Notre Dame football score predictions: Fighting Irish at No. 16 Syracuse staff picks

Notre Dame plays at what is now the JMA Wireless Dome for the first time since 2003 when it faces No. 16 Syracuse Saturday (noon ET, ABC). The Orange (6-1, 3-1 ACC) are the third ranked opponent the Irish (4-3) have seen this year.

Here are the BlueandGold.com staff picks.

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Patrick Engel: Syracuse 23, Notre Dame 20

This feels like a game Notre Dame should win based on top-to-bottom talent, but that hasn’t guaranteed a win this year. This isn’t the 2017-21 Irish, who were automatic in these types of games.

Syracuse’s resurgent offense has an efficient passing attack and a dynamic run game led by 2021 second-team AP All-American Sean Tucker. Notre Dame’s strength on offense is its run game too. Neither team’s run defense is particularly stout. Whichever team stops the run more effectively or finds more room to run should win. But if both offenses pile up rushing yards, this could come down to quarterback play. I’ll side with Syracuse junior Garrett Shrader at home in that case.

Tyler Horka: Syracuse 23, Notre Dame 19

The Orange boast a top-15 defense in yards per game and yards per play allowed. The last time Notre Dame played a top-15 defense? The Irish scored 10 points on the road at Ohio State in the season opener. The setback against Stanford wasn’t an anomaly, but a regression to old, unsuccessful habits. The Irish didn’t look particularly good even in a 44-21 defeat of UNLV, either. Notre Dame won’t be able to do enough offensively in a foreign environment to spring an upset of Syracuse.

Todd Burlage: Syracuse 27, Notre Dame 24

No. 16 Syracuse (6-1) enters this game after playing well last Saturday but losing late 27-21 to No. 5 Clemson (8-0). With Tucker and Shrader, the Orange feature one of the most dynamic one-two offensive punches Notre Dame will face all season.

Tucker ranks second in the ACC with 99.7 rushing yards per game, including 6 touchdowns. Shrader, a beefy 6-4, 228-pound dual-threat player, completes 69.7 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, and also adds 371 rushing yards with another 6 touchdowns. 

Notre Dame travels to Syracuse after playing its best football away from home this season: a 21-10 loss at No. 2 Ohio State; a dominating 45-32 win over then-undefeated North Carolina; and a thorough 28-20 victory over No. 16 BYU. The unbeaten record outside Notre Dame Stadium ends this week.

Mike Singer: Notre Dame 30, Syracuse 28

This Notre Dame team has been fairly unpredictable this season — turning up in big spots and playing poorly in contests they shouldn’t be doing so in. Syracuse is 6-1 and coming off a respectable road performance in a 27-21 loss against Clemson, while the Irish beat UNLV 44-21 last Saturday in less convincing fashion than the score indicates.

Notre Dame has played its best away from home this season, and it’s a trend I expect to continue this Saturday. Syracuse is a really good ACC team this year, but Notre Dame has better players and should win it.

Steve Downey: Syracuse 24, Notre Dame 13

Syracuse, which lost nearly 70 percent of its games the past three seasons, was one of nine remaining unbeaten FBS teams heading into Week 8. The Orange started 6-0 for just the third time since 1935 (they also accomplished that feat in 1987 and 1959), before falling at Clemson last Saturday. And while the first-half schedule wasn’t exactly a murderer’s row, there is reason to believe the Orange are for real.

Schrader and Tucker form a potent punch offensively, and Syracuse ranks sixth in the country in scoring defense (15.1 points allowed per game) and 13th in total defense (294.7 yards allowed per game).

The Fighting Irish have played their best against the best teams on their schedule, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a strong effort against the Orange. However, with the offensive debacle against Stanford still fresh, it’s hard to imagine they’ll score enough points to pull off the upset.