Notre Dame Football: Five Problematic USC Trojans

The Trojans travel to South Bend as Notre Dame looks to retain the Jeweled Shillelagh.

USC’s 2019 has been an interesting one. They’re littered with injuries, have played three different quarterbacks and have wins over Fresno State, Stanford and Utah, but lost to BYU and Washington. Oh, and their coach is constantly on the hot seat. And now they face Notre Dame.

Needless to say, it’s been yet another disappointing season. At 3-2, USC has lost both of their road games. This isn’t just a 2019 problem. In fact, they’ve only won two road games over their last 8 dating back to the start of last season. Those two wins game against Arizona and Oregon State, who combined for 7 wins. A trip to South Bend doesn’t look good for ending that streak.

Let’s face it: even with everything that’s gone on in Los Angeles, they’re still USC. There’s still elite athletes everywhere and can still threaten everyone they play.

In order for USC to pull the upset and essentially eliminate the Irish from the playoff, these guys are going to have to have huge games for the Trojans.

Kedon Slovis, QB

Slovis is one of three quarterbacks that USC has used this year. He’s only a freshman, but in his two of his three starts (he was injured in the third start after just two passes) he certainly didn’t look like one.

The former 3-star recruit came into the game against Fresno State in relief of J.T. Daniels and completed six of 8 passes. In his first start, a win against Stanford, Slovis went 28 of 33 for 377 yards and two touchdowns. He’s completing 77.9 percent of his passes on the year, but is prone to interceptions. A clean game from Slovis could lead to big things from the USC offense.

Michael Pittman Jr, WR

In an air raid offense, good receivers are essential to a powerful offense and USC has no shortage of those. The leader of that group is Pittman, a 6’4″, 220 pound senior that is sure to be an NFL draft pick next season. Pittman has 105 catches with 12 touchdowns in his career.

This season, he leads the team with 35 receptions — which is 16th in the nation. He also has 501 receiving yards, good for 15th in the country. Last year, Pittman had 7 catches for 91 yards against the Irish, one of his best games of the season. Notre Dame will need to do more to slow him down this weekend.

Tyler Vaughns, WR

Another elder statesmen at USC, Vaughns is a redshirt junior who is not only as close to a sure thing as you can get, but also already one of the most productive Trojan receivers in history. Vaughns’ 146 catches already rank 15th in USC’s all time receptions category. If he keeps up his pace of 6 catches per game for the rest of the season, he’ll pass Trojan legends like Keyshawn Johnson and Steve Smith for 9th on the all-time list.

In 2019, the 6’2″, 190 pound Vaughns has 31 catches for 414 yards and two touchdowns on the year. He’s not really a deep threat as much as he is good for the short pass, but Vaughns can still hurt you. If the Irish defensive line can get to Slovis often, Vaughns will play a huge role in the game.

Drake Jackson, DE

Jackson is another impressive Trojan freshman. He’s seen the field early and often, already securing a starting spot at defensive end. A four-star prospect and the No. 56 ranked recruit nationally, Jackson benefitted big time from enrolling at USC early in Spring. The product of Corona, California primarily had offers on the West coast (9 of his 11 offers) and big programs such as Nebraska, Oregon and Washington were all interested.

Jackson has already proven why he is so highly thought of, ranking 6th on the team in tackles and leading the Trojans in sacks with 3 and tackles for loss with 5.5. He already has real good size for a freshman at 6’4″, 275 pounds. Jackson will be a handful for the Irish offensive line.

John Houston Jr, LB

A redshirt senior, Houston is the team’s leading tackler and well on his way to surpassing his career high in that category already. To give you an idea how important he is, he’s taken over the leadership at linebacker from now-Minnesota Vikings linebacker Cameron Smith. Houston has been a starter at inside linebacker for two seasons. He has 213 career tackles, 10 passes defended, one interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

This season, Houston already has 45 tackles. The best description I’ve heard as to what Houston’s role is would be “field general.” This isn’t a bad thing at all. Not only did he have big shoes to fill with the loss of Smith off the field, he also has to be everywhere on it like Smith was. So far, so good for Houston, who could have a massive impact on the game this Saturday.