Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: USC 36 NOV. 30, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA USC RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE Needing to salvage its season after a 3-4 start and beyond shaky performances from quarterback Miller Moss in the pass game, which we'll get to in the next section, the Trojans turned to a backup quarterback … and the ground game. The latter, in particular, paid dividends. In a 2-1 stretch in games against Rutgers, Wash- ington and Nebraska from Oct. 25 through Nov. 16, USC ran for 135, 166 and 182 yards with a com- bined average of 5.8 yards per carry. That helped bring their season average through Week 12 to 5.4 yards per rush, good for 15th in the country. For whatever reason, though, only two teams in the FBS ran it fewer times than USC through Week 12. Perhaps it's because when the Trojans have been at their worst in the running game this season, they've been pretty bad. They started the year rushing 23 times for only 69 yards against an LSU team we've come to find out isn't so good. Against a Michigan team that isn't so good either, USC ran 21 times for 96 yards. To the Wolverines' credit, though, they were the No. 11 team in the na- tion against the run through Week 12. The Tigers ranked No. 66 at that time. USC has a one-two tailback tandem of redshirt senior Woody Marks, a transfer from Mississippi State, and redshirt freshman Quinten Joyner. The former has led the way with 174 carries for 1,024 yards and 9 touchdowns through 10 games. He had six 100-yard games in those first 10. Joyner backed him up with 49 carries for 371 yards and 3 scores through Week 12. The quarterback run game is a bit of a factor in going from Moss to redshirt sophomore Jayden Maiava, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound dual-threat who ran 5 times for 20 yards and a touchdown in the Trojans' 28-20 win over Nebraska Nov. 16, the first start of his USC career. Notre Dame has contained mobile quarterbacks well this season, but overall the Irish have been a bit leaky against the run. Adjusting for sacks, Notre Dame gave up 1,471 rushing yards on 331 carries in 10 games, an average of 4.4 yards per carry. USC, when at its best in the running game, is capable of those numbers. And the Trojans are getting Notre Dame in the Los Angeles Coliseum. So, we'll call this area of the game a draw. Advantage: Even USC PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE The Washington game was a last-straw type of moment for USC head coach Lincoln Riley. He pulled the rug out from under starting quarterback Miller Moss, who threw 3 interceptions in a 26-21 loss to the Huskies. Washington scored 10 points off of those Moss- induced turnovers, leaving us all to wonder if USC would've pulled off a road win had Moss been a better protector of the football. It's definitely something he struggled with as the starter, throw- ing 9 picks in as many games. But he also averaged 283 passing yards per game with 18 touchdown tosses, so it wasn't all bad. Riley was just looking for a spark, and he got one in the form of Maiava. Maiava completed 25 of 35 throws for 259 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception against Ne- braska. The one interception was a pick six. Maiava considered it a "get it out of his system type of thing," just like Notre Dame quarterback Ri- ley Leonard said of his interception against Virginia in the same week. He hadn't thrown one since Week 2 until then. There isn't a shortage of options for Maiava to throw the ball to; USC had eight players with at least 17 catches through Week 12 and five with at least 30. The ringleaders in terms of volume are sophomores Makai Lemon and Zachariah Branch, with 35 and 41 catches, respectively, in 10 games, but Branch only found the end zone once in that span. Lemon had 3 touchdowns in 10 games, tied for second on the team with redshirt junior wide- out Kyron Hudson, while sophomore Ja'Kobi Lane led the team with 5. Yep. A lot of names. But nothing Notre Dame's elite group of defensive backs has not faced be- fore. The Irish took over the No. 1 spot in the nation in pass efficiency defense in completely confounding a pair of Virginia quarterbacks, which represented back-to-back weeks in which the op- position deemed it necessary to try two differ- ent signal-callers against Notre Dame in the same Redshirt senior running back Woody Marks rushed for 1,024 yards and 9 touchdowns in the Trojans' first 10 games. PHOTO COURTESY USC ATHLETICS On PaPer