"It seemed like a Notre Dame home game because there were a lot more Notre Dame fans there than Syracuse fans, and yet it was a Syracuse home game,” said former Syracuse football player Dave Archer.

But this didn't stop SU from beating Notre Dame, 14-7, at the old Yankee Stadium 55 years ago.

Archer says they gave it their all.

"We always played hard and we had a reputation,” Archer said. “We might have lost some games, but we were very rarely hit or out hustled."

The game was on Thanksgiving Day, one week after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

"Preparation that week was not normal,” said Archer. “We thought the game would be canceled but it wasn't."

He described it as a revenge game after they lost to Notre Dame two years before. Archer was a defensive tackle from 1961 to 1964.

"I was lucky to be able to play at that level when I did,” Archer said.

He says it's a different game now in 2018.

"They're bigger, they're faster, they're stronger,” Archer said. “Their athletic ability is unbelievable."

He's excited to see them take their talents to the field, when they go up against Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium.

"I'm very happy with the coach,” Archer said. “I think he's fantastic. It's the same players that were there two years ago. I think he has them playing football."

Notre Dame is ranked third in the country, but Archer says they have some tough competition.

"We're going to have to outplay them, it's not going to be a fluke,” Archer said. “It's not going to be, ‘they didn't see us coming,’ they know we're there."

And his best advice to the Orange:

"Keep playing the way they're playing,” Archer said. “They're playing their hearts out."

Hoping they walk away with a victory, again.

Spectrum News have full coverage from New York City starting Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

You can also catch Live With the Coach after both basketball games and the football game, along with special editions of Sports Night Thursday and Friday at 11:15 p.m.

Spectrum News will also have a half hour special "Orange in the Big Apple," Saturday at noon.