Friday night, the members of the Syracuse football team gathered at their team hotel and made a proclamation. Win one for the seniors. And while the Orangemen weren’t playing for a bowl berth they were playing on national television with a chance to send their 16 seniors out on a winning note.

Saturday, Syracuse sent them out with a bang. In front of 48,170 fans on Senior Day, the Orangemen cruised to victory against Notre Dame, 38-12. SU took the lead three minutes into the game and never relinquished the lead.

‘Last night we all got together and were talking about these guys, our family.’ Diamond Ferri said. ‘I’m going to fight for my family just like they’d fight for me.’

Syracuse (6-6, 2-5 Big East) put up a fight early. Notre Dame freshman quarterback Brady Quinn was intercepted by free safety Anthony Smith on the third play of the game. Five plays later, running back Walter Reyes was into the end zone with a two-yard run.

It was one of five touchdowns on the day for Reyes who rushed for 189 yards on 19 carries. He rushed for 9.9 yards per carry, in large part to a 71-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

‘We wanted to come out here and show the nation that Syracuse football is still here,’ Reyes said. ‘We’re not going anywhere.’

The Orangemen rattled Quinn often. He was picked off twice and sacked three times. Offensively, Notre Dame (5-7) couldn’t generate a running attack. SU tackle Christian Ferrara was a large part in that effort, recording six solo tackles including five for a loss.

Notre Dame’s running back Julius Jones was held to 54 yards on 20 carries. The Fighting Irish were forced to replace Jones with Ryan Grant, who didn’t fare much better, running for 32 yards on 10 carries.

The defensive performance may have been SU’s best effort all season.

‘If you look at the North Carolina game compared to the game now, you can see the huge improvement,’ Ferri said. ‘It’s a matter of the coaches getting on our asses every week. They told us we’ve got to play balls out.’

In his last game, quarterback R.J. Anderson threw for 209 yards and three interceptions. SU had four turnovers on Saturday, but only yielded seven points off the miscues. The Orangemen, meanwhile, scored 21 points off of the four Notre Dame turnovers.

The only time Notre Dame threatened Syracuse’s lead was in the third quarter. Syracuse led 10-6 after DJ Fitzpatrick’s 40-yard field goal. But SU answered on its next drive with a Reyes three-yard touchdown. The Fighting Irish pulled within 12 points with 30 seconds left in the quarter on an Anthony Fasano 5-yard touchdown reception, but the Orangemen answered again. Eleven seconds later, Reyes ripped off his 71-yard shuffle down the right sideline. Instead of heading into the fourth quarter down 12, in a matter of seconds, the Fighting Irish were down 19.

It capped a memorable day for the seniors, most of whom experienced the stellar 10-3 season in 2001 and last year’s 4-8 debacle.

‘I wouldn’t have it any other way and neither would the seniors,’ said linebacker Rich Scanlon, who as a senior, played his last game for the Orangemen. ‘I always envisioned my last game winning the game. Our will was going to be too great.’

For the second straight year, Syracuse missed a bowl game and failed to finish with a winning record. Still, with pride at stake, against one of the most storied programs in the country, the opportunity was too much to pass up.

‘We talked about this game could be the defining moment of the year,’ senior Joe Donnelly said. ‘It was up to us to put an exclamation point on our careers. Throw the record out the window, the fact that we were able to stick it to a good Notre Dame team at home, it’s a great feeling.’

Published on December 5, 2003 at 12:00 pm