September 23 is a huge college football Saturday with implications for USC’s season. USC should wipe the floor with Arizona State in a late-night game, but there are huge games throughout that day. As you take in the action during Week 3 — with USC not playing — one plot point to consider is that if Notre Dame beats Ohio State on September 23, that Irish-USC game on October 14 in South Bend becomes a mammoth game. Both teams would be in the top five.
We wanted to get an early look at Notre Dame-Ohio State from Fighting Irish Wire editor Nick Shepkowski:
“Take the second overall pick (quarterback), another top 10 pick (offensive lineman), and an additional two drafted offensive linemen off any team and tell me how much they simply reload,” Shepkowski told us about Ohio State. “I don’t think it’s surprising that Ohio State has started relatively slow, but that talent will come around soon enough. As for Notre Dame’s chances, the Irish have shown a secondary as talented as nearly any in the nation through the first few weeks. It’s been a long time since you could say that about a Notre Dame secondary. Overall there certainly feels to be a growing belief that this is just a ‘try and keep it close’ type of deal that would often happen under Brian Kelly. It certainly feels different roughly a week out.”
Get much more on Notre Dame-Ohio State from Fighting Irish Wire and Buckeyes Wire.
Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews for the 2023 season:
Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State