Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: USC pecially in situations where he has a receiver one on one with a defensive back. "They really wanted him to pull the trigger [on those]. He has done that as of late." Despite the robust numbers, he has not received much national attention or consideration for an invite to the Heisman Trophy festivities. "[Former USC quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner] Matt Lein- art told one of our reporters the way you solve that is by winning more games," Klein said. "With three losses, I think that's just something that kind of keeps him from being mentioned with some of the other guys that are in the Heisman discus- sion." Much of Kessler 's success has also coincided with the development of junior wide receiver Nelson Agholor and the arrival of freshman wide re- ceiver JuJu Smith, two players with whom the Irish were heavily in- volved during the recruiting process. "Agholor has kind of taken the man- tle of the No. 1 receiver that Robert Woods had a few years ago when Ag- holor was a freshman, and then when Agholor was a sophomore Marqise Lee was the guy," Klein said. "Agholor has stepped up, especially as of late." Agholor has already topped the 1,000-yard mark this season to go along with 10 touchdowns. Smith has added 42 grabs for 531 yards and five touchdowns to complement Agholor. It's enough offensive firepower to be reminded of the mid-2000s Trojans, when Sarkisian roamed the sidelines in a different role for the program. Then, USC dominated the series. Now, it ap- pears to be shifting in Notre Dame's direction after consecutive wins at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Then again, sometimes numbers are overrated. ✦ 2014 USC SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 30 Fresno State W, 52-13 Sept. 6 at Stanford W, 13-10 Sept. 13 at Boston College L, 37-31 Sept. 27 Oregon State W, 35-10 Oct. 4 Arizona State L, 38-34 Oct. 11 at Arizona W, 28-26 Oct. 18 Colorado W, 56-28 Oct. 5 at Utah L, 24-21 Nov. 1 at Washington State W, 44-17 Nov. 13 California W, 38-30 Nov. 22 at UCLA L, 38-20 Nov. 29 Notre Dame (FOX) 3:30 p.m. 2014 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 30 Rice W, 48-17 Sept. 6 Michigan W, 31-0 Sept. 13 vs. Purdue* W, 30-14 Sept. 27 vs. Syracuse^ W, 31-15 Oct. 4 Stanford W, 17-14 Oct. 11 North Carolina W, 50-43 Oct. 18 at Florida State L, 31-27 Nov. 1 vs. Navy+ W, 49-39 Nov. 8 at Arizona State L, 55-31 Nov. 15 Northwestern L, 43-40 (OT) Nov. 22 Louisville L, 31-28 Nov. 29 at USC (FOX) 3:30 p.m. * at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; ^ at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; + at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.