The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8–2) will host the struggling Syracuse Orange (3–7) on Senior Day in South Bend on Saturday. The Irish have been dominant of late, and enter this week ranked inside of the top 10 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. They will try to move to within one victory of an at-large berth in the playoff with a win here. Before kickoff, continue reading to find my Syracuse vs Notre Dame prediction.
Our Syracuse vs Notre Dame Pick
- Pick: Over 50.5
- Confidence: 4/5
Game Snapshot
- Matchup: Syracuse Orange vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Date & Time: Saturday, November 22, 2025, 3:30 PM ET
- Venue: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
- Broadcast: NBC, also streaming on Peacock
Key Storylines
- Senior Day for Notre Dame: The Irish closing their home schedule gives them extra motivation and they’ll want to put forth strong showing for their seniors.
- Syracuse’s quarterback injury disaster: Their early-season spark under Steve Angeli faded after his season-ending Achilles injury. The Orange have lost six games in a row and losing their starting quarterback is a huge reason for their recent issues.
- Playoff implications for Notre Dame: A dominant win will help their College Football Playoff résumé. There was some controversy surrounding Notre Dame being placed in the top 10 despite losses to Texas A&M and Miami earlier in the year. But the Irish can quiet some of that criticism by continuing to win big over inferior opponents.
- Blowout concern: With such a large point spread, bettors must decide whether ND will pile it on or ease up late. The Notre Dame running game might be explosive enough to keep scoring even if they do opt to run the ball regularly down the stretch with the outcome of this game secured.
Quarterback Play
Notre Dame’s signal-caller CJ Carr has been steady all year. He has thrown for 2,487 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions so far. He’s orchestrated an efficient offense that balances between the pass and run effectively. On the ground, the Irish lean on standout running back Jeremiyah Love, who has rushed for 1,135 yards and 14 scores.
Steve Angeli transferred from Notre Dame to play quarterback at Syracuse. He was the spark early in the season for the Syracuse offense. But he suffered a torn Achilles and is out for the year. Since then, Syracuse has turned to a series of inexperienced quarterbacks and that has not gone well for them since Angeli went down.
Betting Trends
- Syracuse is 4–5–1 against the spread this season.
- Notre Dame is 5–5–0 against the spread in 2025.
- Both teams have gone 5-5 in the over/under market going into this weekend’s play.
Syracuse vs Notre Dame Model Projection
- Score Projection: Notre Dame 49 – Syracuse 10
- Win Probability: Notre Dame 90%, Syracuse 10%
Final Thoughts
This is a game that I expect Notre Dame to dominate from start to finish. The Irish are too good and too balanced offensively to be slowed down by Syracuse, especially without Angeli on the field to help Syracuse put points on the board with any kind of regularity. I’ll take the over in this game, with Notre Dame doing the vast majority of the scoring on Saturday.
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