Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 14, 2023 41 GAME PREVIEW: USC That said, I buried the lead here a little bit. USC wins this category by far, thanks to the Branch. He has to be seen to be believed, because no true freshman should be as good as he is. Branch has both the ability to accelerate from a jog to his top speed in an instant, and he has the wherewithal to go slow and set up blocks before taking off as a kick returner. As a punt returner, Branch is decisive — he doesn't dance around; he puts a foot in the ground and goes. Those are the skills that made three-time All- Pro Devin Hester so good at returning kicks. Hester is faster than Branch, but it's impossible to watch the USC freshman and not think about the Chicago Bears great. Branch averages 29.0 yards per kickoff return and 22.0 yards per punt return, and he's scored twice. Notre Dame's return units don't come close to those numbers. Advantage: USC COACHING If Riley woke up tomorrow morning and de- cided he wanted an NFL head coaching job, he likely would have one in seconds. Every of- fensive-minded coach claims to be a quarter- back whisperer, but Riley has the track record of coaching three different quarterbacks to the Heisman Trophy. Williams was a top-ranked re- cruit and was successful right away, but Riley's coaching jobs with Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray really stand out. Mayfield was a walk-on at Texas Tech and later walked on at Oklahoma, where Riley took over as the offensive coordinator a year later. In May- field's first year under Riley, he finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting. Three years later, he became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. While Mayfield was winning games in his final two seasons, former top recruit and Texas A&M castoff Kyler Murray developed behind him. Murray took over at Oklahoma in 2018, which was supposed to be his final season as a football player since the Oakland Athletics made him the No. 9 pick of the MLB Draft in 2018. He played so well that season that he switched his career path back to football and was also drafted No. 1 overall the following spring. Williams, in all likelihood, will be the third Riley-coached signal- caller to become the top NFL Draft selection. Oh, and he also has a good case to be the best offensive play-designer in the country. On the Notre Dame side, Irish fans are still up- set at second-year head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff for failing to put an 11th player on the field for the biggest two plays of the season against Ohio State. They're not as thrilled with offensive coordinator Gerad Parker as they were earlier in the season, with the game plan against Duke relying a little too heavily on Estimé up the middle. The Irish are still a well-coached team, but USC has the edge here. Advantage: USC INTANGIBLES One could forgive Notre Dame for being tired entering this game. The Irish will be playing their eighth straight game and fourth straight night game. Despite doing everything they possibly can to keep their players rested and fresh for the stretch run, that could very well be a factor in Saturday night's game. Like Notre Dame, USC played in Week 0 (a 56-28 home win over San Jose State). But unlike Notre Dame, USC had its bye week in Week 3 (Sept. 16). The Trojans won't be as burnt out as the Irish will, and that's not about the quantity of games played — it's the quality. Notre Dame is finishing a brutal stretch of four ranked, unde- feated teams in Ohio State, Duke, Louisville and USC. The Trojans' first six games were against San Jose State, Nevada, Stanford, Arizona State, Colorado and Arizona, none of whom were ranked when they played USC or at the time of this writing. The Trojans had this game circled on its cal- endar as "this is where the season begins," so they'll come out firing. Will Notre Dame? This game could be the difference between making the College Football Playoff and not, so Irish fans certainly hope so. And the players — graduate student linebacker Marist Liufau outright said it — understand the rivalry and are upset about what happened last season. Notre Dame is at home, which helps, but the rest factor gives USC a slight edge. And that might be all it needs. Advantage: USC OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 83 Jayden Thomas 6-1½ 221 Jr. 17 Rico Flores Jr. 6-0⅛ 205 Fr. WR 4 Chris Tyree 5-9½ 192 Sr. 19 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 204 Fr. LT 76 Joe Alt 6-8 322 Jr. 79 Tosh Baker 6-8 317 Sr. LG 78 Pat Coogan 6-5⅛ 303 Jr. 74 Billy Schrauth 6-4½ 311 So. C 52 Zeke Correll 6-3 306 Gr. 70 Ashton Craig 6-4¼ 307 So. RG 50 Rocco Spindler 6-4⅝ 314 Jr. 73 Andrew Kristofic 6-5¼ 305 Gr. RT 54 Blake Fisher 6-6 312 Jr. 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 288 So. TE 88 Mitchell Evans 6-5⅛ 251 Jr. 13 Holden Staes 6-4¼ 242 So. 38 Davis Sherwood 6-3 238 Jr. WR 5 Tobias Merriweather 6-4 204 So. 17 Rico Flores Jr. 6-0⅛ 205 Fr. QB 10 Sam Hartman 6-1⅛ 212 Gr. 18 Steve Angeli 6-2⅜ 211 So. RB 7 Audric Estimé 5-11½ 227 Jr. 3 Gi'Bran Payne 5-9⅛ 208 So. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-10⅜ 206 So. or 22 Devyn Ford 5-11 200 Gr. or 12 Jeremiyah Love 5-11⅞ 197 Fr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. Vyper 12 Jordan Botelho 6-2½ 264 Sr. 44 Junior Tuihalamaka 6-1⅞ 254 So. 40 Joshua Burnham 6-3½ 248 So. DT 99 Rylie Mills 6-5⅛ 306 Sr. 47 Jason Onye 6-5 294 Jr. 41 Donovan Hinish 6-1⅝ 280 So. NT 56 Howard Cross III 6-0⅞ 288 Gr. 92 Aidan Keanaaina 6-3 309 Sr. SDE 1 Javontae Jean-Baptiste 6-4½ 260 Gr. or 31 Nana Osafo-Mensah 6-3⅛ 264 Sr. Will 8 Marist Liufau 6-2¼ 239 Gr. 23 Jaiden Ausberry 6-0⅛ 224 Fr. Mike 27 JD Bertrand 6-1 233 Gr. 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 234 Fr. Rover 24 Jack Kiser 6-1⅝ 232 Gr. 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-2 223 So. CB 5 Cam Hart 6-2½ 207 Gr. 7 Jaden Mickey 5-11½ 181 So. LS 2 DJ Brown 6-1¼ 202 Gr. or 9 Antonio Carter II 5-11¾ 207 Gr. or 13 Thomas Harper 5-10⅝ 195 Gr. RS 0 Xavier Watts 5-11¾ 204 Sr. or 11 Ramon Henderson 6-1 196 Sr. CB 20 Benjamin Morrison 6-0¼ 185 So. 29 Christian Gray 5-11¾ 189 Fr. or 6 Clarence Lewis 5-11½ 202 Sr. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Depth Chart Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. KO 32 Spencer Shrader 6-1⅜ 200 Gr. 92 Zac Yoakam 5-8 188 So. K 32 Spencer Shrader 6-1⅜ 200 Gr. 92 Zac Yoakam 5-8 188 So. P 14 Bryce McFerson 6-1½ 197 So. 43 Ben Krimm 6-1⅛ 204 Gr. LS 65 Michael Vinson 6-2 242 Gr. 51 Rino Monteforte 5-7 195 So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. H 16 Dylan Devezin 6-1⅛ 222 So. 14 Bryce McFerson 6-1½ 197 So. PR 4 Chris Tyree 5-9½ 192 Sr. 7 Jaden Mickey 5-11½ 181 So. KR 24 Jadarian Price 5-10⅜ 206 So. 12 Jeremiyah Love 5-11⅞ 197 Fr. SPECIAL TEAMS