Syracuse Football: 5 reasons the Orange will upset Notre Dame

1. Eric Dungey and the Syracuse offense

How could this not be No. 1? Are you kidding? The Syracuse offense could be reasons 1-5 on this list and no one would fault me for it.

For starters, Eric Dungey averages 288 yards and over three scores a game on his own and if he proved against Clemson’s defense that he can still move the ball with 266 yards of offense and two touchdowns. Dungey is the leader of this offensive unit and is an absolute touchdown machine when he gets into the red zone as he’s led the Orange to an 88 percent scoring rating inside the 25-yard line.

Syracuse’s scoring offense ranks seventh nationally with an average of 44.4 points per game and is 12th nationally against P5 opponents with 39.4 points per game. The offense as a whole averages 482.2 yards per game which is the 14th-best in the nation but the key stat that separates them from anything that Notre Dame has played this season is their speed.

Syracuse’s offense is the fourth-fastest offense in college football with an average of 84.5 plays per game and have only gotten faster over the last month with an average of 88 plays per game. The speed of this offense will mess up the best of defensive units because they cause the defense to get out of rhythm and prevent them from getting back to their spots or even to call a play from the sideline. This also leads to fatigue and when that happens that start mounting up points.

The Orange don’t rely heavily on one or two players as the team has Moe Neal averaging six yards per carry out of the backfield and Sean Riley and Jamal Custis taking most of the receptions from Eric Dungey.

Another huge playmaker for Syracuse is Nykeim Johnson who missed most of the season due to injury but caught on over the past several weeks and can take the top off of most defensive units (16 yards per reception).

If there was anything about this team that gets them the win, it’s the offense.