Keys To Victory For Notre Dame Over Syracuse - Defense Edition

Breaking down the keys to victory for the Notre Dame defense against Syracuse

Notre Dame (4-3) has been a good defense all season, and at times it has been very good. Against the 16th-ranked Syracuse Orange (6-1) the Irish defense is facing an offense that has been steady but unspectacular all season. 

If Notre Dame is going to win this game the Irish defense will need to be on top of its game, especially early. There are four primary keys to the defense doing what it must to give its own offense a chance to win the game. 

Here are the defensive keys to victory.

1. Early Down Success - Syracuse loves playing ahead of the sticks, and part of the team's success this season has been its ability to methodically move the ball down the field. Syracuse ranks near the bottom nationally in third down opportunities, and Notre Dame needs to change that.

Notre Dame needs to make Syracuse work for their yards and points, and put the Orange offense in positions it doesn't want to be in. That is second and long, and third and long situations. This is not where Syracuse thrives, and if Notre Dame can dominate on first and second down, putting Syracuse in uncomfortable situations, it not only increases the chances for stops, it ups the odds it can force an offense that protects the ball well into more turnover situations.

2. Shut Down The Run - Although Syracuse hasn't been as good running the ball in 2022 as it was in 2021, there is no doubt establishing the ground game is essential to their offensive success. Syracuse wants to be balanced, and it's not really an offense that can roll when it is one dimensional. For Notre Dame it's easy, that means making life very tough for the Syracuse ground attack.

Syracuse has a massive offensive line, but it's not an overly mobile or athletic line outside of their left tackle. Notre Dame needs to limit the impact of that size and use their athletic advantage to create penetration, beat the Syracuse blockers to spots and shut down the Orange ground game. If Syracuse can't run the ball it will have a hard time scoring much against the Irish.

3. Contain Garrett Shrader - Keeping quarterback Garrett Shrader in check is vital to success for Notre Dame. Part of that is in point two, limiting the ground game. Syracuse will call designed runs for Shrader and it runs a lot of read concepts. Limiting his effectiveness in these concepts is important, but what I have in mind here is not letting him get anything going with scrambles.

Notre Dame has to go into this game with the desire to keep Shrader in the pocket and force him to beat them with his arm and from the pocket. The concern is losing contain and allowing Shrader to get into space, where he becomes a major weapon. If Notre Dame can limit the run game and limit Shrader's scrambling production the defense will have a great shot at keeping Syracuse's points down.

A key to success against Shrader is pressuring him quickly from the edge, which means Notre Dame needs end Isaiah Foskey to be on his game.

The opposite is true, allowing Shrader to move the chains with his legs not only allows Syracuse to control the clock, it forces third level defenders to key him more, which then opens up some opportunities for big plays.

4. Limit Big Plays - That leads to point number four, limit big plays. Syracuse hasn't shown itself to be good enough to consistently move the ball up and down the field. Notre Dame needs to make Syracuse work for their points, and that means limiting the big plays. Running back Sean Tucker hasn't been able to rip off the big gains we saw in 2020 and 2021, and Notre Dame needs to keep continue that trend.

It also must be disciplined on the back end and not allow Syracuse to get behind the defense for big plays in the pass game. This is vitally important, as is defending the Tucker screen game and tackling in space.

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