Blue and Gold Illustrated

GAME PREVIEW: USC • An awful performance during a 35‑17 loss to Navy during head coach Brian Kelly's first season in 2010 con‑ tinued the next week with a stunning 28‑27 setback at home to Conference USA member Tulsa, which was slot‑ ted as one of the "automatic wins" on the schedule. • Notre Dame crushed Navy in 2011, 56‑14, but the next week it had all it could handle at Wake Forest be‑ fore prevailing 24‑17. The Irish trailed 17‑10 at halftime before 14 third‑quar‑ ter points led to the win. • After another blowout of the Mid‑ shipmen to open the 2012 season, 50‑10, the Irish needed a field goal from Kyle Brindza with seven seconds remaining to record a 20‑17 conquest of Purdue at home. • In 2013, a 38‑34 escape at home against Navy wasn't enough of a wake‑up call to prevent a 28‑21 loss at Pitt the next week, thereby eliminating the Irish from BCS contention. • Last year, a hard‑fought 49‑39 win versus Navy preceded a horrible start at Arizona State the next week in which the Sun Devils roared to a 34‑3 lead en route to a 55‑31 triumph. Kelly said prior to that Arizona State contest that he didn't really put too much thought into why Notre Dame seems to struggle so much the week after playing the Midshipmen. "Maybe I should," he said of the Navy hangover. "I don't know why there would be. There shouldn't be. Navy is a very good opponent, but there shouldn't be any carryover. We should be able to play consistently the next week." More than ever it will need to, be‑ cause the 2015 USC Trojans present a more formidable challenge than any of the previous week‑after Navy foes Notre Dame has gone 2‑6 against the past eight years. AIR DEFENSE NEEDED During last year 's 49‑14 drubbing of Notre Dame, USC fifth‑year senior quarterback Cody Kessler put forth a passing clinic that ranked among the best ever against a Notre Dame team. While tossing an opponent‑record six touchdowns against the Irish, Kes‑ sler shredded the Irish defense by completing 32 of 40 passes (80.0 per‑ cent) for 372 yards. It highlighted a campaign in which he set USC single‑season records for completions (315), completion per‑ centage (69.7, third nationally), pass‑ ing efficiency (167.1, fourth nation‑ ally), touchdown passes (39, also fourth nationally), 300‑yard passing games (seven) and interception rate (1.11 percent). Although Kessler lost two of his top targets from that Notre Dame game in Nelson Agholor and George Farmer, plenty of firepower remains, headlined by sophomore JuJu Smith‑ Schuster, whose 33 catches averaged 18.8 yards through the first five games. Sophomore cornerback Adoree Jack‑ son also moonlights on offense, where his 10 catches averaged 19.6 yards. Guess what happened to be Notre Dame's Achilles' heel through the first half of this season? "We've got to get continuously better and better at the cornerback position,"

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