Notre Dame has played a much tougher schedule than USC through six games. The Fighting Irish have faced Ohio State, Duke, and Louisville, two of them on the road. USC’s toughest game in terms of quality of opponent: Colorado, followed closely by Arizona.
Will the Irish be helped by the fact that they have faced several tough tests? Will the Trojans be hurt by their soft start to the slate in 2023?
Fighting Irish Wire editor Nick Shepkowski said this:
“I think where it comes into play is that Notre Dame, like USC, is often an opponents Super Bowl. That was the case against Duke and against Louisville last week. I feel safe in saying USC and Notre Dame both view each other as about as big a game as will be on the schedule each and every year.”
Our view:
Less for Notre Dame, more for USC. The Trojans have won six games against mediocre-to-bad opposition. I’m not sure Notre Dame has derived a great benefit from playing ACC teams, but I know that USC hasn’t derived any benefit at all from playing the lower tier of the Pac-12 plus San Jose State and Nevada. USC should be concerned about going up against Notre Dame’s offensive and defensive lines. No, the Irish have not been impressive up front, but even then, they probably will have the best lines USC has faced to this point in the season. This could be the source of a Notre Dame win. The Irish just might be tougher than a soft USC team in the trenches.
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