Saturday is a huge day for the Notre Dame football team as they go against the 6th ranked USC Trojans. The Trojans have beaten the Irish seven years straight, and since the “Bush Push” the Trojans have won easily every time.
Still the Irish players believe they can beat the Trojans.
A win against the Trojans would elevate not only the Notre Dame coaches and players, but all their fans as well. The Irish have a stellar offense, but they haven’t seen a defense as good as the Trojans.
It will be a tough challenge, but one that means a lot to both teams.
Here are the particulars for Saturday’s game:
#6 USC at #25 Notre Dame
- USC-Notre Dame Date: Saturday, October 17th
- USC-Notre Dame Kickoff Time: 3:30 ET
- USC-Notre Dame TV: NBC
- USC-Notre Dame Spread: USC -10.5
- USC-Notre Dame Spread by KVB: Notre Dame +10.5
- StubHub: USC-Notre Dame tickets
as low as $25!
Both teams have to prove to the nation that they are championship material. USC is still a great team, but there has been some doubt whether this team is really as good as their 6th ranking shows. One thing the teams have in common is that they both are seconds away from being undefeated, but also seconds away from having a couple more losses than they do.
Notre Dame is still the underdog, mainly due to their lackluster defense, but they have a fighting chance if their offense continues to excel. The Irish are ranked 10th in offense but 100th is defense. Those numbers clearly show both the weakness and strength of the team. Their whole game relies on the offense playing well and basically winning the game for them.
Jimmy Clausen’s Heisman also rely on the this game. Â A win over the Trojans would have more and more people looking at the young gun as a legit candidate. Clausen puts up the numbers, but you also need to put up the wins to be considered for the Heisman.
The USC are coming off a dominant 30-3 win over California. The Trojans’ offense is ranked 21th, but their 6th ranked defense is the dominant force and the reason why they are a favorite. USC isn’t the same dominant team they were a few years ago with Leinart and Bush, but give them a few years and they could very well be again.
This Saturday’s match up should be an interesting one to watch. We could see a a huge Irish upset which will make it all the more worthwhile to watch it.
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* – Jimmy Clausen / Charlie Weis photo credit: Darron Cummings / AP file via NBC Sports
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