Notre Dame has gotten off to a rather ordinary start under first-year head coach Marcus Freeman. However, after the Fighting Irish delivered a 41-24 road victory over 16th-ranked Syracuse Saturday, Freeman was pumped up about the direction of his team.

The Irish improved their record to 5-3 following the victory, and Freeman delivered an emotional postgame speech to his players. He lauded the triumph, and told his players that they were “a damn good football team.”

Notre Dame jumped out to an early lead when safety Brandon Joseph intercepted a pass on the first play of the game and brought it back 29 yards for a touchdown. That play set the tone for a team that has won five of its last six games after starting the year with back-to-back losses to Ohio State and Marshall.

Notre Dame also got a big performance from running back Audric Estimé, who rushed for 123 yards and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Freeman wants his team to believe in itself, and he said the key is steady improvement and fixing areas that were problems. “Just the urgency we have as a program to improve,” Freeman said. “Not to stay the course. it's fix the course. Fix the mistakes. There has to be a sense of urgency from the top down to fix the mistakes.”

Notre Dame was sharp in a number of areas against Syracuse, but it was their dominance on the ground that separated the two teams. Marcus Freeman saw his team outrush the Orange by a 246-61 margin.

Syracuse was undefeated after its first six games, but the Orange have lost to Clemson and Notre Dame in back-to-back weeks.