Notre Dame Can Only Hope to Contain USC QB Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams produced a Heisman-worthy performance in the regular-season finale against Notre Dame last fall. 

In a 38-27 win, he went 18-22 for 232 yards and a score, but his true magic came from his legs. The 6-foot-1 quarterback forced four missed tackles in the contest as he spun away from game-changing sacks and found open receivers down the field or wisely threw the ball away. 

Oh, and he also rushed for 35 yards and three more touchdowns. 

A week later, he came up lame in the PAC-12 Championship Game against Utah. Williams was sacked seven times in the 47-24 loss, but even a blowout defeat couldn’t diminish his perception, and he ran away with Heisman Trophy voting. 

Believe it or not, he’s been even better in 2023. 

Through six games, Williams has connected on 71.7% of passes for 1,822 yards and 11.0 yards per attempt. His 28 total touchdown passes lead the nation, and he’s thrown just one interception this season. 

He’s responsible for 170 of the 262 non-kicking points (extra points or field goals) the Trojans have scored this year. USC leads the nation with 51.8 points per game because of him. 

”He’s one of those guys who is as good as advertised,” coach Marcus Freeman said. “There’s a reason he’s the (reigning) Heisman Trophy winner. He is very elite with arm talent, with decision-making, with the ability to extend plays. He is a well-rounded very talented football player. Our defense will have its work cut out for them.”

Of course, there’s a caveat to all this. Notre Dame would also be 6-0 against the front half of USC’s schedule and likely also scoring at least 45 points per game. The Trojans have faced one team with a winning record (4-2 Colorado), and their opponents are a combined 10-24 on the season.

The defenses Williams has seen align with what you’d expect from such a weak slate of adversaries. 

Week in and week out, the Trojans have faced some of the worst pass-efficiency defenses that rank that the Football Bowl Subdivision has to offer.

*Parenthetical information denotes statistical ranking out of 133 FBS programs. 

The Irish rank fourth in pass efficiency defense while forcing opposing quarterbacks to connect on 50% of passes (T-1st) for 146.6 yards per game (3rd) and four touchdowns (9th).

With that said, there’s no way to actually stop Williams (unless it's an injury, which no one should want to see for the likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft), but the Irish sure need to do a better job of containing him. 

Notre Dame pressured him 17 times on 22 throws last fall but only came away with two sacks as Williams got out of the pocket and then rarely had to look very far down the field, with 13 of his 18 completions traveling 10 yards or fewer.

“He can create on the run,” defensive coordinator Al Golden said, “and every play, it's a two-part series. If you let him extend, he'll extend.”

That means the front seven must rush with relentless effort. 

Sophomore Vyper Josh Burnham watched the game from the sidelines last fall and saw backside defenders and those away from the play jog or take the snap off.

“It helped us understand what we need to get done in the game to have some success,” Golden said.

If that happens again, the Irish are likely looking at another double-digit loss. 

“Understand the play is never over with Caleb Williams,” Freeman said. “You have to continuously play through the whistle. The minute you think he’s running one way, you have to be alert because he can turn around and run the other.

“We can’t play prevent defense. I told those guys we have to be aggressive, but we have to understand the rush lanes that we’re rushing in and understand some of his escape routes. That’s something we’ve been working on.” 

The Irish have done their best to simulate what they’ll see from Williams with quarterback Kenny Minchey. 

The true freshman may not possess William’s athleticism, but he navigates the pocket well, and he can make just about every throw on the field. 

“I was going to look for Minchey after this and just tell him ‘thank you,’” Freeman said. “(He) did a great job today. He's got arm talent. He's moving around back there. He's trying to extend plays for us, and he made it challenging, and we'll learn a lot today because of it.” 

But will it be enough of a learning experience for young Notre Dame defensive linemen like Burham and Junior Tuihalamaka to play with the requisite situational awareness?

We’ll see.

The same goes for explosive linebacker Jaylen Sneed, who Notre Dame likes to use to rush the passer on third down.

The Irish will need to get as much talent on the field as they can on Saturday. 

“Do I think he can help us in passing situations? Absolutely,” Freeman said. “We have to understand and control our rush this week. You can’t end up behind the quarterback because he’ll extend plays and expose you as he did last year at times. We have to be really disciplined this week.”

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Vintage Logo T-Shirt