Notre Dame hands No. 16 Syracuse second straight loss

Audric Estime and Logan Diggs combined for 208 rushing yards and three touchdowns as visiting Notre Dame knocked off No. 16 Syracuse 41-24 on Saturday afternoon.

Estime (20 carries, 123 yards) ran for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and Diggs added 20 carries for 85 yards and one score for the Fighting Irish (5-3), who outrushed Syracuse 246-61.

The Orange's Garrett Shrader completed just 5 of 14 passes for 35 yards before exiting with a concussion in the second quarter. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson came on and was 11 of 22 for 190 yards. Both players threw one touchdown and one interception.

Sean Tucker ran for 60 yards and a touchdown for Syracuse (6-2), which has dropped back-to-back games.

Notre Dame dominated the first half, outgaining Syracuse 225-73 en route to a 21-7 advantage at intermission.

The first play from scrimmage was intercepted by Notre Dame's Brandon Joseph and returned 29 yards for a touchdown. The Orange answered by taking their next possession 53 yards in seven plays for the tying score -- a 13-yard TD pass from Shrader to Oronde Gadsden II -- but the Fighting Irish scored the next 17 points to take control.

Midway through the second quarter, Diggs capped an 11-play drive with a 3-yard TD run to create a 14-7 edge for the visitors.

Late in the half, Syracuse failed on a fourth-and-7 from the Notre Dame 39. That set up good field position for the Irish, who found the end zone six plays later as Drew Pyne found Jayden Thomas for a 3-yard score with 17 ticks left until halftime.

After Notre Dame kicked a 31-yard field goal midway through the third quarter, Syracuse began to mount a mini-comeback. Andre Szmyt made a 54-yard field goal and Tucker capped the next Orange possession with a 4-yard TD run, making it 24-17 late in the third quarter.

However, Estime scored back-to-back fourth-quarter touchdowns to seal the outcome.

First he sliced untouched up the middle for an 11-yard score. Notre Dame then blocked a punt and Estime plunged in from 2 yards out for a 38-17 cushion.

The hosts pulled within 38-24 with 5:44 remaining, but they got no closer.