Know Your Notre Dame Football Enemy: USC Preview
The annual Notre Dame football tilt with USC looks good for the Irish on paper in 2019, but all bets are off in rivalry games.
It’s been funny to watch USC lately. They caused me plenty of pain during the Pete Carroll years. They caused plenty of older fans pain in the 1970s and beyond. That’s why it feels so good to dominate them like Notre Dame football did in the 1980s and early 1990s. That’s why it feels so good to watch them miss a bowl game.
USC is coming off of a losing season. Their fans want to get rid of coach Clay Helton. They lost recruits once Kliff Kingsbury backed out of being their offensive coordinator. Notre Dame has beaten USC twice in a row. Times are good now.
Instead of Kingsbury, USC now has Graham Harrell at offensive coordinator. Harrell, previously at North Texas, had the Mean Green offense humming under quarterback Mason Fine. North Texas was 27th in points scored last season, scoring 34.6 points per game. USC would love to see an offense like that in 2019.
Harrell’s offense comes from the Air Raid system, just like Kingsbury’s. Harrell has coached under Mike Leach and used to play quarterback. The difference is that Harrell brings more variety to the Air Raid than it typically comes with. Usually the Air Raid runs a handful of routes off of one another. Harrell runs the ball more, and shows a greater variety of routes.
This will be good for USC’s offense, as they have the talent to make everyone on offense a threat. The question will be whether or not they have a quarterback ready to step up and deliver the ball where it needs to go.
The situation isn’t good — all things considered — for JT Daniels. It’s difficult to learn a bunch of new systems with new language. Preferably, there’d be continuity for a young quarterback. This turnover will slow his development. Luckily for Daniels, USC returns three talented wide receivers. Two of those receivers were starters for the entire 2018 season.
Other than that, only two regular starters on the offensive line return.
Of course USC is always loading up on talented recruits, but there is still a lot of inexperience and youth that will be on the field for the Trojans.
Unlike the offense, there is continuity at defensive coordinator, as Clancy Pendergast returns. That being said, USC regressed and played below their talent level on defense as well. USC ranked 60th in total defense, allowing 388 yards per game. That was good for 27 points allowed per game.
In other words, USC had an average defense that should have been great on paper.
That defense returns twelve players who started at some point in 2018, but only four who were regular starters. Those four are all in the front seven. That should help the Trojans stay strong against the run and pressure opposing quarterbacks.
On the other hand — the secondary — which was weak last season, returns almost no one. They’re going to be young and vulnerable through the air. Ian Book should be attacking their corners on deep shots all game long.
Notre Dame is vulnerable if Clay Helton starts to get the most out of the talent on his roster. He hasn’t succeeded in that yet, but it’s hard to keep failing with so many blue chip players coming through. If the Irish offensive linemen succeed, than there probably won’t be any issues. Replacing Julian Love in the secondary to keep up with Graham Harrell’s offense will also be important.
Prediction: Notre Dame 31, USC 27
USC is still trying to mesh as a cohesive unit. Notre Dame has found out how to play together. By this point in the season, Notre Dame should have found all their replacements that were question marks at the beginning of the year. In the end, Ian Book can do what JT Daniels isn’t ready to do — lead a game winning touchdown drive.