Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 18, 2025 37 GAME PREVIEW: SOUTHERN CAL In a departure from recent Notre Dame seasons in which the Irish had a third wheel so to speak, Love and Price are pretty much all they've got — and all they need — this season. The third-leading rusher through five games was true freshman No- lan James Jr. with 33 yards on 8 reps when games had already been decided late in fourth quarters. CJ Carr will provide one or two improvisational plays per game, but that's about it. It's not like Notre Dame needs anything from anyone else to supplement what Love and Price are capable of, though. Every time they touch the ball, it's warranted. And every time they touch the ball, Southern Cal — who allowed Georgia South- ern to pile up 142 rushing yards and Illinois to go for 171 — should be scared. The Irish should be able to punch the Trojans in the face in this phase of the game. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. SOUTHERN CAL PASS DEFENSE This is the first true definitive strength vs. de- finitive weakness matchup we've gotten to in this game. Through Week 6, Notre Dame ranked tied for fifth in the country in passing yards per attempt at 10.3, thanks to CJ Carr. In the inverse of that sta- tistic, Southern Cal ranked tied for 99th nationally in yards per attempt allowed at 7.7. After giving up 159 passing yards in the season opener versus Missouri State, the Trojans allowed each of their next four opponents to pass for at least 225. Purdue passed for 305, two yards more than what the Boilermakers put up through the air against Notre Dame one week later. And re- member, at that time, the sky was falling on the Notre Dame defense. It's gotten better since then for the Irish. For the Trojans? Not so much. They surrendered 331 aerial yards in their loss to Illinois Sept. 27. Carr should be able to have a field day against this Southern Cal defense. He's one of the most efficient and effective quarterbacks in the country. The Trojans have had serious problems against signal-callers who know where they want to go with the ball and are accurate enough to get it there. There's that, in addition to the many weap- ons Notre Dame has to throw at the opposition. This is not a Trojans secondary equipped to handle the likes of Malachi Fields and Jordan Faison — and whoever else Notre Dame decides to get in- volved in the game plan. He's got a lot of options to choose from, meaning Carr has a lot of options to sift through on any given play. That's a nightmare for Southern Cal. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS You think Notre Dame went through a spell of never punting the football? There's that, then there's Southern Cal. The Trojans averaged exactly one punt in their first five games. Notre Dame was at 1.8. So, the odds of this coming down to a punting battle are slim to none. Or, you can look at it this way; if you do have to punt, you better make sure it's a good one. Both teams' punters are around 45-yards-per-boot type of guys, so who- ever can pull off some mastery if given the chance could be a difference maker in the game. Southern Cal has a kicker, meanwhile, who made 8 of his first 9 field goal attempts of the season and all 28 of his first extra point tries. It's worth noting none of those field goals were attempted beyond 49 yards. Ryon Sayeri's long was a make from 48. Notre Dame endured a rocky kicking situation to start the season, but if North Carolina transfer Noah Burnette is over his hip injury, then the Irish's situation should be at least a little stabilized. He made his first 3 field goals of the season and all 13 of his extra point attempts before being hampered by the hip issue. Both teams have capable return men, but Notre Dame is the only team in the matchup that has someone who returned a kick for a touchdown through Week 6 of the season. So, Price, you're the tiebreaker. This section goes the way of the home team. Advantage: Notre Dame COACHING Since taking Southern Cal to South Bend with a 6-0 record in 2023, Lincoln Riley has posted a record of 13-12 as of Week 6 of this season. He just isn't winning at the same clip that made his Oklahoma teams perennial College Football Playoff contenders. From 2017-22, excluding the 2020 CO- VID season, Riley had double-digit winning seasons in each of those campaigns. And even in the COVID year, his Sooners went 9-2. Then it was eight wins OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 8 Ja'Kobi Lane 6-4 200 Jr. 15 Jaden Richardson 6-1 205 R-Sr. WR 6 Makai Lemon 5-11 195 Jr. 9 Jay Fair 5-10 190 Sr. WR 16 Tanook Hines 6-0 195 Fr. 19 DJ Jordan 6-0 175 R-Fr. LT 72 Elijah Paige 6-7 325 R-So. 74 Justin Tauanuu 6-6 315 R-Fr. LG 73 Tobias Raymond 6-6 315 R-So. 59 Micah Banuelos 6-2 310 R-So. C 67 Kilian O'Connor 6-1 295 R-Jr. 50 J'Onre Reed 6-3 320 R-Sr. RG 77 Alani Noa 6-3 315 Jr. 60 Kaylon Miller 6-0 290 R-Fr. RT 74 Justin Tauanuu 6-6 315 R-Fr. 79 Elijah Vaikona 6-8 385 Fr. TE 87 Lake McRee 6-4 250 R-Sr. 85 Walker Lyons 6-4 245 So. QB 14 Jayden Maiava 6-4 230 R-Jr. 4 Husan Longstreet 6-0 200 Fr. RB 2 Waymond Jordan 5-10 210 Jr. 1 Eli Sanders 5-10 200 R-Sr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. DE 1 Kameryn Crawford 6-5 265 So. 10 Braylan Shelby 6-5 265 Jr. DT 8 Devan Thompkins 6-5 290 R-Jr. 9 Keeshawn Silver 6-4 330 R-Sr. DT 97 Jide Abasiri 6-5 295 So. 4 Jahkeem Stewart 6-5 290 Fr. DE 6 Anthony Lucas 6-5 285 Sr. 8 Devan Thompkins 6-5 290 R-Jr. or 39 Garrett Pomerantz 6-2 225 R-Jr. MIKE 23 Desman Stephens II 6-3 235 So. 31 Jadyn Walker 6-2 235 R-Fr. WILL 14 Ta'Mere Robinson 6-3 230 R-So. or 26 Elijah Newby 6-3 235 R-Fr. SAM 18 Eric Gentry 6-6 225 R-Sr. 15 Anthony Beavers Jr. 6-1 230 R-Sr. or 44 Matai Tagoa'i 6-4 205 Fr. CB 25 Marcelles Williams 5-11 185 R-Fr. 2 DJ Harvey 5-10 190 R-Sr. S 7 Kamari Ramsey 6-0 205 R-Jr. 24 Christian Pierce 6-1 205 Jr. S 19 Bishop Fitzgerald 5-11 205 R-Sr. 28 Kennedy Urlacher 5-11 195 So. CB 17 DeCarlos Nicholson 6-3 200 R-Sr. 22 Braylon Conley 6-0 190 R-Fr. SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PK 48 Ryon Sayeri 5-11 180 R-Fr. 93 William Weisberg 6-2 190 Fr. KO 48 Ryon Sayeri 5-11 180 R-Fr. 93 William Weisberg 6-2 190 Fr. P 80 Sam Johnson 6-3 225 R-Sr. 48 Ryon Sayeri 5-11 180 R-Fr. LS 31 Hank Pepper 6-1 215 R-Sr. 47 Devin McDonough 6-2 230 R-Jr. H 80 Sam Johnson 6-3 225 R-Sr. 48 Ryon Sayeri 5-11 180 R-Fr. PR 6 Makai Lemon 5-11 195 Jr. 0 Zacharyus Williams 6-2 195 So. KR 6 Makai Lemon 5-11 195 Jr. 1 Eli Sanders 5-10 200 R-Sr. SOUTHERN CAL TROJANS TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART