New “Inside the Trojans’ Huddle” (Tuesday, Oct. 10) edition: Arizona review, Notre Dame preview, new Big Ten Lightning Round, Pac-12 predictions, and viewers’ Q&A.

Pregame      

In Tuesday’s edition of WeAreSC’s “Inside the Trojans Huddle,” panelists Marc Kulkin, Erik McKinney, Chris Arledge, and Greg Katz review the Arizona game, preview Saturday night’s Notre Dame game, a special Notre Dame/USC Big Ten Lightning Round, predict this week’s Pac-12 and national game, and give their takes to viewers’ questions in the Overtime segment of the podcast.

First Quarter

In the first quarter of the Huddle, the panel gives their overall thoughts and impressions of the unbelievable triple overtime victory over a motivated Arizona Wildcats team, which played with a second-string local quarterback. Each panelist gives their thoughts on three phases of the game, the key to the game, and again it wasn’t pretty.

Offensively, all the panelists agreed that the Trojans had early issues against the Wildcats, and there was scrutiny regarding the offensive line. Needless to say, the defense was conversation again as was special teams. If you were looking for a major rant from a man who has a way of firing up the masses, Chris Arledge doesn’t disappoint. He has reassessed his expectations for the 2023 Trojans and is at peace with reevaluation. However, he wasn’t the only one. One panelist believes that something is wrong with this team but says he can’t quite pinpoint one issue but says that the post-game Arizona press conference looked like Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams appeared tense and somewhat agitated.

Second Quarter  

In the second quarter of the Huddle, the panel previews Saturday night’s Notre Dame game in South Bend.

The panel is asked to agree or disagree on the 2 ½-point spread, placing the Trojans as underdogs. Was there panel agreement? The panel again transitions into what they will be looking for regarding the USC offense, defense, and special teams against the Irish. Despite Notre Dame’s disappointing 5-2 record, Katz says to beware of the Irish and reminds everybody that ND’s two losses were to No. 3 Ohio State on the last play of the game and to probably underrated No. 14 Louisville.

McKinney brought up the fact that rain/showers could be in the offering on Saturday, and Katz recommended that fans check out the WeAreSC.com “USC at Notre Dame Travel Guide Special edition” devoted to all things Notre Dame Weekender, which also provides weather forecasts for both Chicago and South Bend this weekend. It appears it’s going to be a wet one at various times in the Windy City and in Northern Indiana.    

Since the entire panel is headed back to South Bend for the game, the fellas are asked to describe how they will be enjoying the Notre Dame Weekender back in the Windy City, Chicago, and the big game day in South Bend on Saturday.  

Halftime

Halftime asks this question: The panel is asked to give their overall thoughts regarding the just released 2024 Big Ten schedule as it applies to the Trojans. There is one “bucket list” school on next season’s USC schedule, and it appears everybody on the panel has circled this away game. Each panelist provided their perspective on the home and away schedule, and there were predictions of Coliseum sellouts. The guys had some fun pumping up visiting Rutgers among their viewpoints.

Third Quarter

In the third quarter, the panel has a special USC/Notre Dame Big Ten Lightning Round, answering questions that pertain to the nation’s greatest intersectional rivalry.  Some of the questions revolve around their individual favorite Chicago eating establishments, the USC and Notre Dame heroes and villains and one former Irish coach who gets the award, the Navy Pier pep rally, and stats for USC quarterback Caleb Williams and Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman. McKinney provided a list of restaurants to take into consideration since he lived in the Chicago area for a period of time. Katz highly recommended one establishment that still bears the name of one of the most famous baseball announcers of all time.    

The panel bonus question: If you could return in time to watch in person any USC/Notre Dame football game, what game would you like to relive from the past to watch in person and why? There was an interesting perspective on two very specific games. Can you guess the two games the panel zeroed in on?

Fourth Quarter

Following the lighting of the WeAreSC symbolic Coliseum torch, just like the lighting of the real Coliseum torch between the third and fourth quarters at the Coli, the panel dives into the ITTH fourth quarter by predicting the winners for this weekend’s Pac-12 games. Of one prediction is the designated “National Game of the Week”, and do we need to tell you which game we’re talking about?

Overtime

In Overtime, the panel takes viewers’ questions relating to Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson, coaching opinions, player development, more Alex Grinch, Lincoln Riley Arizona post-game comments, and why is Notre Dame such a tough place to win?

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