Bowl Eligible Notre Dame Hosts Syracuse Saturday, 2:30 PM ET On NBC

Ratings on NBC Up 15%

NBC Sports, in its 18th season as the broadcast home of Notre Dame home football games, presents live HD coverage of the Fighting Irish (6-4) hosting the Syracuse Orangemen (2-8) Saturday, 2:30 p.m. ET, ND's last home game of the season. Coverage begins on NBCSports.com at 2 p.m. ET with the "Vonage Notre Dame Countdown to Kickoff" (see details below). The Irish are coming off a 27-21 road victory over Navy which made them bowl eligible. Syracuse fell to Connecticut 39-14 and then fired head coach Greg Robinson.

Tom Hammond (play-by-play) and Pat Haden (analyst) team up for their ninth season together as the voices of Notre Dame on NBC joined by sideline reporter Alex Flanagan, who is also a reporter for the NFL Network.

ND VS. SYRACUSE: Notre Dame and Syracuse will meet for the sixth time in history with the Irish leading the all-time series, 3-2, including capturing the last meeting at home, 34-10, in 2005. Notre Dame also took the other matchup inside Notre Dame Stadium, 17-15, in 1961.

RATINGS SHOW INCREASE: Through the first five home games of the season, Notre Dame on NBC has earned a 2.3 rating and a 5 share, a 15 percent increase over 2007. Ratings are also up significantly in the key demos (Men 18-49, + 27%; Men 25-54, +33%).

GRIDIRON RIVALRY GOES GREEN ON CARBONRALLY.COM: Notre Dame and Syracuse are taking their rivalry to Carbonrally.com to help bring awareness to climate change and the need to reduce energy consumption as part of NBC Universal's "Green is Universal" consumer campaign during Green Week, Nov. 16-23.

Two teams comprised of students, faculty, alumni and fans from each university are competing the entire month of November in a variety of eco-challenges posed by Carbonrally.com. And one team, Notre Dame or Syracuse, will take home $10,000 courtesy of NBC Universal at the end of the month to support campus eco initiatives.

In addition, NBC Sports will host an online video contest, in which students from Notre Dame and Syracuse will produce short commercials promoting sustainable practices. The best submissions will be displayed on the NBC Sports website, www.nbcsports.com.

NOTRE DAME ON NBCSPORTS.COM AND NBC2GO: To complement NBC's broadcast coverage, NBCSports.com is offering an innovative 40 minute pre- and post-game live webcast surrounding the Notre Dame TV coverage hosted by Paula Faris with commentary from John Walters. The "Vonage Notre Dame Countdown to Kickoff" and the "Vonage Notre Dame Post Game Report," live webcasts originate from Notre Dame Stadium and extend the NBC television broadcasts by providing an unprecedented depth of Notre Dame coverage utilizing the Internet. The post-game report features live coverage of Coach Charlie Weis' press conference. Fans can also visit NBCSports.com at halftime to see live coverage of the performances of the Fighting Irish marching band as well as the visiting school's band.

Fans also can watch Notre Dame home games on their mobile phones through NBC Sports Mobile and NBC2Go.

NOTRE DAME ON NBC: In June, the University of Notre Dame and NBC Sports announced a new five-year agreement under which NBC will televise Irish home football games through 2015, which will mark the 25th year of the partnership. The extension provides NBC rights to eight Notre Dame home games from 2011-15, seven games at Notre Dame Stadium and an additional eighth off-site home game airing in primetime each year. The landmark relationship began in 1991.