EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Four defenders and 79 yards stood in front of Equanimeous St. Brown on the first snap Notre Dame played against Syracuse. After running about fifteen yards and cutting in, he carried the ball between nearly all of the Orange’s defensive backs.

Cordell Hudson got hands around St. Brown but fell to the turf.

Corey Winfield touched St. Brown but fell short of tackling him.

Rodney Williams and Jonathan Thomas simply couldn’t catch him.

One touchdown is manageable and SU (2-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) responded immediately with its own score. But over the next 59 minutes, 42 seconds, Notre Dame (2-3) torched Syracuse for another four big-play touchdowns. St. Brown scored again with a 67-yarder, C.J. Sanders scored on a 93-yard kickoff return, Kevin Stepherson caught a 54-yard touchdown pass and Dexter Williams blew past the SU defense for a 59-yard run. Notre Dame used big plays to bury the Orange, 50-33.

“I have been in games like that,” Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said. “They have a very dynamic offense and when they come out it’s a big splash. They’ve got personnel that can do things — stretching vertically, a big quarterback, an NFL quarterback.”

Syracuse’s Tampa-2 defense, which is designed to stop big plays, has given up 14 scoring plays of 20 or more yards this season. Five of them came against Notre Dame, which ties for SU’s most allowed this season. Louisville tallied just as many as UND in the second week of the season.

“That is a very, very young defense with a lot of young players on it,” Babers said, “and they’re going against 21- and 22-year-old guys. You have to give them time to grow up.”

Hudson, a redshirt sophomore who guarded St. Brown for most of the game, gave up the latter’s next touchdown. The Notre Dame wide receiver gained a step on the SU cornerback. Then he outmuscled Hudson down the field. The ball fell right in St. Brown’s arms. The score put UND up 16-6, a lead it wouldn’t lose the rest of the game.

Even when SU put itself back in the game with a 72-yard passing touchdown by Amba Etta-Tawo, Notre Dame took the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. A 16-13 game suddenly became a 23-13 game.

Despite SU inching closer in games this season, big plays have buried it. Against Louisville, SU brought the deficit down to 14 points several times. A Traevon Samuel run put UofL up 42-21. Later in the same game, when SU was down 20 but looked like it could stage a small comeback, a Brandon Radcliff 48-yard run pushed the game out of reach for good.

Notre Dame followed the blueprint.

First, senior cornerback Corey Winfield bit on a play action fake and was beat for a 54-yard touchdown. Then, Williams took a handoff meant for an outside run but was strung out by the defensive line. As most of the defense had shifted to the far side of the field, Williams flipped directions, carrying the ball across the backfield. Hudson hedged, funneling Williams to the middle of the field.

There were no SU players there. Williams ran the rest of the way untouched.

“Granted, (the Fighting Irish) are very talented,” junior linebacker Zaire Franklin said, “… most of the time, it’s just someone not being over in the gap or some little technique thing that could have done better that the offense took advantage of.”

Published on October 1, 2016 at 6:24 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati