Notre Dame scores the point of the college football playoffs, holding Syracuse virtually useless

NEW YORK – The "3" that Syracuse scored on the Yankee Stadium scorecard with 10 seconds to go on Saturday was considered a mismatch, a bit of technical precision as grossly inaccurate. Perhaps the College Football Playoff Selection Committee could only retain "3" in its data volumes, then simply hide the number and delete it.

This will surely be the envy, as the 36-3 destroying Notre Dame, which counted for a Syracuse team with an average of 44 points, actually deserved a clean game for its appearance and effect. The fact that the No. 3 Irish in contention could submit a ranked No. 12 team and specialize in attacking such a denial has become another argument for their stack of arguments for the playoffs.

That path reached 11-0 with a task to be accomplished, namely moving south of California next week, while Dino Babers, Syracuse coach in third year, marveled, "I'll tell you this : Our Lady is better than what people think. It's really a very good football team. "

He had just seen his 8-2 team land at 8-3 while his 11 opening possessions, which extended to the third quarter, accumulated 122 yards and eight first tries in a row. score of 29-0, figures that left the final total of 234 and 16 as inappropriate as the "3." For three quarters, the Orange, used to venture into all parts of the grid against less defenses , never found himself within 42 meters of the end zone, which is remarkable even though Eric Dungey, the passer, ranked 69th, left early with a back injury and a score of 13-0.

Even the shivers of Syracuse had proved fugitive. In the second quarter with a score of 13-0, substitute Tommy DeVito, a New Jersey who can throw it, rang the center of Taj Harris center, after which the liberated security, Alohi Gilman hit Harris to bring out the football , who landed conveniently in Gilman's hands.

Fifty-one meters down, Gilman had Our Lady on the 9-meter line from Syracuse, where the hole that followed for half Jafar Armstrong seemed really big enough for Train D to pass through. Everything seemed academic from there, if it was not already done.

The afternoon had its share of memorable memories: subways pass outside the seats on the right field, just beyond the Notre-Dame tubas in the bleachers, stinking posts on the sides and some bets about Notre Dame House in Indiana State about her women's basketball team. Ian Book, the Notre Dame quarterback who started the year as a substitute and who came back Saturday after a week of absence for injury, imagined that the mere fact of entering the stadium would be unforgettable.

At a relatively late time, the stadium speakers embodied the eternal "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. "There is nothing you can not do"Seemed a bit exaggerated. For example, you could not attack Notre Dame's No. 9 defense in the country in yards per game allowed and looking more severe than that.

"I could tell you this, that I really liked our plan," said Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, whose defense coordinator, Clark Lea, catches the eye. "I liked the structure of it. . . . I liked the center of our defense. They really trusted what we were doing. "

Kelly did not know if this confidence already involved planning a "white game" – or a painful quasi- game – "on a team of 44 people on average", but he said: "They surprised us in difficult situations they ran the football, when we ran out of numbers, but that was all that was going to be. "

For the effective racing game counters of Syracuse, Notre Dame used game defense cascades.

Whatever these stunts, it was good stunts.

Then the pass: "I looked up, and I think I saw at one point that they were about 30 yards apart, a lot of passes," said the Notre Dame cornerback , Julian Love. In a factual voice and no frills, he followed with "It's just that we are dominant".

He said that he felt that this domination was going to happen all week. "When you look at teams like these, it's this ploy that confuses people," Love said. "To eliminate and deny this, just attack them."

Study the film, he said, and said, "No one is attacking these guys. They wait and get acquainted. "

The defense of Notre Dame could probably succeed the attack and the waiting if necessary, and Babers said, "They have turned the game of chess into ladies, and now guys have to make games. "He would look out, and," Everyone covered. He said, "There were a lot of times when Tommy just dropped the ball. "

The resurgence of Syracuse ran into something she had not seen before – a program that, like Syracuse, was broadcast 4-8 just two seasons ago.

Now, Notre Dame is back to the climax. His book is Book, the mobile and precise quarterback that Babers described as both an "eel" and a "rabbit jack", in a state of high gratitude. Book says, "Yes, everything is going very fast." And: "You snap a finger and you still have a regular season game, and that's crazy." And: "Seeing it unfold is special." And: "I just feel lucky to be in this position and to be able to play football, a game that I like a lot."

Kelly says, "You know, 36 points in November against the country's No. 12 team. You know who you are at this point of the season. [Syracuse is] a good football team. "And:" We are not interested in being compared [to No. 1 Alabama or No. 2 Clemson]. All we want is to play our best football in November, and we playreally good football, especially in defense. "

And college football at Notre Dame, two years old from 4 to 8 years old, about a century ago from Knute Rockne and George Gipp, who appeared on the Yankee Stadium's display board at one point, and a win at the A new summit, with the committee probably ready to go ahead and delete that little "3."