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Notre Dame: Compliments and Conclusions vs USC

By Matt Clark

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 12: Notre Dame Fighting Irish players celebrate after the game against the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 12: Notre Dame Fighting Irish players celebrate after the game against the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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SOUTH BEND, IN – OCTOBER 12: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish looks on against the USC Trojans in the second half of the game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Conclusions

Notre Dame remains solid in all facets of the game

Notre Dame continues to look fundamentally sound on offense, defense and special teams. USC, who spent time in the AP top 25 this year prior to injuries at quarterback impacting the Trojans, is a very good football team. They boast the fourth best recruiting talent in college football, with six five-star recruits, 41 four-star recruits and 31 three-star recruits on their team. Therefore, the Irish win against rival USC is impressive, especially since they played well in all areas of the game.

Notre Dame doesn’t seem to get rattled in big spots

Notre Dame never seemed to be seriously challenged during the entire game against USC, despite only winning by a three point margin. They have not looked rattled at any point in the season, even giving themselves a chance to win at the end of the game against Georgia, with a rabid Bulldog fan base providing deafening noise.

USC was clawing back into the game against the Irish, only for Notre Dame to respond with a 14 play, 75 yard drive that ate six minutes and 54 seconds off the clock, leaving USC void of the time needed to come back from two scores down and solidifying the win for the Irish.

The ability to remain calm and confident in big situations has been a staple of the Irish play this season and is a characteristic of a legitimate contender.

The Irish playoff hopes take a major hit

Despite the solid win over the Trojans of USC, the College Football Playoff hopes of Notre Dame took a major hit earlier in the day, when No. 3 Georgia, who handed the Irish their only loss of the season, lost in an ugly game against unranked South Carolina.

As a result, the one loss for the Irish looks less impressive and will likely end Notre Dame’s hopes of making the playoff.

Next. The play that changed everything vs USC.. dark

In addition to the bad loss by Georgia, Virginia’s loss to Miami earlier in the week also tarnished one if the big wins by the Irish this year. Notre Dame already needed a great deal of help in order to have an outside chance at making the playoff. Now, they will need to hope for a lot of unlikely bad losses by undefeated teams and some big wins by teams that they have defeated in order to gain any consideration for one of the four playoff spots.

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