Jeremiyah Love solidified his Heisman Trophy candidacy with 171 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just eight carries, and No. 9 Notre Dame defeated injury-decimated Syracuse 70-7 on Saturday.
Love’s touchdown runs spanned 45, 14 and 68 meters.
Notre Dame (9-2) set a modern scoring record, surpassing their 69-point performance against Georgia Tech on Nov. 5, 1977. The Fighting Irish had not scored 70 points since they had 73 points against Haskell in 1932.
Syracuse allowed 70 points for the first time since giving up 75 points to Union in 1891.
Notre Dame scored 21 points before the offense even took the field Saturday — two interceptions and a blocked punt for touchdowns — en route to its ninth straight victory after an 0-2 start. Syracuse (3-8) has lost seven straight games.
The Fighting Irish also set a school record for points in the first quarter with 35. The previous record was 28, which happened four times, most recently in 2017 against Miami (Ohio).
It could have been more: The quarter ended with the Fighting Irish at the Syracuse 1.
Notre Dame’s 49-0 halftime lead was also a school record. The previous high for points in a half was 45 against Georgia Tech in 1973.
Jalen Stroman, starting in place of injured defensive back Tae Johnson, returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown on Syracuse’s second play. Four plays later, Stroman blocked a punt that Luke Talich caught and returned 22 yards to the end zone.
Leonard Moore had Notre Dame’s third pick-6 in the last two games, intercepting a Joe Filardi pass and racing 46 yards to the end zone.
When Notre Dame’s offense finally took the field at the 7:08 mark of the first quarter, the Fighting Irish showed their explosiveness, with Love’s 45-yard TD run on their second offensive play and a 58-yard TD run by Jadarian Price on their fifth play.
Notre Dame’s CJ Carr played sparingly, completing 5 of 9 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Filardi, a freshman, threw for 83 yards with three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. After his second pick-6, he was pulled short for Luke Carney. Filardi returned and ran for a 6-yard touchdown with 7 seconds left.
The takeaway
Syracuse is building for the future in the midst of a lost season.
Notre Dame looked like a solid candidate for the College Football Playoff, and with some help, the Fighting Irish were able to host a first-round matchup.
Next
Syracuse will host Boston College next Saturday.
Notre Dame plays at Stanford next Saturday.
#Jeremiyah #Love #scores #times #Notre #Dame #strangles #Syracuse