#6/7 Notre Dame Defeats the Orange, 34-10

Saturday, November 19

South Bend, IN

2:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

at Notre Dame

Damien Rhodes ran for 112 yards against Notre Dame and passed Ernie Davis on SU's career rushing record list.

11/19/2005 7:08:16 AM | Football

Syracuse Notes

Box Score

SOUTH BEND, IND.- The Syracuse Orange lost at Notre Dame, 34-10, on senior day in South Bend on Saturday. Damien Rhodes led SU with 112 yards on the ground and moved into the ninth spot on Syracuse's career rushing record list. Perry Patterson started at quarterback for the Orange and was 9-of-22 passing for 78 yards and one touchdown, while rushing the ball for 25 yards. Joe Kowalewski gained 34 yards on three catches including one that went for a touchdown.

Defensively for the Orange, Kelvin Smith led the team with 12 tackles, 1.5 for a loss. Dowayne Davis had 10 total tackles, while Anthony Smith and Steve Gregory each had eight.

The Orange drove down into Notre Dame territory on its first possession of the game with quarterback Perry Patterson tied his career-long run when he broke off a 30-yard gain on the ground down to the Notre Dame 33-yard line. After three short gains, SU was forced to attempt a field goal, however holder Brendan Carney was called for a delay of game penalty, moving the Orange back to the 30-yard line forcing the Orange to go for it on fourth down. On fourth down, Tim Lane dropped a Patterson pass to turn the ball back over to the Irish.

Notre Dame began its second drive of the game on its own 30-yard line. On second and 10 from the ND 40, Quinn hooked up with Matt Shelton for a gain of 25-yards to move into Syracuse territory at the SU 35. SU was able to force Notre Dame into a fourth and six situation, but the Irish went for it and converted, with Quinn finding Jeff Samardzija for a gain of 15 to move ND into the red zone at the SU 16-yard line. After the two teams exchanged penalties, D.J. Fitzpatrick came in for the Irish to attempt a 39-yard field goal, however pushed it wide left, leaving the two teams in a scoreless tie with 4:34 left in the first quarter.

SU took over at its own 20-yard line and quickly got to work with Patterson finding Rice Moss for a gain of nine, to move to the 35-yard line. On the next play, Rhodes made his mark, running outside to the right, breaking past the ND defense, gaining 51 yards before Ambrose Wooden caught up to him and forced him out of bounds at the Irish 14-yard line. The run moved Rhodes to ninth all-time at SU in career rushing yards passing Ernie Davis (2,386 yards). He also passed Art Monk to take over fifth place on the school’s all-time all-purpose yards ledger.

SU was unable to find the end zone as John Barker came in to attempt a 31-yard field goal, splitting the uprights to put the Orange out in front, 3-0, with 1:55 remaining in the first quarter.

The SU scoring drive got Notre Dame’s attention as the Irish came out and drove into SU territory when Darius Walker broke off a 37-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage moving the Irish to the SU 43. Quinn followed up Walkers run with a big play of his own finding Maurice Stovall for a gain of 25 yards bringing ND within the red zone for the second time on the day, at the SU 14-yard line.

Notre Dame was forced to attempt a field goal with Fitzpatrick coming on for a 28-yard try that would be blocked when Steve Gregory came in unblocked from the left side to keep SU in the lead, 3-0, with 14:04 left in the opening half. The block was the fifth blocked field goal of Gregory’s career. Gregory is tied for second on the Syracuse career blocked kicks record list with David Tyree (1999-2002).

The Irish special teams got a block of their own on a Carney punt to set up good field position at the SU 36-yard line. The Irish took the lead for the first time in the game with 9:09 left in the first half when Quinn found an open Stovall in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown completion to get the Irish out to a 7-3 lead.

Notre Dame came back with another score when Quinn, under pressure from Ryan LaCasse, completed his second consecutive pass for a touchdown finding Samardzija, who made the catch and eluded a pair of tacklers to find the goal line for a 29-yard touchdown play increasing the Notre Dame lead to 14-3 with 5:21 left in the half.

SU struggled in the early going of the second half as Patterson attempted a quick throw to fullback Breyone Evans who bobbled the ball into the hands of Notre Dame’s Leo Ferrine, who returned the interception 16 yards for an Irish touchdown, increasing the lead to 21-3.

After the Irish received good field position after a bad bounce on a Carney punt, Fitzpatrick came on and successfully attempted another field goal, this time from 44 yards out, to open up a 24-3 lead.

Fitzpatrick hit his third field goal of the game to start the fourth quarter, adding to the ND lead, 27-3.

Later in the fourth, Fitzpatrick came on to attempt a 42-yard field goal and it was successful, however a roughing the kicker penalty call on Gregory advanced the ball 15 yards down into the red zone. Walker took advantage of the field position and ran in his first touchdown of the game to make the score 34-3 7:42 left in the game.

Late in the fourth, the SU offense scored its first touchdown of the day when Patterson hooked up with tight end Kowelewski for an 18-yard touchdown completion. The touchdown cut the score to 34-10 with 3:18 remaining in regulation and would be the final score of the game.

Notre Dame improves to 8-2 on the season with the win, while SU drops to 1-9. The Orange will play its final game of the season next Saturday when it travels to take on Louisville in a BIG EAST showdown.