SUBWAY
between the Irish and No. 16 Syracuse. It’s the first time ND has played in central New York since 2003, and for months, local Notre Dame alumni clubs have been organizing events and selling hundreds of tickets.
“We haven’t had an opportunity to flex this specific muscle in terms of being the sort of ‘host’ city for Notre Dame away games,” said Jude Seymour, president of the Central New York/Syracuse Notre Dame chapter.
Upstate New York features a high per centage of Irish Catholics. ND has long had a coast-to-coast following, generated in part by its decades of national media cover age. It’s just one of two Catholic schools playing in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and its effort to play games around the country — hitting Syracuse, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, among other cities this season — continues to bolster support.
“This is a big Notre Dame area. (There’s) a big following,” Hulihan said of upstate New York. “It’s a big deal.”
SU is excited to play Notre Dame. Matthew Bergeron watched Rudy growing up, and both he and Marlowe Wax said they’ve been look ing forward to this game since the Irish beat them handedly in 2020. Head coach Dino Babers said beating Notre Dame in any sea son is a “big thing” because of its unique
Last time they played Syracuse traveled to South Bend to cap off the abysmal pandemic-riddled 2020 season that featured a 1-10 record, tied for the worst record in program history. The Orange trailed 3-0 after the first quarter. But then the roof came off, and Ian Book threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns. Two Notre Dame running backs finished with over 100 yards on the ground, and Javon McKinley led all receivers with 111 yards and three touchdowns.
Syracuse’s offense posted a season-best 229 rushing yards, led by Cooper Lutz’s 114 yards. Rex Culpepper went 18-for-29 with 185 yards, one touchdown and an intercep tion in his final collegiate game. Syracuse had just 15 first downs all afternoon.
Ja’Had Carter, who forced an intercep tion against Clemson last week, intercepted Book — his second pick that season. Dino Babers chalked up the Orange’s mistakes all season to their inexperience and lack of practice time. SU lost, 45-21.
The Fighting Irish report
Backup quarterback Drew Pyne entered the Marshall loss following what would end up being a season-ending injury for Buchner. He finished 3-for-6 with 20 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Since then, he’s led the Fighting Irish back from an 0-2 start to a 4-3 record, averaging 179.5 passing yards and two touchdowns per game for the year. He’s flanked by three running backs that have garnered at least 299 yards
brand and status as a prestigious program.
In the early 1900s, ND played games out side of the midwest, drawing large crowds for games in New York City. Eventually, these alumni grew into other large markets like Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston, among other upstate cities in Albany, Syra cuse and Rochester.
The school’s 266 alumni clubs are clas sified by size ranging from AA (over 1,500 alumni in the area) to F (less than 75). The Rochester and Albany clubs are both B-sized, and Syracuse is C-sized. All three have roughly 200 members, and Subway Alumni make up over 50% of the Albany and Syracuse organizations.
Several years ago, the Notre Dame Alumni Association rebranded its tagline to include “friends” of the university, acknowl edging fans who didn’t attend ND. A Subway Alum also now sits on the national Notre Dame alumni board.
“We’ve been trying really hard to kind of reduce the stigma that you have to have some sort of diploma or some sort of affili ation to Notre Dame that’s set in stone in order to be part of our club,” Seymour said. “We don’t care about what school you ulti mately attended, as long as you cheer for the Irish you’re good with us.”
Erwin has continued his family’s ND sup port without being an alumnus. When his dad was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1990s,
on the ground this season. Audric Estime is the leader of the three-pronged rushing attack, followed by Logan Diggs and Chris Tyree. The trio have combined to score 10 total touchdowns.
Notre Dame’s rush defense ranks No. 61 in the country at 139.4 yards per game. But it’s allowed 1,414 yards through the air for an average of 202 yards per game, which ranks 35th in the NCAA.
How Syracuse beats Notre Dame Syracuse should slice up the second level of that Fighting Irish defense. Sean Tucker should get the ball more than five times. A more balanced approach, like Syracuse ran against Virginia and Louisville, is needed. Shrader can’t be tasked to throw the ball deep as much as he did against the Tigers either. Devaughn Cooper is a threat across the middle on short yardage gains to test the ND linebackers.
Babers stated that the Fighting Irish are an “extremely well coached team,” and they’re bound to make key halftime adjust ments, just like Dabo Swinney did in Clem son. The game might come down to whether or not Anae and Babers can properly respond. If Notre Dame takes away Tucker’s effectiveness again, Syracuse needs to find ways to include him in short passing sets. If the long ball is locked down, Syracuse needs to work through a balanced approach of read options and short throws. Most importantly, the Orange have to get back to the creativity that their offense had through six games.
Erwin told his wife he wanted to take him to South Bend, Indiana. He did so twice.
At the time, Erwin didn’t think he could be part of an alumni club since he never attended Notre Dame. But he’s now been a Central New York chapter member for decades. He’s taken his oldest grandson, now 20, to Notre Dame every year since he was 1.
The clubs organize watch parties, bus trips to games, masses and community ser vice projects with the Brady Faith Center, Liberty Resources, The Rescue Mission and Hopeprint, among others. The Albany chap ter hosts a send-off picnic for local students going to Notre Dame.
As the Syracuse chapter’s president, Erwin organized annual bus trips to South Bend. Usually filled with around 50 people, 90% of the bus was Subway Alumni, he said. The bus from Syracuse would be the first in the tailgate lot on gameday and one of the last ones to leave.
Seymour has continued the bus trips as president, but said they didn’t do one this year, putting their focus on the SU game. When the game date was announced, the club was “all hands on deck” to find partners and arrange events, Seymour said.
The club has planned several events for the weekend: a lecture on Thursday between Notre Dame and the Maxwell School, an “Irish Night Out” on Friday night at Coleman’s Irish Pub, a tailgate in the Schine Center Saturday morning (featuring “as much Guiness as can
Statistic to know: 100%
Above anything else that Notre Dame might have done wrong so far this season — the lack of a coherent offense, third down conversions — allowing points each time an opponent gets into the red zone might take the cake. In 17 attempts, the Fight ing Irish have allowed seven rushing and passing touchdowns each along with three field goals. Opponents are 17-for-17. The only other school that has allowed a perfect oppo nent red zone conversion rate is Rutgers.
Player to watch: Michael Mayer, tight end, No. 87
Michael Mayer, whom Babers referred to as an “NFL tight end,” leads all receivers with 526 receiving yards and six touchdowns. He was effective last year as a receiving option for Notre Dame, garnering 840 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. But the junior has taken off this year, nearly matching his production numbers from last season through seven games. Mayer has been picked as high as No. 9 in 2023 NFL mock drafts. After recording just five catches for a total of 32 yards against Ohio State, he has finished with at least 60 receiving yards in every game except one.
He’s surpassed 100 receiving yards three times already and has only finished two games without a touchdown reception. Ear lier this month, Pro Football Focus graded him as the No. 1 tight end in the country.
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@anthonyalandt
be consumed by all the people standing in that room” via a local distributor) and a Sunday mass at the Church of Most Holy Rosary.
Seymour said he purchased Syracuse sea son tickets to have access to Saturday’s game, and the Central New York club got 150 tickets for an all-Irish section in the Dome. The Roch ester club’s 80 tickets sold out quickly, and other locals bought tickets through the box offices, Rochester club president Amy Porter said. The Albany chapter had never pre-pur chased as many tickets as it did for Saturday’s game (70), Hulihan said, but they sold out in less than a week. The club will have a huge presence in sections 312 and 313 on Saturday.
When the Irish visited Syracuse in 2003, the CNY club rented the Oncenter for the weekend, hosting a big tailgate on gameday. Seymour drove up from the southern tier to watch SU running back Walter Reyes record five touchdowns in a 38-12 Orange win. The last three times the Fighting Irish traveled east to play Syracuse, the games were played in the New York City metropolitan area.
The extra wait adds to the anticipation for Saturday’s visit from the Golden Domers.
“We never really got Notre Dame sports to come to the area,” Porter said. “It’s a rare opportunity to have them so close to home…so a lot of people are very, very excited about the opportunity.”
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forgettable season in SU history — stands as the last time the Orange beat Notre Dame, who’s headed to the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday.
Since taking over the Orange in 2005, his first and only head coaching job, Robinson’s tenure had been marred with NCAA violations, close defeats to teams that had no business playing close with Syracuse and blowout losses. It might have been Robinson’s playcalling, the inexperienced roster, two quarterbacks or a combination of it all that led a 2-8 Syracuse into South Bend.
That team was close, Jones said, and their record doesn’t reflect how tightly knit the group was. Heading into the game, Jones, who ended with a career-high 15 tackles in a game that “put (him) on the map,” was contemplating leaving for the NFL Draft.
“We just wanted to send him off the right way, getting that win,” Jones said.
Robinson still had more energy than he’d ever had, according to linebacker Jake Fla herty. During practice that week, Robinson lowered his shoulder into Averin Collier’s chest on a scout team drill. After the win, Jones said the locker room felt like they’d just won the Super Bowl.
“That was our bowl game,” he said.
The game itself, a grueling defensive battle prompted by the wind and snow, was “tough sledding,” Dantley said. Jones compared it to a heavyweight boxing match, each defense delivering blow after blow. But the Orange, who’d given up 42 points to Akron, 55 to Penn State, 45 to South Florida and 39 to UConn, wasn’t going to be denied. Jones finished the game with four tackles behind the line of scrimmage and had 1.5 sacks.
Prior to the game, the Fighting Irish’s offensive line said they didn’t need to put two blockers on Jones. Jones heard the audio clip, and took it as “such an insult.” Coaches further motivated Jones in practice by saying that the opposing line was going to “single block you” and “kick your ass.”
“I was licking my chops for the time to run out for us to play Notre Dame,” Jones said.
Before SU’s final drive against the Fight ing Irish, head coach Charlie Weis opted to send out placekicker Brandon Walker for a
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MAYER
“I think that what made him so success ful was his eagerness to learn,” Edgington said. “Besides, he’s just a hell of an athlete and that’s always a bonus. Then you got some tools to work with like he has, and it just comes easy for him.”
Edgington wanted to give Mayer the best conditioning program possible, making him do the same drills as the varsity team to help him “drink the Kool-Aid” and buy into the program. But after Mayer’s freshman year, Edgington pointed to varsity head coach Eddie Eviston as someone who helped Mayer learn the game more.
During three years on varsity, Eviston
49-yard field goal. The wind chill in South Bend, Indiana, that day dipped below 20 degrees. Fans had to brush snow off of the bleachers to sit down. Dantley was confident Walker would miss. Almost everyone on the sideline, who’d battled to a 23-17 deficit against the Fighting Irish, was confident. After a good week of practice, the Orange knew they could win.
Flaherty watched as the kick came up just short. He hugged safety Paul Chiara as 80,795 fans in South Bend went quiet. Only a few boos broke the silence.
“We deserved the win,” Flaherty said. “We were busting our ass just like these guys.”
Syracuse was down by just six points in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter when Dantley rounded up the offense on the sidelines. He told them that if they got down the field and made a few big plays, they’d be in a good position to win. After the first 49-yard missed field goal, Syra cuse had terrific field position and four minutes and 58 seconds to take the lead.
Freshman running back Antwon Bai ley began the drive with a 20-yard rush up the left side of the field, followed by two more runs for nine yards. Then on a 3rd-and-1 out of the I-formation, Dantley targeted tight end Mike Owen on a post route to the far sideline. As he extended for the ball, a Notre Dame defender tripped him up, drawing a pass interference. Then a nine yard comple tion to Tony Fiammetta set up the Orange for the game-winning pass.
“I have to say that we approached the game like every other game, it wasn’t like, win one for the Gipper or anything like that,” Flaherty said.
Dantley bolted back to the sidelines after the touchdown pass and told Jones to do whatever he could to prevent quarterback Jimmy Clausen from winning the game.
The Orange forced three incomplete passes, setting up a 4th-and-10 from the Irish’s own 25-yard line. Then, Clausen rocked back and rifled a pass to Golden Tate, who turned around and grabbed the ball to move the Fighting Irish to the 35-yard line. Walker, this time from 53 yards away, again had the chance to seal the game for the Fighting Irish.
Flaherty said they’d already outplayed Notre Dame. They’d already come back from trailing 23-10 and put together a
immersed Mayer into the game by having him play all over the field and be a crucial part of the offense and defense. Playing linebacker as well as tight end, Mayer was able to under stand the defensive game plan and what a defensive player was thinking, Eviston said.
“You could tell as a sophomore he was going to be something special,” Eviston said.
“Senior year he was Mr. Do-It-All. Every body knew who he was and everybody game planned for him, and we didn’t shy away from using him as well.”
Eviston explained he would tailor Mayer’s practices to mirror “somewhat of a college pace.” He later received feedback from the coaches at Notre Dame who were impressed with Mayer’s preparation for the collegiate level.
go-ahead drive. Dantley could win at his father’s alma mater in the sta dium he’d always dreamed of play ing in. Walker’s kick sailed right and was short. For once in Rob inson’s tenure, a break benefitted the Orange. Boos — and snowballs — rained down on Syracuse as they piled on each other at the 15-yard line.
“I really just remember giving my teammates a hug when he missed the field goal and said, ‘Let’s take it back to Mar shall Street y’all,’” Flaherty said. anthonya landt29@yahoo.com
@anthonyalandt
In Mayer’s three seasons with the varsity team, Covington Catholic finished with a 44-1 record. During that time, Mayer was a part of two championship victories in his sophomore and senior years.
As an upperclassman at Covington Catholic, Notre Dame and Penn State were Mayer’s top choices. Eviston said Mayer was bolstered by the idea of “Tight End U” at Notre Dame when it came to the enrollment decision.
Notre Dame is well-known for develop ing tight ends for the NFL draft, which hit home for Mayer and his family. Eviston said the Mayer family was in touch with NFL tight end and Fighting Irish alumnus Kyler Rudolph, who played at Elder High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.
On Oct. 8, 2022, Mayer caught 11 passes for 118 yards along with two touchdowns in Notre Dame’s victory over then-No. 16 BYU. In this game, Mayer became the program’s all time leader in receptions by a tight end, passing former NFL tight end Tyler Eifert’s record of 140 college catches.
But Mayer just focuses on the game at hand. With this Saturday’s matchup against Syracuse approaching, Mayer looks to take a similar approach against a tough defensive secondary.
“It’s just playing ball. There’s nothing else to it for me,” Mayer said in a preseason interview. “I’m just going out there and play ing the best ball I can play, and that’s really all I’m worried about.”
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Syracuse forced three incomplete passes on Notre Dame’s first three plays during its final drive. courtesy of su athletics
ANTWON BAILEY began the game-winning drive with three straight carries for 29 yards. courtesy of su athletics
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PREGAME PLAYBOOK
Syracuse has scored on 28 of its 30 redzone opportunities, which is tied for 14th in the nation
Saturday’s game against Notre Dame will be the 11th sold-out football crowd in Syracuse history
Syracuse’s 67 penalties committed is tied for third-most in the country while Notre Dame’s 30 penalties committed is tied for the sixth-least
SOURCE: NCAA.COM
bouncing
Syracuse was scoreless in the second half for the first time this year and produced o ensive season-lows against the Tigers throughout its first loss of the season
next game
Syracuse’s loss to Clemson was its first of the season and its first on the road. This week, the Orange will host historic powerhouse Notre Dame at home with the hopes of improving to 7-1.
defensive differences
Syracuse is tied for sixth in the country with 15.14 points per game allowed. Notre Dame’s 21.86 per game allowed ranks 35th.
SOURCE: NCAA.COM
By Daily Orange Sports Staff
No. 16 Syracuse su ered a heartbreaking loss at No. 5 Clemson on Saturday. It led by 11 points at halftime but couldn’t score for the rest of the game, resulting in the Orange’s first loss of the season. Notre Dame began the season as a potential playo contender, yet a combination of upsets and inconsistent play have pushed the Fighting Irish outside the rankings and in need of victories in order to achieve bowl eligibility.
Here is what our beat writers think will happen when Notre Dame visits the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday:
Ranked No. 5 in the preseason poll, Notre Dame has fallen unranked and is just a game over .500 through seven games after its losses piled up after its Week 1 loss to Ohio State. Since then, the Fighting Irish have allowed over 15 points in each game and played once on the road. Syracuse, on the other hand, is coming o two of its toughest games of the season where it was competitive and showcased how dangerous its passing game will be.
The Orange have already clinched a bowl game, so let’s see how high up the rankings they can go. A win on Saturday should see that number rise.
coach Marcus Freeman, ND is 4-3 and lost at home to Marshall and a struggling Stanford team. After entering the season ranked No. 5 in the AP Top 25, Notre Dame enters this weekend unranked.
Last week’s loss in Death Valley was a much needed reality check. And that’s fine. But it proved Syracuse can handle just about any team that it will face for the rest of the season. Yes, the Orange’s first loss of the season was mostly self-inflicted, but it gives them even more of a claim for a bounce-back performance in their penultimate home game of the season.
Notre Dame, one of college football’s most prestigious programs, is visiting Syracuse for the first time in nearly 20 years — and just the third time ever — on Saturday. SU’s lucky, then, that the Irish are in the middle of a down season after playing in three New Year’s Six bowls over the last five seasons, including two visits to the College Football Playo . Led by 36-year-old first-year head
Regardless of Notre Dame’s strength this year, this is a big game for the Orange. Not only is it a nationally televised matchup in front of an expected sellout crowd inside the JMA Wireless Dome, it’s a chance to bounce back from a devastating loss at No. 5 Clemson last Saturday — one SU should’ve won. Syracuse needs to come out strong this weekend, give Sean Tucker an appropriate number of carries and be leading somewhat comfortably for most of the game. The Orange still have a chance at a monumental season in front of them. Achieving that starts with a good showing Saturday by beating the Irish, even in a down year for them.
ANTHONY ALANDT
SYRACUSE’S
This isn’t your grandfather’s Notre Dame, or even your older brother’s.
The Fighting Irish are o to their worst start since
2016 under Freeman. They’re led by a backup quarterback, who played against Marshall after Tyler Buchner’s season-ending injury, and have a potential top-10 pick in Michael Mayer at tight end leading their rushing attack. Dino Babers said Notre Dame is littered with four and five star talent, and should, on paper, put up a pretty good fight against the Orange despite the down year.
But Syracuse, fresh off of an open wound of a loss against Clemson, should take care of business. As long as Syracuse utilizes Tucker as much as it does the passing game, it should be enough to skate past Notre Dame. Throw out the records on this one — a 6-1 SU team is going to be in a battle with 4-3 Notre Dame, who has won four of their last five contests. A loss wouldn’t necessarily spell disaster for SU — it hasn’t beaten the Fighting Irish since 2008 — but it would be a good indicator that the Orange might not be ready to win on the national stage against perennial Division I teams.
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big numbers beat writer predictions ALEX CIRINO SYRACUSE 28, NOTRE DAME 17 BACK ON TRACK CONNOR SMITH LUCK OF THE ORANGE SYRACUSE 31, NOTRE DAME 17
REBOUND SYRACUSE 30, NOTRE DAME 28 flags
flying
back
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By Anthony Alandt senior staff writer
