Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from massive win over No. 16 Syracuse

After an 0-2 start to the season, all looked lost for Notre Dame football. The College Football Playoff and likely a New Year’s Six bowl was out of the picture, but winning out would salvage a season with major expectations under a brand new head coach.

Notre Dame reeled off four consecutive wins even after losing Tyler Buchner for the season but then a shocking loss to Stanford changed everything. The Irish season would no longer be considered a “success” with three losses.

The Irish had a chance to bounce back on Saturday afternoon against a ranked Syracuse team that nearly upset Clemson a week ago on the road.

And Marcus Freeman’s team made a statement.

3. It was a tale of two halves for the Irish defense

The first half felt like a complete lockdown performance for the Irish. They held the Orange to just seven points and Garrett Shrader simply could not get anything going through the air.

Shrader ended up going down with an injury and the Irish received the ball in the second half with a 21-7 lead. And the Irish couldn’t seem to figure out how to stop the backup quarterback and that passing attack. Syracuse stormed back to make it a seven-point game, 24-17, thanks to Carlos Del Rio-Wilson who had about 200 passing yards in the second half alone.

Notre Dame’s defense just wasn’t as effective in the final 30 minutes against the backup quarterback for Syracuse, but luckily the offense and special teams stepped up.