Notre Dame Still Has a Long Way to Go Before It Can Beat Florida State

It's not fair to say that Notre Dame went on prime-time television and laid an egg. But the Irish's 31-15 victory over Syracuse produced more questions than it answered. 

The Irish survived the type of turnover-plagued performance that we haven't seen since 2011, the year of the Brian Kelly purple face. Three lost fumbles, two Everett Golson interceptions—including a late pick-six that could've gotten the Orange back in the game—put Kelly on the brink once again, with Notre Dame making the kind of sloppy mistakes that usually guarantee your team will lose a football game.

"They knew they did not play the kind of football necessary to win each and every week," Kelly said after the game, perhaps a mild understatement. 

The Irish never felt like they were in danger of losing the football game. But they also felt miles away from being a team that can walk into Doak Campbell Stadium and beat Florida State too.

Entering the toughest month of the season with Stanford heading to South Bend next weekend, Notre Dame's sloppy game raised all sorts of questions about the Irish that didn't necessarily exist last week. 

"You can't turn the football over and expect to win all your games," Kelly told ESPN's Heather Cox at the end of the national broadcast. "We did some good things tonight...but five turnovers is just not going to get the job done." 

For a young team traveling to an away game for the first time, Saturday night's environment was a test that Kelly hoped to pass with flying colors. Instead, he'll have to come up with a new plan. 

The message this week was dedicated to not looking past the Orange, with Stanford and a trip to Tallahassee on the October horizon. Yet the Irish made critical early (and often) mistakes that took probably a dozen points off the board and kept Syracuse in the game, even with Notre Dame's defense shutting down Terrel Hunt. 

In between turning the football over four times, Golson played brilliantly. He completed 25 straight throws, a Notre Dame record and one shy of the NCAA record as he picked apart the Syracuse defense in the short passing game. 

But for as beautiful as his perfect 72-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller was, his nonchalance with the football was exactly what Kelly talked about fixing earlier in the week. 

"He's very careful with the football, very conscientious throwing the football," Kelly said Thursday. "We worry about how he carries the football. He carries it like he's dribbling a basketball." 

Golson dribbled one off his knee on the Irish's first drive, ending a promising opening series when the ball was knocked loose. He nearly lost another on an overload blitz, but converted guard Steve Elmer recovered. And no basketball metaphor can do his fumbled spike justice, with the ball falling through his hands before he swatted at it, giving the Orange the ball with the Irish already safely in field-goal range. 

Even Golson's decision-making with the football was careless at times. His first interception was a misread, looking past a wide-open Ben Koyack and then overthrowing C.J. Prosise. And the interception to Durell Eskridge was one of the worst throws he's made in an Irish uniform, with the safety walking right into Golson's throwing lane before taking the pass back for an easy touchdown. 

If you're looking for a way to refocus your attention and forget about any September Heisman chatter, Golson found the best way. 

"I know my team expects more of me so I've got to come out and be better from the get," Golson told Cox after the game. "I came out and had a very sloppy first half and I was lucky it didn't cost us as much as it should have."

It may be an old coaching cliche, but it's often been said that you learn more from a sloppy win than a difficult defeat. And expect a lot of learning and a few extra hours in the film room to get things squared away. 

What should the Irish be looking at?

Ball security for one, with running back Greg Bryant joining the fumble parade. Blown special teams assignments, with the Irish being fooled by a fake punt. And a two-minute drill by the offense that had receivers lining up incorrectly, just one of the eight penalties Notre Dame committed on the night. 

It's not easy to win in college football; give the Irish credit for losing the turnover battle by four and still winning with relative ease. 

But if the Irish have aims of heading to Florida State and knocking off the defending champs, they've got plenty of work to do. 

*Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.