Winners and losers from Notre Dame’s blowout victory over Syracuse as the Irish continue to solidify their CFB Playoff resume
Who impressed the most for Notre Dame during their blowout victory against Syracuse?
What a performance Notre Dame football just put together against a struggling Syracuse Orange team, leaving Senior Day with a 70-7 victory. Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish received key outings from the offense, defense, and special teams. This was as dominant an all-around performance as we have seen in quite some time.
As always, and especially in this game, there were plenty of players who put together strong performances. Trying to find players who underwhelmed, on the other hand, was practically impossible. Still, we did our best to supply enough entries on both sides for this week’s Winners and Losers piece, so here goes nothing.
Winners
It’s the whole team, but let’s try to get very specific.
Jeremiyah Love’s Heisman candidacy
For the last few weeks, my perspective on Love’s candidacy was that he should make it to New York City, but he probably wasn’t the favorite to win the award. After the five-game stretch that Love has put together, and so many incredible moments, I’m ready to make a declaration. Jeremiyah Love is the best football player in College Football. He should win the Heisman Trophy.
Heading into the final regular season game against Stanford, Love has now rushed for 1,306 yards and 17 touchdowns, averaging over seven yards per carry. He has also hauled in another 26 receptions for 274 yards and three more scores through the air. The 6-0, 214-pound playmaker is an elite football player, and in a year where there isn’t a runaway quarterback candidate, Love deserves to take home the award.
Notre Dame was dealt some unfortunate injury news when it was announced that star safety Tae Johnson had suffered a hand injury and would miss the game against Syracuse. While it sounds like Johnson will be back for a College Football Playoff run, it was still important to see the depth behind him perform well.
Jalen Stroman didn’t just fill in admirably. He was outstanding during the victory, recording eight total tackles, two tackles for loss, and returning an interception for a touchdown. Stroman got off to a slow start in 2025, but this was by far his best game in the blue and gold. His presence greatly strengthens the floor of the safety room.
The Notre Dame defense
What else is there to say about the Chris Ash defense? Since the first three games of the season, that unit has been outstanding. They did to the Syracuse offense what a really good defense should do against a bad team – dominate. During the game, they allowed just 2.6 yards per play. The defense also forced three interceptions, including two returned for touchdowns, recorded five sacks, and 15 tackles for loss. It was a stellar overall performance.
Complementary football
At the core, “complementary football” is creating balance across your roster and taking pressure off of one particular unit. Before the Irish offense took the field, Notre Dame was winning 21-0. The defense played an outstanding game. Special teams made some big plays, and the offense rushed for over 300 yards. Every unit was impressive on Saturday. Each complemented the other perfectly.
Losers
“Loser” is a very loose term in this scenario. Nobody is a loser when you win a football game 70-7. We can’t finish this article without the section, however.
Notre Dame’s shutout bid
I’m not sure what it is, but the Irish defense feels like it’s always due to let up one meaningless score at the end of every blowout win.
As Syracuse quarterback Joseph Filardi crossed the goal line with seven seconds left, you probably started thinking about all the late-game scores that the team has given up over the last couple of years, which was also a storyline while Al Golden was calling the defense. It obviously doesn’t actually matter, but it is a weird trend that continues.
We were more than halfway through the first quarter, and Notre Dame was already up 21-0 before the Irish offense even got on the field. Imagine the extra warm-up routine that Carr and the offense had to do with such an unusual start to the game. This is obviously just a joke, but what a truly bizarre football game we all saw on Saturday.
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