Instant analysis of USC win over Notre Dame: Austin Jones, 3rd downs are huge keys

With help from @IrishWireND, we present a tag-team edition of big-game takeaways after #USC beat #NotreDame, 38-27.

The simplest analysis of USC’s win over Notre Dame is that the Trojans have Caleb Williams and the Irish did not, but there are obviously more components to this story.

Before the game, it was uncertain if USC was going to meet the physical challenge presented by Notre Dame. Playing Arizona, Cal, Colorado, and even a tissue-soft UCLA defense offered no real preparation for facing Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish defense. Notre Dame is definitely a few notches better on defense than USC’s recent 2022 opponents.

The last really good defense USC faced: Washington State on Oct. 8. Before that: Oregon State on Sept. 24. Those are the two really solid defenses on USC’s 2022 schedule. Utah has a defense-first reputation but has not played great on defense this year — not against good offenses with fully healthy quarterbacks. (Oregon’s Bo Nix was nowhere close to 100% for last week’s game versus the Utes.)

USC’s offense wasn’t perfect against Notre Dame’s defense, but the offensive line fundamentally met the challenge against the Irish’s front four. Caleb Williams did the rest, avoiding sacks other QBs would not have avoided.

Let’s analyze this game with help from our friends at Fighting Irish Wire: