FakeNunes previews Syracuse vs. Notre Dame

Freshly squeezed from the sub-basement level of TNIAAM HQ it’s the internet’s most ridiculous college football preview series- #FakeNunes. We like to look for the silver lining when it comes to Syracuse Orange football so while it’s sad that this is the last #FakeNunes of the year we are glad we made it all the way to the end.

Now onto this week’s game...

Opponent: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Location: South Bend, Indiana

Students: 12,681 students who won’t admit that Rudy was offsides and will invite themselves to crash at your place for a few nights while they clean out your fridge.

The 2020 Fake Nunes Statistical Index (#FNSI)

We continue to look to innovate our analytics model so we here’s what the lab cooked up for this season.

Uniforms:

Syracuse

It’s one of the best start times for a college football game as you start during the day and then transition into a night game. I think Syracuse will go orange helmets, white jerseys and orange pants this week.

Photo by Mark Alberti/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Notre Dame

Have to imagine that Notre Dame comes out with their classic home look for the final regular season game.

Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images

Advantage: Notre Dame

The distance traveled

Something new for this year is to dig through each roster and find the player from the furthest distance from the school. Not their hometown but where they played previous to enrollment. How is that relevant to a game prediction? Can you think of a better measure of “want-to” than measuring how far a player travels? For Syracuse the player is Maximilian Mang from Nuthetal. Germany (3,930 miles) while Notre Dame’s furthest traveler is Marist Liufau from Kalihi, Hawaii (4,318 miles).

Advantage: Notre Dame

Football Program Hashtag:

None vs #GoIrish

Among the off-season improvements Syracuse has to get the social media game back on track. #Ohana #LaFamilia #TheOrangeRises whatever you have to at least try in 2021

Advantage: Notre Dame

Alumni Wrestling Connection

Both Bob and Mike Golic, Sr. were members of the Notre Dame wrestling program and had they pursued wrestling after their NFL careers they could have joined the Varsity Club abd been partners with Orange alum Mike Rotunda

Advantage: Syracuse

The Official #FakeNunes Game Prediction:

Close your eyes.

Picture this.

It’s late in the 4th quarter with Notre Dame up by 5. The stadium lights bouncing off of Touchdown Jesus. Brian Kelly’s face is 15 different shades of red. Syracuse is riding the combination of Luke McPhail and Cooper Lutz when they face a 4th and 2 from the 6 yard line. After his final time-out Dino Babers calls on the Rhinocat package and Chicago native Chris Elmore takes a direct shotgun snap and heads towards the line when he suddenly pulls up and delivers a jump pass into the waiting arms of Aaron Hackett as Mike Tirico exclaims “Do you believe in Orange miracles?”