It wasn’t pretty. Some of the same problems appeared on offense and defense but a win is a win.

That’s probably the best way to describe Notre Dame’s 44-21 victory over UNLV last week. A win that moved the Irish to 4-3 on the season with a lot of football still to be played.

The win was good for the players and coaching staff because it came at home on a beautiful autumn afternoon in South Bend. The Irish face real challenges ahead, including today’s match up with Syracuse in New York. The Orange come into the game at 6-1 and ranked 16th in the national polls. Their lone loss came last week against undefeated Clemson. The Orange hung in and by many accounts were equal to the task in the Clemson contest.

For the Irish, the win last week was the big item of the day. There are still a lot of problems on offense. QB Drew Pyne continues to struggle. The defense showed signs of coming to life, but then allow big plays by UNLV that kept them within striking distance for a while.

It was a big day for running back Logan Diggs, who had a career high of 28 rushes and 130 yards. Diggs’ performance made him the number one running back for the Irish as Audric Estime continues to struggle after being number one for most of the season. Fumbles are Estime’s biggest draw back.

Tight end Michael Mayer had another workmanlike day with six catches for 115 yards and a score.

Defensively, Isaiah Foskey finally had the type of game every Irish fan expected he would have all season long. The preseason pick for him to get national recognition hasn’t happened because he has been struggling all season. Last week was his breakout game, admittedly coming much later than expected - the seventh game of the season. He blocked two punts and had three sacks.

Despite putting 44 points on the board the Irish still have a lot of problems on offense. There are issues defensively too, but they aren’t as glaring as the ones on offense.

Head coach Marcus Freeman said after the game, “It wasn’t pretty. At the end of the day, we needed this. We needed this for our confidence.”

After the very disappointing and puzzling Stanford loss, ND needed the win last week very much. The hope is that it is enough to get them focused on the rest of the season.

ND is still an average team and Freeman is a coach still feeling his way in the job. Freeman knows what lies ahead, after today its Clemson next week followed by Navy and Boston College and a California weekend trip to USC. Very challenging.

Today the Irish face a Syracuse team that has improved steadily the past three seasons. As I mentioned, last week with the first loss for the Orange, with Clemson winning, 27-21. The wins have been over Louisville, 31-7; Connecticut, 48-14; Purdue, 32-29; Virginia, 22-20; Wagner, 59-0; and North Carolina State, 24-9.

Syracuse is led by QB Garrett Shrader, who has completed 123 passes out of 177 for 1,594 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions. He has also been a top rusher for the Orange with 371 yards on 99 carries and six scores. Sean Tucker is the team’s top running back with 698 yards on 129 carries and six TDs. Tucker, it must be noted, had little playing time last week in the Clemson game, which had people wondering because there was no hint of any type of injury for him. Syracuse’s top receiver is Oronde Gadsden II with 593 yards on 37 catches and eight TDs.

ND leads the series, 7-3, and have won the last four against the Orange. The last meeting was in 2020, with ND on top, 45-21, in South Bend. It must be noted Syracuse was 1-10 that year.

The game will be televised nationally by ABC TV with a noon start and a 12:10 p.m. kickoff.

IRISH NOTES ... Finishing up on the Irish stats against the Rebels. Chris Tyree rushed for 43 yards on 10 carries and Pyne had 30 yards on three carries. In the passing game, Braden Lenzy had 38 yards on four catches and Jayden Thomas had 428 yards in total offense. Defensively, JD Bertrand had seven tackles to lead the way followed by Houston Griffith, Clarence Lewis, Isaiah Foskey and Marist Liufau with five each ... Pyne’s problems are troubling as the season progresses. His problems started in the BYU game and continued against Stanford and last week with UNLV. His backup is freshman, Steven Angeli. Angeli got in for a couple plays last week when Pyne had to leave after getting hit hard at the goal line trying to score a TD. There should have been a targeting call against UNLV on that play, but the officials didn’t call it. Pyne needs to get back to himself today as the Orange defense will be coming after him and the JMA Wireless Dome is going to rock. This is a big game for Syracuse and their faithful fans ... South Bend Tribune beat writer Tom Noie, says Foskey and Pyne are the keys to victory for the Irish today. Foskey, to keep the heat on Shrader, and Pyne to keep the Irish offense on the field and away from Shrader ... All-America transfer safety Brandon Joseph is expected to play Saturday at Syracuse as he deals with a lower-leg injury that limited his snaps against UNLV ... Jaden Mickey, the freshman cornerback who missed the past two games with a strained abductor muscle near his hip, returned to practice this week and is expected to play Saturday. Junior linebacker Jack Kiser, who played just five defensive snaps against UNLV, also returned to practice after suffering a deep thigh bruise ... In my preseason picks I went with the Irish in this game. Syracuse enters a two-point favorite. This is really a tough call. It all depends who shows up, Pyne the QB that looked so good when he took over early in the season or the Pyne who has struggled in the last three games. The Irish offensive line, which started to gel in the California game and really came to life in the North Carolina contest, needs it find itself again. The defense needs to stop giving up the big play. All this matters for the Irish. A loss today will just about guarantee a losing season for ND. A win gives the Irish some hope to finish on the plus side of the win-loss totals. I will give Syracuse the nod today.