SOUTH BEND, Ind. — No. 9 Notre Dame continues to look for style points in its quest to lock in a College Football Playoff berth.
Syracuse is looking for any kind of points.
The Irish (8-2) are hopeful they can start angling their way into the top eight of the CFP rankings and earn a home playoff game with a big win Saturday against Syracuse (3-7) on senior day at Notre Dame Stadium.
Coach Marcus Freeman wants to make sure his players stay focused.
“You run out there for what you know could be your last time in Notre Dame Stadium, but after you see your families and you get back to that sideline, you have to flip the switch back to competition mode,” Freeman said. “It’s something that you have to be proactive about as a coach to warn them and remind them, and then they have to do it.”
Tight end Eli Raridon said playing for the Irish has changed his life.
“Our seniors want nothing else than to keep playing games, and it’d be awesome if we had one more home game in December,” Raridon said about possibly earning a No. 5-8 playoff seed.
QB injury throws Orange off course
Syracuse started the season 3-1. Quarterback Steve Angeli, a Notre Dame transfer, suffered a torn Achilles tendon while leading the Orange to an eye-opening 34-21 victory against Clemson in the fourth game.
Angeli had 10 touchdown passes in his four games this season. Since then, Syracuse has averaged 11.7 points, thrown for only seven touchdowns and lost six in a row.
Coach Fran Brown said he probably will start Joe Filardi, a freshman walk-on who’s also on the Syracuse lacrosse team. Filardi would replace redshirt sophomore Rickie Collins.
Filardi was 4 of 18 in a start against North Carolina. He threw a touchdown pass against Miami.
“Joe’s a guy that’s going to be that quarterback, and I’m thinking Luke (Carney) will probably get some time this week also,” Brown said. “I feel like Joe should go in because of being able to go down and put some points on the board (against Miami). First time we had a touchdown in some weeks.
“So, I mean, it sucks saying that, but, yeah, so I feel like Joe.”
Greathouse plan
Freeman said wide receiver Jaden Greathouse likely won’t play against Syracuse or in the regular-season finale at Stanford. Redshirting the injured wide receiver (right thigh) is a possibility.
“Right now, that’s our mindset: If we don’t have to play him this week, let’s try not to,” Freeman said. “He’ll be ready, but we’re going to try and hold off on playing him in hopes of being able to redshirt him. If we play beyond Stanford, he’ll be ready to go.”
Greathouse has played in four games this season, averaging 18.3 yards per catch. Last season he started 11 games and had a career-high 105 receiving yards on seven catches in Notre Dame’s Orange Bowl victory over Penn State in the CFP semifinals.
He led the Irish last season with 14.1 yards per reception (minimum 20 catches), 592 receiving yards and four touchdown receptions.
Syracuse staff shuffle
Brown announced staff changes after a 27-10 loss to North Carolina on Oct. 31.
Wide receivers coach Myles White is no longer with the Orange. He was replaced by Josh Gattis, who was an offensive specialist. Mike Johnson switched from tight ends coach to quarterbacks coach, and Nunzio Campanile switched from quarterbacks coach to tight ends coach.
“Moving Coach Gattis to the receiver room is helping out,” Brown said. “All the coaches and all the moves and everything they’ve done is helping us for the betterment of our program.”
