I have never wanted to be wrong more than I do now. I despise USC more than any other school in the nation. A win over them would definitely make those other late season losses more forgivable. The Trojans do lack depth on defense because they still have the scholarship reductions. So by running the ball a lot, the Irish can wear them out. USC is also coming off a really bad loss to their other big rival UCLA. So they may have a bit of a "hangover." With both of those factors in mind, I still see no way Notre Dame can go into the Coliseum and get a victory.
For starters that loss to UCLA could and probably will be a motivator to USC. They will not want to lose to rivals in back to back weeks. Another motivating factor is that Notre Dame has won 3 of the last 4 and two straight in LA. There is no doubt they will want to take their house back.
I mentioned earlier that Notre Dame can commit to the run and wear this thin defense out. But I am not sure if Brian Kelly can help himself. Even with all the turnovers, Everett Golson is one of the most exciting players to watch in college football. The fast paced game is what is natural to Kelly instead of keeping that defense on the field and wearing them down.
But the most important factor why I don't see Notre Dame winning is because of USC's offense. Probably the most underrated quarterback in the country is Cody Kessler. His numbers are just sick. He is completing almost 70% of his passes. He has thrown for 3133 yards with 30 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. With those numbers he should be in the Heisman talk and why he isn't is beyond me.
Nelson Agholor is Kessler's favorite target. He has 85 catches for 1103 yards and 10 touchdowns. The Trojans also run the ball well behind a really good offensive line. Javorius Allen is the leading runner with 1244 yards and 9 touchdowns.
Just being real with all the injuries Notre Dame has had on defense and all these freshman forced into duty, how can we realistically expect them to stop this Trojan offense when they couldn't even stop Northwestern. Even before all the injuries, this defense has not had a good game since Stanford.
I feel that for Notre Dame to win this game, they almost have to score on every possession and have no turnovers. How realistic is that?
I would be happy to be eating crow Saturday night.
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