The Syracuse Orange (2-2, 0-1 ACC) travel to MetLife stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-3). The Orange will look to put together their first two game winning streak of the season, and the first of the Dino Babers era.
Who’s Hot- The Defense
Amba Etta-Tawo broke more records against Uconn, but he’s been featured in this section every week so far. The much maligned Syracuse defense, however, has not. They showed some guts this weekend, limiting Uconn to 425 yards of total offense despite being on the field for 91 plays. Zaire Franklin was awesome, and as a result was named ACC linebacker of the week. He had a career-high 14 tackles, and deflected the pass that led to Cordell Hudson’s pick-six to give the Orange a 24-17 lead. It was great to see the Orange defense, which has been brutal thus far, make some plays to give the Orange a much needed win.
“We got a lot of young guys,” Zaire Franklin said. “And as amazing and as great as it felt on Saturday, I think the best feeling was on Sunday, you know just watching with the whole team and then, obviously, there’s big plays being made but when you really break down the film you just see that it’s literally all 11 guys just doing exactly what they were supposed to do.”
Honorable Mention- Amba Etta-Tawo and Eric Dungey
Ok, so we just had to mention these two again. Etta-Tawo has been fantastic this season, and last week was the icing on the cake. He hauled in 12 catches for 270 yards and two touchdowns. The 270 yards broke the single game receiving record for the Orange, which was set by Scott Schwedes 31 years ago. Etta-Tawo has 40 receptions for 706 yards and five touchdowns on the season so far.
Eric Dungey bounced back nicely after a tough game against South Florida. Dungey went 26-of-40 for 407 yards and two touchdowns. He didn’t throw an interception for the first time since the opener against Colgate. Dungey has done a great job of spreading the ball around to receivers Ervin Philips, Steve Ishmael and, of course, Etta-Tawo.
Who’s Not- The Running Game
After an encouraging performance last week against South Florida, where the Orange rushed for a season-high 199 yards, the running game sputtered again with 62 yards. After a solid game against South Florida, Jordan Fredericks didn’t receive a carry. The Orange’s leading rusher, Dontae Strickland, carried the ball 14 times for 51 yards. The Orange is a passing team, but they’ll need more balance in their offense as the season progresses.
Notre Dame Comes in Wounded
To say this season has not gone as planned for the Irish would be an enormous understatement. Notre Dame was ranked in the top-10 to start the season, and was considered by many to be a contender for the playoffs. A 1-3 record has destroyed any of those dreams. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly had a classic press conference last week, saying everyone’s jobs were up for grabs this week in practice. He also fired his defensive coordinator. Dino Babers expressed how he would have rather had Notre Dame win last week, so the Orange wouldn’t have to face an angry team. But it could quite easily go the other way, as teams can quit after such a tough start to a season.
SU vs. Notre Dame Saturday @ 12 PM. Countdown to kickoff 11:30 AM on WAER 88.3
Syracuse will win if: Dungey continues to spread the ball around, the defense builds on its best performance of the year and the offensive line and running backs can find the form they had against South Florida.