Dungey’s departure, DeVito’s disappointment and more from Syracuse’s loss to Notre Dame
Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer
While Syracuse's defense tried its best to stop Notre Dame and held the Irish to three field goals, ND reached the end zone four times.
NEW YORK — No. 3 Notre Dame (11-0) blew out No. 12 Syracuse (8-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast), 36-3, on Saturday in Yankee Stadium.
In front of an Irish-friendly crowd, Eric Dungey and Tommy DeVito together were 15-for-35 passing for 115 yards and threw a combined three interceptions. SU’s defense responded valiantly, holding the Irish to field goals in several short field situations, but with the offense unable to produce at all, the Orange got embarrassed and took a big hit to any hope of a New Year’s Six bowl game.
Below are three takeaways from the drubbing.
Dinged up Dungey and dreadful DeVito
Late in the first quarter, between two plays, Dungey collapsed to the field, clutching at his lower back with his right hand. It was later announced that Dungey was being evaluated for an upper-body injury and was questionable to return. He didn’t.
In Dungey’s stead, DeVito took the reins of the offense and led it nowhere. The redshirt freshman finished 14-for-31 for 105 yards and two interceptions. (Dungey threw one on the first play of SU’s second offensive series.)
DeVito struggled with accuracy, pushing deep balls too close to the sideline and underthrowing a ball to Taj Harris that was intercepted. Even when he did hit his receivers, bad things happened. Harris later bobbled a reception over the middle that was intercepted. Early in the fourth quarter, DeVito had Nykeim Johnson come open across the middle and delivered a strike to his hands. Johnson dropped it.
DeVito settled a little bit in the fourth quarter as Notre Dame’s pass rush relented slightly because it was already 29-0.
Ian Book(ed) it
From the first drive to the end of his day with 8:20 remaining in the fourth quarter when Brandon Wimbush came on in relief, Ian Book did whatever he wanted to do with the football.
He surgically passed his way to a 23-for-37 day with 292 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The pick came on a 4th and goal play where Book tripped and flipped the ball blindly into the end zone, where Andre Cisco took it out of the air.
Book consistently put passes in spots only his receivers could get to, and they did. On his final touchdown pass, Book perfectly led wideout Chase Claypool into the end zone on a slant. And when he didn’t immediately have an open man or the SU pass rush got home, Book extended plays with his legs long enough for a man to come open downfield.
In his first game back from an injury, Book shredded SU’s secondary.
Yankee Stadium part two?
With the loss, any hopes Syracuse had of making a New Year’s Six bowl took a major hit. Though it is still possible for SU to end up playing on New Year’s Day, it’s at best very unlikely.
A win over the undefeated and playoff-contending Irish would have catapulted SU into the Top 10 of the rankings and set up a potential 10-win season. Instead, the Orange endured its most thorough beat down since losing 54-0 at Clemson in 2016.
With a win at Boston College next Saturday, Syracuse still has a chance to boost itself to the Camping World Bowl — which had a representative at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. The most likely outcome, it would seem, is that Syracuse plays in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 27 right back in Yankee Stadium.
Published on November 17, 2018 at 6:01 pm
Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham
