SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Jeremiyah Love bolstered his Heisman Trophy candidacy with 171 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just eight carries, and No. 9 Notre Dame blew out injury-decimated Syracuse 70-7 on Saturday.
Love's touchdown runs covered 45, 14 and 68 yards.
Notre Dame (9-2) set a modern-era scoring record, topping its 69-point outing against Georgia Tech on Nov. 5, 1977. The Fighting Irish had not scored 70 points since they had 73 against Haskell in 1932.
Syracuse allowed 70 points for the first time since it gave up 75 to Union in 1891.
Notre Dame scored 21 points before its offense even took the field on Saturday — returning two interceptions and a blocked punt for touchdowns — en route to its ninth straight win after an 0-2 start. Syracuse (3-8) has lost seven straight.
The Fighting Irish also set a school record for first-quarter points with 35. The previous record was 28, which happened four times, most recently in 2017 against Miami (Ohio).
It could have been more: The quarter ended with the Fighting Irish on the Syracuse 1.
Notre Dame's 49-0 halftime lead was also a school record. Its previous high for points in a half was 45 against Georgia Tech in 1973.
Jalen Stroman, starting in place of injured defensive back Tae Johnson, returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown on Syracuse’s second play. Four plays later, Stroman blocked a punt that Luke Talich caught and returned 22 yards to the end zone.
Leonard Moore had Notre Dame’s third pick-6 in its last two games, intercepting a pass by Joe Filardi and racing 46 yards to the end zone.
When Notre Dame’s offense finally took field at the 7:08 mark of the first quarter, the Fighting Irish showed their explosiveness, with Love's 45-yard TD run on their second offensive play and a 58-yard TD run by Jadarian Price on their fifth play.
Notre Dame's C.J. Carr played sparingly, completing 5 of 9 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Filardi, a walk-on freshman, threw for 83 yards with three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. After his second pick-6, he was pulled briefly for Luke Carney. Filardi returned and ran for a 6-yard touchdown with 7 seconds left in the game.
Syracuse is in build-for-the-future mode amid a lost season.
Notre Dame looked like a solid College Football Playoff contender, and with some help, the Fighting Irish could host a first-round game.
Syracuse hosts Boston College next Saturday.
Notre Dame plays at Stanford next Saturday.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
The 17th Annual Colony of Coastside Artists (CoCA) Open Studios tour returns this weekend to… Read more17th Annual Colony of Coastside Artists (CoCA) Open Studios Tour
The San Mateo County Blue Star Moms, a local military moms support group is holding a karaok… Read moreHelp Support our Troops
CoastalBoy said:
I took a class from him at CSM about 20 years ago. Very good lecturer.
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.