What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 38-27 loss against USC
Notre Dame’s five game winning streak was snapped on Saturday night, as the Fighting Irish (8-4) fell 38-27 lost against the USC Trojans (11-1, 8-1 Pac-12).
In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about Notre Dame’s setback against USC, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Tim Hyde giving their instant reaction in a postgame YouTube live show.
Make sure to subscribe to the Blue & Gold YouTube channel here and tune in to The Mike Goolsby Show, which will be live on the page at 7 p.m. ET Sunday.
Patrick Engel, Blue & Gold: Notre Dame strays from identity, comes up a few plays short in chance for one more statement vs. USC
LOS ANGELES – Caleb Williams turned his head as he crossed the goal line on the first play of the fourth quarter, letting Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser and the rest of the Irish defense know he was too much to handle with his words after communicating the same with his legs and right arm for the prior 45 minutes.
No. 15 Notre Dame was the USC quarterback’s latest victim, who authored a four-touchdown outing that fueled his case as the Heisman frontrunner. With every tackle Williams slipped and every sack he evaded, he made clear the Irish didn’t have much margin for error if they wanted to beat him.
Upending Williams’ Heisman campaign and USC’s playoff march didn’t seem like an impossible task, even for a Notre Dame team with an imperfect identity that’s not built to win shootouts. The five-game winning streak that ended with a 38-27 loss to No. 6 USC (11-1) Saturday showed they had a formula that was effective, and not just against ACC bottomfeeders or Mountain West teams. The Irish (8-4) were missing too many parts of it, though, in a game where it all had to be there.
“You really want to see how you compare against a team on Saturday when you’re playing at your best,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said. “We didn’t play at our best.”
The Irish’s best involves a strong ground game, which was nonexistent in the first half and awoke only when Notre Dame went into catch-up mode. They averaged 3.07 yards per non-sack carry in the first half and rushed for 106 yards, excluding sacks. Combine that with USC’s ground production (204 yards, 5.2 yards per carry), and it’s enough to create a 10-minute gap in time of possession. The Irish are 7-0 when they win the possession battle and 1-4 when they lose it.
Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: Grading Notre Dame football in Irish loss to USC
Notre Dame Passing Offense: A
Who had Notre Dame junior quarterback Drew Pyne throwing for more passing yards than Heisman Trophy favorite Caleb Williams of USC? Pyne: 318. Williams: 232. Pyne also had fewer incomplete passes. Pyne: 3. Williams: 4.
It’s not like Pyne outplayed Williams by any means, though. Williams accounted for more total touchdowns, 4 to 3, and did not turn the ball over. Pyne did twice. But Notre Dame would take 318 passing yards with 3 aerial scores from Pyne every single Saturday.
Pyne’s lone interception was costly. It led to a Williams score that put USC ahead 38-21 with 2:35 left. Pyne also missed a wide-open read early in the game and put the ball on the ground for a lost fumble on what was supposed to be an RPO toss into the flat. USC scored a touchdown after that giveaway, too.
But to pin the loss on Pyne would be irresponsible. He completed passes to 7 different targets. He got junior tight end Michael Mayer loose for 8 catches, 98 yards and 2 TDs. He played an overall incredibly impressive game.
Mike Berardino, ND Insider: Notre Dame-USC rivalry offers modern referendum on the proper approach to the transfer portal
SOUTH BEND — No program restocked more aggressively through the transfer portal last offseason than USC.
The sixth-ranked Trojans, 10-1 as they face No. 15 Notre Dame on Saturday night in Los Angeles, found a whopping 20 new players via that avenue after hiring coach Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma.
That includes the former Sooners combo of sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Mario Williams, along with Biletnikoff Award-winning receiver Jordan Addison (Pittsburgh), running backs Travis Dye (Oregon) and Austin Jones (Stanford) and numerous other starters and key reserves.
Dye is out for the season after suffering a serious leg injury two weeks ago, but nearly half of the Trojans’ two-deep roster — 10 on offense, nine on defense — was procured via the quick-fix of the transfer portal.
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Pete Sampson, The Athletic: Notre Dame can’t meet marquee moment at USC, leaving lessons for Marcus Freeman
LOS ANGELES — Marcus Freeman wanted no part of the postgame scene inside the Coliseum, taking a straight line from his on-field handshake with USC coach Lincoln Riley to the tunnel that led toward Notre Dame’s locker room.
Freeman had just watched the momentum Notre Dame had created in the first few weeks of November nullified by Caleb Williams, the latest USC quarterback to stake his claim to the Heisman Trophy by putting an Irish defense to the sword. Freeman didn’t need to see Riley mingling with recruits in the end zone, didn’t need to see Notre Dame’s players seek out Williams after the game before USC’s quarterback got hugs from his school’s president and athletic director. And while it’s too reductive to say USC has a transcendent talent at quarterback and Notre Dame does not, there was nothing about the scene following USC’s 38-27 victory over the Irish that would have changed Freeman’s opinions.
“You really want to see how you compare against a team like that when you’re playing at your best,” Freeman said. “We didn’t play our best.”
