’t have enough time for its quarterback to get the ball out to the talented playmakers.
It sounds simplistic, but if the Irish defensive line dominates this game will likely be over quickly.
2. A lot of ball disruption — Like we discussed on offense, a key to knowing the team is ready to play at a high level against this kind of opponent is the energy and passion we see early on. If the defense is playing with the necessary fire to dominate the Orange it will result in a lot of ball disruptions.
That means pass break ups, knocking the ball out, getting hits on the quarterback and ideally, forcing turnovers. Notre Dame can and should overwhelm Syracuse, and if it does we’ll see a lot of these types of plays.
3. Defense is getting off the field quickly — If Notre Dame wants to put Syracuse away early, its offense needs as many possessions as possible in the early going. That can’t happen if the Irish defense isn’t getting off the field. A focused Notre Dame defense will absolutely dismantle the Syracuse offense, and if that happens the Irish will be getting off the field quickly and getting the offense the ball just as quickly.
To comment below be sure to sign up for a FREE Disqus account, which you can get HERE.
———————
Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! Click on the link below for more
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!
Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Parler: @BryanDriskell
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook
