Photos by Matt D'Ambrosi
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- There was a moment just before halftime when it looked as if Syracuse (2-3) might pull the upset and extend Notre Dame's early-season misery.
But the moment passed and Brian Kelly's Fighting Irish (2-3) pulled away in the second half, winning the New York College Classic 50-33 at MetLife stadium Saturday afternoon.
It was a game full of big plays and potent offense on both sides coupled with leaky defenses and inconsistent special teams.
"This is the sloppiest 50 points I've ever been part of," Kelly said. "The sloppiest 400-plus passing game I've ever been part of but we were having fun and a good time but there's still so much room for improvement.""
From Syracuse Coach Dino Babers' perspective, "It's going to be extremely difficult to beat a team like that when you make the mistakes we made."
Momentum shift
The Orange had the potential to enter the second half behind by just three points. Brisley Estime had run a Notre Dame punt back 74 yards to the Notre Dame 14-yard line and Dungey hit Erv Philips for the touchdown. Cole Murphy's extra point made it 33-27.
When linebacker Zaire Franklin intercepted DeShone Kizer's pass, SU was in business again at the ND 34. But Dungey threw three incomplete passes and Murphy, missed a 40-yard field goal attempt right before halftime. The air went out of the Orange balloon.
During the second half, Syracuse scored only six points to Notre Dame's 17 and for the game the Irish amassed 654 yards on offense.
"That is a very very young defense, with a lot of young players on it," Babers said, "you have to give them time to grow up."
Franklin said he thought the defense did a good job especially his teammates, Kenny Ruff and Josh Black, saying they did the "best they could" against a really good offensive line.
"They are very talented, specifically the offensive line, but most of the time it's really just one person not being all the way in the gap or some little technique thing they could have [done] better that the offense took advantage of," Franklin said.
Irish come out fighting, Orange hits back
In the first 18 seconds of the game, Notre Dame had already scored when DeShone Kizer found Equanimeous St. Brown for a 79-yard touchdown to start off with a 7-0 lead.
The Orange responded quickly when quarterback Eric Dungey ran three yards for a touchdown to cap a 75-yard drive. But the extra point was blocked by Notre Dame and Cole Luke returned it to the Syracuse end zone for a two-point conversion. Notre Dame led 9-6.
The teams went back and forth. When Syracuse cut the lead to 16-13, Notre Dame ran back the ensuing kickoff to make it 23-13.
Kizer finished 23 of 35 for 471 yards passing and three touchdowns plus the one interception.
Kelly said although the Irish came out strong, the second half was the better half for the team, specifically Kizer.
"What I liked about him in the second half is that he dropped the ball down, took the easy completions, made the smart decisions and I think he needs to continue to do that," Kelly said, "I thought the second half showed the kind of things that I was looking for him to do and he needs to continue to do that."
Irish defense still porous
A week after Kelly fired his defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, the Irish allowed Syracuse 489 yards of offense, most of it through the air. But they managed to stop the Orange from scoring for most of the second half.
I think we’ve got to tighten up some things in terms of our
basic coverage and basic fronts," Kelly said. "I thought we did a couple of good things today
that you probably saw that you haven’t seen before. We did a little bit more
3‐4 defense, you know so a little bit more tightening up things."
Playing conservatively
In the second half when Syracuse wasn't moving the ball down field, the team was pushed into fourth down and punted on almost every drive.
Babers was asked why he didn't go for it on some of the fourth down situations.
"When I first came here you guys said I was too aggressive then I stopped and now you're calling me conservative," Babers said, "99.9 percent of the coaches do not go for fourth down."
Little mistakes
Babers continued to talk about mistakes the team made, mentioning the "little mistakes."
"There's going to be so many small mistakes that turn into big mistakes when you're playing a team with the caliber of athletes that the University of Notre Dame has," he said.
He said the little mistakes aren't things that people watching normally see. The audience sees the big mistakes, like a dropped ball, but not the smaller ones that Babers is concerned with.
Dungey, a running quarterback?
Three of Eric Dungey's five touchdowns were rushing and he carried the ball 17 times on Saturday for a net 49 yards. He was 31 of 51 passing for 363 yards with no interceptions.
Babers praised his quarterback for his decision making.
"I think for the most part, and especially this game, I thought he made really good decisions,"
Dungey's usual target, Amba Etta-Tawo, was heavily covered by the Notre Dame defense, making it difficult for him to make plays.He still had seven catches for 134 yards and a touchdown.
"I'm not going to force something just because, it's just one guy," Dungey said. "We got a lot of playmakers on the field. If you try to force one playmaker, things aren't going to go well,"
End of the MetLife era
Saturday was the end of Syracuse's contract with MetLife Stadium and the Orange probably will not be playing in East Rutherford for some time.
Saturday's game drew a crowd announced as over 62,000 fans as well as a visit from former New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin.
Coughlin, who started in the SU backfield with Floyd Little and Larry Csonka in the 1960s, came to check out this year's team and to flip the coin before the game.
"To represent Syracuse, at that particular time, I'm more than happy to do it," Coughlin said.
Next up
The Irish will look for another win when they travel to South Carolina State on Saturday Oct. 8. The Orange also is back in action on Saturday at Wake Forest, which lost for the first time Saturday at North Carolina State.
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