Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 14, 2023 39 GAME PREVIEW: USC Redshirt senior defensive end Solomon Byrd leads the much-maligned Trojans defense in both tackles for loss (7.5) and sacks (4.5). PHOTO COURTESY USC ATHLETICS Staff Predictions Todd D. Burlage: Notre Dame 42, USC 34 Notre Dame gets its toughest defensive test of the season when it hosts USC in a fourth straight game against a ranked opponent in prime time. Through Week 5, USC led the nation in scoring at 53.6 points a game and it was third in total offense at 555.0 yards per game. Defensively, Notre Dame was tied for 14th nationally in scoring defense, allowing only 13.0 points a game. Expect Notre Dame to survive a shootout in this one. Steve Downey: Notre Dame 34, USC 31 Caleb Williams is playing like he wants to become the second-ever player to win back-to-back Heismans, but the Irish defense just needs to slow him down a little to give Sam Hartman and Co. a chance to do their thing. Head coach Lincoln Riley's effort to repair his porous defense via the trans- fer portal was not going well through five weeks. USC ranked 61st nationally in points allowed per game (24.2), 84th in rushing yards allowed per contest (147.8) and 98th in total yards allowed per game (404.4) despite a lackluster schedule to date. The Trojans are actually missing more tackles per game through five weeks this year (11.8) than they did last season (10.4). To make matters worse, USC had forced only 7 turnovers (tied for 54th nationally) well off the pace of last year's nation-leading 28 takeaways that was this unit's lone bright spot. For me, that adds up to Hartman leading the Irish to a victory in the big- gest ND-USC showdown in South Bend since the "Bush Push" game in 2005. Kyle Kelly: Notre Dame 38, USC 34 The Irish haven't lost to USC in South Bend since 2011. Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams will give Notre Dame its biggest test over the last 12 years. Still, I like the Irish defense to redeem themselves from their Buckeyes blunder by making a key stop or two against the Trojans. This game will go down as Sam Hartman's signature win in his Notre Dame career. Tyler Horka: Notre Dame 42, USC 41 Notre Dame was always going to have to beat two of the three giants on their schedule for it to be a super successful season. After blowing the oppor- tunity against Ohio State, this is the next one up. USC's offense is incredibly scary with reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams playing even bet- ter than he did last year, and the Trojans have one of the best rushing attacks in the country to help him out in his quest to go back to back. There isn't anything anyone on that side of the ball can do for USC in stop- ping Notre Dame's offense, though, and the Fighting Irish are going to do what plenty of teams have done to the Trojans in the last couple of seasons; score a lot of points. Give me Sam Hartman, Audric Estimé and company in an offensive shoot- out for the ages. Jack Soble: USC 45, Notre Dame 41 Despite owning the No. 14 scoring defense in college football entering Week 6, Notre Dame has not tackled as well as it hoped it would. Against Duke, the Irish finished with a 43.0 tackling grade. That's a problem against a USC team that features the likes of Tahj Washington, Brenden Rice and Zachariah Branch. Sam Hartman and company will keep pace, but ultimately, the team with the better playmakers gets it done.