Football

Shafer hides kicker decision, says Notre Dame has ‘plenty of advantages going into this thing as it is’

The Syracuse coaches have decided if Ryan Norton or Cole Murphy will take field goals against Notre Dame on Saturday, but SU head coach Scott Shafer isn’t quite ready to reveal the decision.

“We do (know) now I just wouldn’t want to share that with you now because I wouldn’t want to give any sort of tactical advantage to them,” Shafer said in his weekly press conference Thursday morning. “The Fighting Irish, they have plenty of advantages going into this thing as it is, so I wouldn’t want to give them another wrinkle here or there.”

Against Maryland, Norton made a 35-yard field goal in the first quarter before Murphy subbed in and made a 49-yard field goal in the second. Murphy has taken kickoffs all season and is recognized as having the bigger foot of the two. Norton then pushed a 25-yard field goal wide left as the first half expired.

After Terrel Hunt rushed for a 1-yard touchdown with 48 seconds left in the game and the result well out of reach, Murphy came on and hit his first extra point of the season. After the game, Shafer said the team would look closely at the situation and figure out which kicker gives the Orange the best chance to win.

On the season, Norton is 4-for-7 (57 percent) on field goals with a long of 38 yards, and Murphy is 1-for-1.



“What we’re doing there is we’ve worked them both all week, it’s been a lively competition,” Shafer said. “And you know when we kick the thing off and play against Notre Dame, we’ll know who we want to go with.”





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