Notre Dame Football: Key Defensive Matchups vs. USC

One game remains for Notre Dame football on the regular season slate, and the defense will look to dominate the program’s biggest rival in their own backyard.

Notre Dame football wraps up its regular season schedule on Saturday night in Los Angeles hoping to finish undefeated for the first time since 2012. That season also finished with a road victory over their arch rival, the USC Trojans. The Irish are coming off a dominating defensive performance against (then ranked No. 12) Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. The defensive accumulated 3 interceptions, 6 sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Syracuse came in with one of the best offenses in the country, but the Irish held them to a measly 3 points.

Looking forward to Saturday, the defense will be presented with another tough test. USC is having a down year with only 5 wins and coming off a loss to their other big rival, UCLA. However, USC has as much talent as anyone on Notre Dame’s schedule, especially at the skill positions. Oh, and it just so happens to be their biggest rival with a long history of ruining tremendous seasons. We won’t get into 1938 or 1964 or 1970 or 1980. For some of you, it simply brings back bad memories. Shout out to those of you who remember 1938 though!

This specific USC team, however, shouldn’t compete with Notre Dame. They are poorly coached, have dealt with a boatload of injuries and don’t have a lot of fight left. With that said, don’t discount the talent remaining on this Trojan roster. Plenty of players could provide fits for the Irish defense on Saturday night. Let’s take a look at the key defensive matchups for this weekend.