NOTRE DAME, Ind.-Brady Quinn had steered the Irish to the No. 10 offense in the country prior to Saturday, including the fifth-best passing attack, and everyone expected it to continue.

By sheer statistics, they were right.

Quinn and Notre Dame orchestrated another dominating offensive day Saturday in a 34-10 victory over Syracuse. Quinn threw for 270 yards, completed 21 of 27 passes, tossed a pair of touchdowns and senior tailback Darius Walker ran for an additional 128 yards and a touchdown.

The Irish offense gained 420 yards on 74 plays, holding possession for 32:13. But the numbers tell only part of it.

‘There were a lot of good things those defensive kids did,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘They were fighting tooth and nail.’

Notre Dame scored 20 of its 34 points during the second half. Seven of those points came off an interception returned for a touchdown. SU’s defense held the Irish scoreless in the first quarter – the first time an opposing defense had done that to Notre Dame all year.

The Irish managed drives of 50 and 70 yards in the first quarter, but SU held to two field goal attempts – both misses. The game was still in reach when Syracuse trailed just 14-3 at halftime.

‘We gave our team a good opportunity to make some plays,’ senior defensive end Ryan LaCasse said.

‘Unfortunately it didn’t happen. There’s no blame doled out or anything like that. This is a really tough loss to swallow.’

Syracuse’s offense, though, became the defense’s biggest detriment once again. Notre Dame held almost a four-minute advantage in time of possession in the first quarter alone. SU’s offense went three-plays-and-out six times and the Irish started in SU territory three times, including two consecutive drives in the second quarter. Notre Dame scored two touchdowns and added a field goal those three times.

In the second quarter, Notre Dame began on the SU 36 and 40-yard line. The Irish needed just three and five plays to score back-to-back touchdowns to put the defense on its heels.

‘I think we did good for the situations we were in,’ linebacker Kelvin Smith said. ‘We stopped the run pretty good. Besides two plays, I thought we did good for what we had. The defense played pretty well.’

Notre Dame averaged just 3.7 yards a carry and 7.5 yards per passing attempt. Notre Dame had averaged 8.89 yards per attempt prior to the game. Quinn completed 57 percent of his passes Saturday compared to 65 percent for the season.

‘It was a little tough with the field position, we were backed up against a wall,’ LaCasse said. ‘It’s still no excuse. We did a pretty good job holding them to field goals but the levee kind of broke toward the end.’

Syracuse’s defense attacked Quinn with numerous blitzes, often sending multiple linebackers or defensive backs. The unit hoped to disrupt Quinn so he couldn’t make reads as well. Quinn threw off-balanced on several throws in the first half and several passes were at the feet of receivers.

Smith said if you give Quinn time to throw, he’ll sit back and pick a defense apart, so Robinson designed a scheme to limit Quinn’s time.

LaCasse led SU with four quarterback hurries.

‘He does a real good job reading the blitz,’ LaCasse said. ‘He’s probably one of the smartest quarterbacks we’ve played against. He did a good job setting up in the pocket, moving around and delivering the ball when he needs to.’

LaCasse said Notre Dame’s offense picked up on SU’s schemes and adapted as the game went on. Quinn also threw the ball better to his receivers, who used a substantial height advantage to outplay Syracuse’s corners.

Jeff Smardjiza and Maurice Stovall both stand 6 feet, 5 inches. Syracuse’s starting cornerbacks stand 6 feet, 1 inch (Tanard Jackson) and 5 feet, 11 inches (Steve Gregory). Smardjiza had seven catches for 80 yards and Stovall had three catches for 91 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown reception in the back of the end zone over Gregory.

‘It was a good catch,’ Gregory said. ‘I kind of felt like I was there, I think I just mistimed it and could have played the ball a little bit better.’

Almost like the entire afternoon for the defense, close but still not enough to help SU win.

Published on November 20, 2005 at 12:00 pm