Week 13: Syracuse at Notre Dame

Syracuse remains one of the worst Bowl Subdivision teams. Its coach, Greg Robinson, has now been summarily dismissed effective at the end of the season.

And now the Orange could be Gator bait.

Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett has already suggested his group could "bend" tradition to take a 7-5 Fighting Irish team. Notre Dame will more than likely fall in its season finale at USC on Nov. 29.

So it probably boils down to this game for coach Charlie Weis, who took over the play-calling last week. Win and the Irish are probably in either the Gator or Sun. Lose and Weis’ hot seat warms again.

Notre Dame enters as a prohibitive favorite, but there are a couple questions surrounding the team. Yes, the Irish chalked up a big 27-21 win over Navy in Baltimore last week, but injuries to Michael Floyd, the team’s leading receiver, and linebacker Brian Smith, the team’s fourth-leading tackler and emotional leader, dampened the outcome. Both suffered knee strains and will be out of action for four weeks.

Still, Notre Dame should win going away behind quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who has completed 213-of-353 passes for 2,439 yards and 18 touchdowns against 15 interceptions. Syracuse is last in the Big East in pass defense efficiency and last in total defense, allowing an average of 423 yards per game.

The one aspect to SU’s team Notre Dame has to contain is running back Curtis Brinkley, who has 1,060 rushing yards and six touchdowns. He became the eighth Syracuse back to rush for a grand in a season, joining Joe Morris, Walter Reyes, Larry Csonka, James Mungro, Floyd Little, Dee Brown and Michael Owens.

Notes:

Notre Dame had a couple key injuries via Michael Floyd and Brian Smith, but senior cornerback Terrail Lambert has a "50-50" shot of playing against Syracuse. Lambert missed the Navy game with an ankle injury.

Syracuse needs all the scoring help it can get with the Big East’s worst scoring and total offense. And it’s received some defensive help in the last two games, scoring off blocked punts.

Notre Dame allowed a whopping 58 sacks last season, but has yielded just 14 so far this year.

Key Player (Orange) — Rob Long, P

Syracuse will have to win the battle of field position to have a chance. That’s where Long comes in. He’s ranked third nationally in punting with a 46-yard average.

Key Player (Fighting Irish) — Pat Kuntz, DE

Kuntz leads Notre Dame with 3.5 sacks this season. If he gets Syracuse quarterback Cameron Dantley or, especially, backup Andrew Robinson on the run, it could be lights out for the Orange.

Notre Dame by 17