Notre Dame football vs. USC: 3 Studs and 3 Duds in Week 8
![Oct 23, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Kyren Williams (23) runs the ball as USC Trojans cornerback Isaac Taylor-Stuart (6) defends in the first quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports Oct 23, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Kyren Williams (23) runs the ball as USC Trojans cornerback Isaac Taylor-Stuart (6) defends in the first quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/35d45ccd6eb2bbd40d5d2e217331f84dfa64d7a1d837d613315ef5ce1482af36.jpg)
The Notre Dame football team made easy work of the USC Trojans on Saturday night, and here are the studs and duds from the 31-16 victory.
Notre Dame football took on USC and beat the Trojans for the fourth straight time. They did so with less fanfare than normal, though. That’s probably because USC came in at .500 on the season, having fired their coach over a month ago now. Notre Dame, meanwhile, is in a rebuilding year and there are issues across the board.
As for the game itself, Notre Dame more or less won going away. Briefly, in the fourth quarter, USC threatened to make it a game, but that was very brief. It never felt like USC had a real shot to win, though. It felt like one team was clearly better, and that’s all there was to it.
Even in a game like this, there are studs and there are duds for both teams, though. For Notre Dame, this means that some players stepped up and had great games. Others didn’t hit their potential this week. It’s never to say that one player or another isn’t good or to take a personal shot at them. It’s just that they could play better.
So, here are studs and dud from Notre Dame vs. USC.