SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Senior safety Jalen Stroman was named the Senior Bowl Defensive Player of the Week for his standout performance in the 70-7 win over Syracuse, in which he posted a pick-six, a blocked punt that resulted in a touchdown, and eight tackles, including 2.0 TFL.
He was the only player in the nation this weekend to total eight tackles, multiple tackles for loss and a pick-six, let alone a blocked punt.
Stroman’s performance, with the Irish defense, scored 21-straight points to open the game for the Irish, all occurring in the first six minutes of the game before the offense ever had a chance to take the field. Stroman intercepted a pass on the second play of the game, returning it 44 yards for a touchdown to begin the scoring. Then, he added a tackle for loss on the next Syracuse drive, blocking a punt on fourth down, which fellow Irish safety Luke Talich returned for another touchdown, putting the Irish up 14-0. He added three more tackles on the third and fourth Syracuse drives, and the Irish turned another pick-six on the third drive, as the Irish were up 21-0 when the offense finally saw their first snaps with 7:11 remaining in the first quarter.
The 70 points scored in the game by Notre Dame, 21 by the defense in the opening six minutes of the game, are the most in the modern era of the program (surpassing the 69 scored against Georgia Tech in 1977) and the most since Notre Dame defeated Haskell 73-0 in 1932. The 35 points scored in the first quarter for Notre Dame were the most in the opening quarter in program history, surpassing the previous high of 28, done four times but most recently on September 30, 2017 in the win over Miami OH.
Stroman’s interception marked his first-career interception and touchdown. Stroman’s interception was the 18th of the season for the Irish defense, which came into the game tied for the third most in the country.
It’s the ninth time in program-history that Notre Dame has returned two interceptions for touchdowns and the first since last season at Southern Cal (11/30/24). Notre Dame is just the sixth FBS team to have two interception returns for touchdowns in a game this season and join Missouri (vs. Mississippi State) and Oregon (vs. Oklahoma State) to have two interception return touchdowns against a Power 4 team. It’s also the first time since the 2022 season that Notre Dame has had a pick-six in consecutive games.
Notre Dame leads the nation in interceptions (20), and ranks fifth in turnover margin (1.09), ninth in turnovers gained (22), ninth in team sacks (3.00), 10th in defensive touchdowns (3), 11th in team passing efficiency defense (108.78), 12th in scoring defense (17.4), 13th in rushing defense (100.5), 19th in blocked punts (1), and 19th in fourth-down defense (0.414).