DeShone Kizer more than made up for a poor performance in a loss to Duke two weeks ago by leading Notre Dame to a 50-33 win over Syracuse in MetLife stadium in New Jersey last week.

The Irish needed Kizer and the offense to explode, yet again, as it continues to struggle with its defense. Kizer completed 23-of-35 passes for 471 yards and three touchdowns with one interception, and also ran for his sixth touchdown of the season. He is on course to surpass his record of 10 running scores by an ND signal-caller in a season, which he set last year.After a lackluster start, giving up 13 points to Syracuse in the first quarter and 14 more in the second, the Irish defense settled in during the second half and played a respectable two quarters. There is still a lot of work to be done for the Irish defense, but last week's performance did give some hope that the "D" can still come around.One thing new defensive coordinator Greg Hudson showed on the sidelines was a lot of emotion and new attitude that the players seed to have bought into so far. There are still seven games left, but at least for the moment, it seems Hudson, an ND graduate, has things moving in the right direction.Head coach Brian Kelly formulated the plans for the Irish defense as the season moves on and could be seen in the defensive huddles on the sidelines last week. As I said, there is a lot of work to do - as Syracuse did score 33 points and was just 11 points shy of 500 total offensive yards for the game. But it was a challenge for Kelly and Hudson to try and rework the defense against a team that plays an up-tempo, wide-open offense like Syracuse does.Notre Dame middle linebacker Nyles Morgan told the press after the game about Hudson. "He brought an energy to the team, a new type of leadership. The guys really bought into how he coaches and what he coaches."As part of a simpler defense, the Irish used new pass coverage techniques which they learned in a crash course during the week after Duke and used a lot of true and redshirt freshmen on defense.Today the Irish travel to soggy Raleigh, North Carolina to meet the North Carolina State Wolfpack in Carter-Finley stadium. The Wolfpack enter the game with a 3-1 record, with wins over William and Mary, 48-14; Old Dominion, 49-22; and Wake Forest, 33-16. The lone loss was an upset by East Carolina, 33-30. The Wolfpack are the favorites in the game. AccuWeather has called for heavy rain during the game with windy and humid conditions.The Pack is led by quarterback Ryan Finley, who has completed 84-of-116 passes with nine touchdowns and zero interceptions. His pass efficiency rating is 171.7. The top rusher is Matthew Dayes, with 439 yards on 75 carries and three TDs. Top receivers include Jaylen Samuels (185 yards on 20 catches and four TDs) and Stephen Louis (328 yards on 13 catches and one score). Defensively, the Pack is led by Justin Jones with 21 solo tackles.ND and the Wolfpack have played only once before in the 2003 Gator Bowl won by NCS, 28-6.The game will be televised nationally by ABC-TV with a 12:10 p.m. start.IRISH NOTES ... Kizer averaged 20.48 yards per completion last week but missed the NCAA record of 22.9 set by BYU's John Walsh in 1993. He also spread the ball around to 10 different receivers. Josh Adams rushed for 102 yards on 20 carries, followed by Dexter Williams with 80 yards on eight carries. Equanimeous St. Brown, who is becoming the go-to receiver, caught four balls for 182 yards and two scores, with Torri Hunter getting 64 yards on four catches and C.J. Sanders picking up 39 yards on four catches. St. Brown is the team-leader with 541 yards on 25 catches and six scores so far this season. Drue Tranquill led the defense with 13 solo tackles followed by Morgan with eight .... ND finished with 654 total offensive yards .... ND's special teams faltered by allowing two long punt returns. ND managed to make up for it with a 93-yard kickoff return for a score by Sanders, a defensive 2-point conversion on a blocked PAT - Jarron Jones' sixth blocked kick of his career .... Concerning the defense, Kelly said, "We've got a lot of depth. We've got a lot of really good players that deserve to get on the field, and that's the kind of defense this is going to be. There are going to be a lot of players playing in this defense." .... Just to show how the Irish used plenty of bodies last week, sophomore defensive tackle Elijah Taylor and freshman cornerback Troy Pride Jr., made their collegiate debuts, while sophomore linebacker Asmar Bilal, sophomore safety Nicco Fertitta, junior defensive end Jay Hayes, freshmen defensive backs Donte Vaughn and Jalen Elliott all saw the most action they have seen to date in their career at ND ... At one time during the game, the Irish had four freshmen defensive backs on the field ... If the offense continues to jell, it is on its way to a school-record scoring pace - 39.8 points per game ... Kizer moved up five spots to No. 9 nationally in passing efficiency (175.4). He's now 13th in total offense at 350.8 yards per game; fourth in points responsible for with 120; third in yards per attempt, 10.38; fifth in yards per completion, 16.49; sixth in TD passes, 14; and third in rushing TD by a QB with six ... Senior Tarean Folston missed the Syracuse game due to an ankle injury suffered in practice late in the week. He should be ready for today ... It's hard to believe that ND can't run the ball better with its big offensive line that has enough experience to get the job done ... Junior cornerback Nick Watkins is done for the season. Kelly said it was determined that slow bone growth in Watkins' injured left arm is the reason ... Kelly has used 13 freshmen this year, the most he has ever used in his seven years at ND ... The 79-yard TD toss by Kizer to St. Brown on the opening play of the game was the longest completion of the season for the Irish and the sixth-longest pass play in Kelly's era ... Last week's game was the first non-sellout crowd ND played before since a 53-31 Irish loss to Arizona State on Nov. 8, 2014. The crowd was announced at 62,794 in the 82.500-seat stadium. There were many no shows as well - either because of so-so weather, or the Irish's 1-3 record ... ND had another sack last week by Morgan. The lack of a pass rush is a real problem for the Irish defense. With a young secondary, a good pass rush would help a lot ... ND's potent offense will get a true test today as NCS is ranked 21st in the nation in defense ... In my preseason picks I have the Irish prevailing today. However, with the defense still struggling and the Wolfpack playing good football with a fine passing quarterback, I think the Irish will fall today to 2-4.