Notre Dame vs. Syracuse

Wells Fargo Research Team Wells Fargo

Undefeated Notre Dame Faces a Late Season Test

With the regular season winding down and rivalry week coming up, there are relatively few games scheduled among ranked teams this week. One exception is number three-ranked Notre Dame’s matchup with 12th-ranked Syracuse, which will be played Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Notre Dame has had a great season, including beating Michigan 24-17 the first week of the season and defeating a very good Stanford team at the end of September. Notre Dame’s other victories have generally been against lesser opponents or teams having subpar seasons. Some of that is unavoidable, as schedules are made years in advance and it is impossible to know when an opponent’s program will be down. However, teams typically play their best against Notre Dame, due to the storied success of the school’s football program.

The Syracuse game is widely viewed as the last true test for Notre Dame, which plays football as an independent and does not play for a conference championship. Notre Dame competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in all other sports, except hockey, and plays at least five ACC teams each year in football. Historic rivalry games with Stanford, Navy and USC are played each year and Notre Dame also rotates games versus old rivals in the Big Ten as well as a few programs from other Power Five conferences. The season will end with a Saturday night matchup in Los Angeles against USC, which is currently working through a tough season with a 5-5 record.

Syracuse has been a member of the ACC Atlantic Division since 2013, and the Orange are currently 8-2. The first of those losses came to Clemson around mid-season, and Syracuse was leading that game until late in the fourth quarter. They then lost their next game to Pittsburgh in overtime before winning their next four games, the last of which was a 54-23 blowout of Louisville.

While the game is being played at Yankee Stadium, it is a home game for Notre Dame and is part of the Shamrock Series games played at historic and iconic venues around the country. The series plays into one of Notre Dame’s greatest strengths, which is its national following. Notre Dame is the only FBS school with its own television contract for its home games.

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Wells Fargo Research Team

Wells Fargo

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