Our Lady WR Jafar Armstrong (8) celebrates his touchdown race with his teammates against Syracuse on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.(Photo: Rich Barnes, USA TODAY Sports)

NEW YORK – Notre Dame, number 3, looked easy with a 36-3 win over No. 12 Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. With a game remaining in the regular season, the Irish are on the point of being undefeated in the regular season and getting a spot in the college football playoffs. Here are three points to remember from the win:

It was impressive. But not either. An injury to quarterback Eric Dungey in the first quarter essentially ended Syracuse's chance to thwart the Irish in third place – even though the Orange are not doing much with Dungey. Our Lady did what a knocking out team should do: Take care of business against an opponent battling injuries and inclement weather. On the defensive, the Irish have concocted the kind of performance that bodes well for a potential playoff clash with one of the many teams based on the spreads finding themselves at the top of the playoff rankings. The defense of Notre Dame has been exceptional for a good part of the regular season. The referee from Syracuse arrived 10 seconds from the end.

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And the offense was effective in depth and often explosive, but not when it mattered: knock on the door of the end zone of Syracuse. The 20-0 delay at halftime should have been longer, but the Irish were blocked by a handful of self-inflicted errors near the goal line – as a penalty for keeping on a run and a botched exchange of quarterback on another. Both discs should have ended with a touchdown. This did not matter against Syracuse, largely because of the defenselessness of the defense. But an inability to convert to these situations would be magnified by a hypothetical pairing with Alabama or Clemson in a national semifinal. For the Irish defense, this has not been a problem since the beginning of the season: Notre Dame was ranked 28th in the national ranking at the end of the week for the red zone.

Ian Book looked healthy. This was a positive sign for the Irish, who were deprived of their starting quarter in last week's 42-13 win against Florida State. It is clear that this attack is taking over with Book, which was inserted in the training in September, so seeing the junior player in the pocket as a launcher and agile on the run eases concerns as to the health of the head of Our Lady. in the last week of the regular season. Book threw for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns before being replaced by alternate Brandon Wimbush in the middle of the fourth quarter.

One more test. The Irish finish the regular season with a trip to Southern California, one of the most disappointing teams in college football, needing a win against rival Trojans to qualify in the college football playoffs. There is no argument about this: Notre Dame is in the group of four teams at 12-0, it only remains to sow. It remains to be seen whether this place for the playoffs will look like the program's last trip to the biggest university football scene – a draw against Alabama in early 2013.

It may even be that the Irish are arguing 11-1, but not without help. For its part, Michigan is expected to beat Ohio State next Saturday and the Northwest one week later to win the Big Ten Conference; The Irish dominated the Wolverines in the first game of the season. It would also help a defeat, Notre Dame, to have chaos at the Big 12 conference, where Oklahoma and West Virginia are leading the list of playoff contenders.

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