Four to watch as Notre Dame football plays host to Syracuse
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SOUTH BEND – How did we get here so fast? Where did the time go? The games go? The ups and downs and the wins and the losses go? How did this happen?
It happens every year. You look up in August and then look away. You look back again and we’re deep into November heading toward another turkey day and the regular-season home finale for No. 9 Notre Dame football (8-2) against struggling Syracuse (3-7).
Here are four players who could have a say in how this one goes.
SYRACUSE ORANGE (3-7)
QB Joe Filardi (13)
For months, it was a given that when this game rolled around on the Notre Dame football schedule, one of the two Orange to watch was going to be a quarterback. Only, it wasn’t supposed to be this quarterback.
This spot was reserved for former Irish quarterback Steve Angeli, who entered the transfer portal in spring, landed in Central New York and showed why he was such a key piece to the Irish puzzle the last few seasons. Angeli put up stats. Angeli led. Angeli won. Angeli also blew out an Achilles in the September 20 win at Clemson, which cost him one final chance to play in Notre Dame Stadium.
That job is now Filardi’s, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound redshirt freshman walk-on, who was handed the keys to the Syracuse offense by head coach Fran Brown, who had seen enough of LSU transfer Rickie Collins after six straight losses. All Filardi has to do is decipher a Notre Dame defense that just fileted another young quarterback, true freshman Mason Heintschel, last week. Filardi is as green as he is young. He’s completed seven of 21 passes for 78 yards and a score. He’s rushed eight times, gaining 30 yards and losing 30 yards for a net of zero yards.
It can’t get any worse for the ‘Cuse, can it? It might.
LB Antoine Deslauriers (5)
Lightly recruited middle linebackers from Montreal, not exactly a hotbed for football or linebackers, who step in and start as a true freshman aren’t supposed to be any sort of a freak athlete in any way, shape or form, right?
Right, generally, but then there’s Deslauriers, a 6-1, 235-pound maniac when it comes to working out, putting only good stuff in his body (his diet once consisted of eating 10 eggs every day for breakfast) and, oh, yeah, running around that patch of grass called a football field and making plays. Making tackles. Causing opposing offensive coordinators sleepless nights.
Deslauriers arrived at Syracuse via Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in Georgia. It was there where he first popped onto the radar of recruiters while making 135 tackles with 21 tackles for loss and four sacks to help RGN win a state championship and earn all-state honors in 2024.
Syracuse was one of the first to show interest in Deslauriers, so he showed interest in Syracuse. He is currently tied for the team lead in tackles (54.0) with 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, two pass breakups and two forced fumbles. Deslauriers has made at least four tackles in each of the last seven games. That includes 10 against Pittsburgh (remember them?) in early October before seven, five and four the last three weeks.
No. 9 NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (8-2)
DE Joshua Burnham (40)
Why now for the 6-4, 260-pound junior from Traverse City, Michigan? Why has the light bulb seemingly come on so late for Burnham? Why has he terrorized opponents in their own backfield the way he has?
Simple, head coach Marcus Freeman said. Burnham is one of those max-effort players who know one way. All-out on every play. Doesn’t matter if it’s first and 10 or third and long or fourth and goal, Burnham’s motor runs as hot as it can run, until it’s time to line up and do it all again.
Burnham was never able to do that over an even short haul in seasons past. There was always an injury that kept him from being, here comes a Freeman-ism, the best version of himself. He was never fully healthy, which means he was never fully able to show what he’s recently shown.
Burnham’s shown a lot. He’s made only 12 tackles in 10 games (two starts) this season, but seven of those tackles have come in the last three games. He may have played his best game ever against Pittsburgh (three tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks) on a day when it seemed like there were three No. 40s in all white storming in from the edge.
When Burnham’s healthy, he’s good. He’s healthy, and the Irish are good.
Jeremiyah Love (4)
One more game at Notre Dame Stadium.
That might be all we get from arguably the best running back in college football. One more game at Notre Dame Stadium to see Love run wild, run like he’s run while gaining 1,135 yards on 177 carries with 14 touchdowns. One more game to see someone who averages 6.4 yards per rush go do something so super that it seems so silly.
We’ve seen him measure his steps and hurdle would-be tacklers. We’ve seen him sit on a would-be tackler’s belly for a beat, then bust it down the sideline and score. We’ve seen him leave tacklers grasping for air with a spin move and a downshift and a burst. What might the 6-foot, 214-pound junior from St. Louis do for his ultimate encore at Notre Dame Stadium?
Whatever it is, you can bet that it’s going to be spectacular. Love knows no other way. It’s the way he’s wired, to make the extraordinary look ordinary. There’s nothing ordinary about someone who’s a finalist for the Maxwell and Walter Camp awards. Someone who should also be in New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Ten carries for 33 yards seems like many moons ago.
Watch him closely Saturday at the stadium because that might be the last time you see him in that stadium.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football hosts Syracuse with CFP dreams still much alive
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