Instant Reaction | Notre Dame 48 USC 20
Notre Dame-USC means a lot to a lot of people.
It means something to all of the alums who have experienced hard fought victories and bitter defeats. When both programs are good, it means even more than that. It could have national championship implications.
This one didn’t have that, but the stakes were still very high. They were especially high for Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame coaching staff. It comes with the territory after the kind of loss they had last week against Louisville.
Freeman proved again that he can pick his team up off the mat when they are down. With their backs against the wall, the Irish came out and beat USC in a way that not many saw coming. They humbled the Trojans and exposed all of their flaws in a way that no one had previously done during Lincoln Riley’s previous 20 games as their head coach.
It was the kind of performance that Notre Dame so badly needed and shined a light on what the Irish can do the rest of this season.
- I probably need more time to compare what the defense did to other great games from previous Notre Dame defenses, but given the quality of the offense they were facing, I’m hard pressed to think of a better one in recent memory.
Al Golden’s defense gave up the lowest yards per play of any Lincoln Riley offense at USC or Oklahoma. With the reigning Heisman winner and a bevy of playmakers at the skill positions, Notre Dame’s defense dominated them for most of the night.
They had one big run, the touchdown to Marshawn Lloyd when they out leveraged the Irish on a speed option for 31-yards and a touchdown. His seven other carries went for 15-yards.
The longest pass play of the day was 21-yards. They had one more 20-yarder and that’s it.
Caleb Williams tried to be Houdini, but Notre Dame’s pass rush put him in a straight jacket and rarely allowed him to wriggle free from it. He threw only five interceptions all of last season. The three today were more than he’s had in any single game in his entire college career.
Notre Dame’s defense is better than really good. The job Golden and the other staff members did for this game was phenomenal. Williams completed over 60% of his passes and only averaged 5.4 yards per attempt.
They won up front. They won on the back end. They won this football game for Notre Dame.
- The game Xavier Watts had cannot go unmentioned and it’s up there with one of the best single game performances from an Irish defender.
Six solo tackles, two interceptions, one pass breakup, one forced fumble, and a scoop and score touchdown is just plain ridiculous. He contributed four havoc plays on all on his own and led the way to a ridiculous 28.3% havoc rate for Notre Dame.
Three scores for the Irish happened directly because of him.
- I know there wasn’t a single Notre Dame fan who watched this game who wasn’t a bit worried about the offense not doing much for a good chunk of the night.
They only ran 29 plays through 2 and ½ quarters and USC had cut the lead to 11 when they desperately needed to put together a drive after two straight three-and-outs to start the second half.
The best thing you can say about the offense is that they finally delivered when the defense needed them to. They converted in the red zone after those turnovers in the first half and they did come up with that touchdown drive to put them back up 18. It was capped off by a 46-yard touchdown to Chris Tyree where Sam Hartman made the big throw at the right time.
Having only two explosive plays against a USC defense that has handed them out like candy all season is at least a bit concerning. It would be foolish not to acknowledge that. But they got the one to Tyree at the right time and hit the one to Rico Flores on a sudden change after Benjamin Morrison’s interception. That was enough on this night.
They need to get healthy at wide receiver, still tweak some things in the run game, and get Sam Hartman his mojo back. At least now they have the bye week to get back to the drawing board.
- Notre Dame did not give up a sack in this game to a USC defense that came in averaging over three a game. They have yet to give up a sack at home all season. The road games for the offensive line are a work in progress to say the least, but they won the line of scrimmage at home.
- Zachariah Branch did get his one big return, but the coverage on him was very good outside of that. Even on that play, sometimes a special athlete is just a special athlete. I guess you could say the same thing for JD Price.
What a moment for him. It’s great to see young players like him, Boubacar Traore, Jaylen Sneed, and Jordan Faison all have big moments in games as big as this.
- Woo, I don’t know about you, but those first eight games were exhausting.
Now imagine playing and coaching those weeks.
They have to be physically and mentally drained. They get a much needed break with a bye week that took too long to arrive. Hopefully it can rejuvenate them for the final ⅓ of the regular season.
With some players getting healthy and everyone being able to recharge their batteries, there should be a new sense of optimism the rest of the way for everyone involved. This kind of win certainly doesn’t hurt the vibes in recruiting either. A loss could have meant that they’d be fighting to keep players in the 2024 class. A win could lead to them looking to add more in 2024 and 2025.
Beating USC always means a bit more than winning any other game each season for Notre Dame. Given the circumstances coming into tonight, there might be less than a handful of more significant wins for the Irish in the last five years.
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