East Rutherford, NJ — Notre Dame’s ranking position is unchanged this week after an underwhelming victory against Syracuse. The team remains #8 in the nation in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. They dropped to #9 in the AP poll.
Saturday’s game was a mixed bag. Notre Dame showed grit at times, overcoming five turnovers and flashes of talent from Syracuse quarterback Terrel Hunt. However, Syracuse was not able to capitalize on the Fighting Irish’s mistakes, despite plenty of opportunities.
The first quarter was especially brutal for quarterback Everett Golson, who gave up two turnovers and failed to drive his team to a score until the second quarter. His two interceptions and two fumbles throughout the game were uncharacteristically sloppy.
“Pretty weird for me,” Golson said after the game. “Definitely got to get better. Got to clean up a lot of things.”
Not everything was bad for Notre Dame.
The Irish overcame those early struggles to notch their fourth straight victory to start the college football season, ultimately scoring 31 points to Syracuse’s 15. The Irish offense put up numbers that — in a game without five turnovers — would have been judged a smashing success with 523 total yards and a 64 percent third down conversion rate.
Golson himself managed to beat a Notre Dame record with 25 consecutive completions, nearly tying the NCAA record of 26. Golson threw a total 362 passing yards and four touchdown passes.
For all of the ups and downs of Saturday’s game, it’s a good thing for Notre Dame to learn from their mistakes against an opponent like Syracuse rather than a more formidable foe.
The Irish host Stanford on Saturday.
Here is a list of the top 25 from USA Today’s Coaches’ Poll:
1 Alabama 4-0
2 Florida State 4-0
3 Oklahoma 4-0
4 Oregon 4-0
5 Auburn 4-0
6 Baylor 4-0
7 Texas A&M 5-0
8 Notre Dame 4-0
9 UCLA 4-0
10 Michigan State 3-1
11 Ole Miss 4-0
12 Georgia 3-1
13 Stanford 3-1
14 Mississippi State 4-0
15 LSU 4-1
16 Wisconsin 3-1
17 Nebraska 5-0
18 Ohio State 3-1
19 BYU 4-0
20 USC 3-1
21 East Carolina 3-1
22 Kansas State 3-1
23 Oklahoma State 3-1
24 Arizona State 3-1
25 TCU 3-0
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