Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/584460
GAME PREVIEW: USC Swanson said. "I think they are very good if you look position by position. There are several big‑name recruits and older, veteran guys. "So the unit as a whole looks very good. But there have been some strug‑ gles this year, like in the opener against Arkansas State they gave up five sacks. It seems like that's gotten a lot better. Arizona State brought all sorts of pres‑ sure, but they couldn't get to [Kessler]. In terms of running it, there's been struggles as well, mixed in with good games." Junior linebacker Su'a Cravens an‑ chors the Trojans defensively. The 6‑1, 225‑pounder plays a varied role in defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox's scheme, including starting his career as a safety before making the switch to strongside linebacker in the 3‑4 align‑ ment. Cravens finished with 68 tackles (17 for loss) and a team‑high three inter‑ ceptions en route to earning third‑team AP All‑America honors as a junior. "They have him do some different things," Swanson said. "He might tech‑ nically be that 3‑4 Sam linebacker, but they might line him up at that safety spot in a certain package. He's just a versatile kind of guy. "He's dominant. He's that rare type of player that you really feel like you can play him at a few different spots, and he'd be able to excel. He's just that good." The cornerback position is stacked with talent, starting with Adoree' Jack‑ son, who picked up 2014 Pac‑12 Defen‑ sive Freshman of the Year honors last season. Jackson is an all‑around threat for the Trojans, posting 11 tackles as a lock‑down corner, snagging 10 catches for 196 yards and one touchdown as a receiver, and also serving as a dangerous return man (23.0 yards per kick return and 10.2 yards per punt return). Jackson is USC's first three‑way player in nearly 20 years and has been compared to Michigan's Charles Wood‑ son — the 1997 Heisman Trophy win‑ 2015 USC SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 Arkansas State W, 55-6 Sept. 12 Idaho W, 59-9 Sept. 19 Stanford L, 41-31 Sept. 26 at Arizona State W, 42-14 Oct. 8 Washington L, 17-12 Oct. 17 at Notre Dame (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24 Utah TBA Oct. 31 at California TBA Nov. 7 Arizona TBA Nov. 13 at Colorado (ESPN2) 9 p.m. Nov. 21 at Oregon TBA Nov. 28 UCLA TBA 2015 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 Texas W, 38-3 Sept. 12 at Virginia W, 34-27 Sept. 19 Georgia Tech W, 30-22 Sept. 26 Massachusetts W, 62-27 Oct. 3 at Clemson L, 24-22 Oct. 10 Navy (NBC) W, 41-24 Oct. 17 USC (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31 at Temple TBA Nov. 7 at Pittsburgh TBA Nov. 14 Wake Forest (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 21 vs. Boston College (NBC)# 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Stanford TBA # Shamrock Series at Fenway Park in Boston