Grading Notre Dame football after blasting the USC Trojans

Just how did everyone perform for Notre Dame football while they blasted the USC Trojans? We’ve got the positional grades breakdown right here.

It’s not hard to say that Notre Dame football as a whole gets an “A” for this game. After reeling against Louisville, they came home and convincingly stomped on USC. They might have been favorites, but I don’t think anyone saw a 48-20 victory coming.

Without further ado, let’s jump right into how each unit fared against the USC Trojans on an epic Saturday night.

Sam Hartman didn’t exactly set the world on fire Saturday night. Of course, he didn’t need to for Notre Dame football to win the game. While he threw for just 126 yards, he also had two touchdown passes. Where he really stood out was as a game manager.

Hartman didn’t turn the ball over after posting 3 interceptions and 2 fumbles lost against Louisville. It turns out they just needed Hartman to make the most of his opportunities and that’s what he did.

While Audric Estime had 95 yards and 2 touchdowns, it wasn’t all that an impressive 95 yards. He was a workhorse in a way we haven’t seen in a little while, as the only other running back to get any carries was Jeremiyah Love who had just 3 carries for 6 yards. It’s starting to feel like Notre Dame football’s running back stable will be a bit disappointing this season.

It’s hard to gauge exactly what kind of job this group did considering they didn’t get a ton of chances with only 20 passes going up. Still, outside of Chris Tyree’s 46 yards touchdown dash, this group didn’t do much of anything.

In fact, take away that touchdown and the receivers and tight ends had just two catches that went for over 10 yards. Tyree’s other catch was 16 yards and walk-on Jordan Faison had a 24-yard grab. Traditional weapons like Mitchell Evans and Jaden Greathouse combined for 2 catches for 13 yards.

It’s always weird to say that the offense struggled in a game where Notre Dame football scored 48 points. But everyone knows quite a few of those points came from very short fields. It’s worth pointing out that by PFF’s standards, only one offensive lineman, Joe Alt, scored a grade 70 or higher (74.8).

The line had a problem making any running room for the Fighting Irish’s running game. On the flipside, they didn’t allow a sack or really any hits or hurries. Still, it’s clear they weren’t great and it was more the defense that led the Golden Domers to a win.

The Fighting Irish d-line had its best game of the season by far, and not just because it sacked Caleb Williams six times. Yes, Nana Osafo-Mensah had two sacks of his own, but he was far from the only impact player. Howard Cross III had a sack, four hurries and six takles and Javontae Jean-Baptiste had seven tackles and six hurries. Even when this unit wasn’t getting to the quarterback, they made life miserable for Willaims.

The linebackers’ unit started off with Boubacar Traore getting just two snaps but having a sack and a stop. This unit stood tall even if none of the backers had stats that really stood out from the crowd.

A lot to love about this unit. There was the fact that they held Caleb Williams to just 199 yards passing. There’s also the two interceptions by Xavier Watts. There’s also the fumble recovery for a touchdown by Watts. And then the third interception by Benjamin Morrison.

The Notre Dame football team needed a big outing from its defensive backs and that’s exactly what it got. Now it can go into the bye week and work hard on getting the offense back on track.