It's not an overstatement to say that the clash against USC is the biggest game of the year for the Notre Dame football team. It's also worth admitting the Irish hoped their game against the Trojans would have such season-defining implications, but they put themselves in the situation, so it's time to make the best of it.
Unfortunately, they'll have to square off against Lincoln Riley's squad, playing their best football of the season, without one of the best defensive linemen on the Irish able to go.
Notre Dame football defense loses veteran tackle Gabriel Rubio ahead of USC game
Senior defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio was ruled out for Saturday night's game with a left arm injury in the updated Notre Dame injury report, released Thursday.
"We've had a committee at defensive tackle," Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said on a Thursday conference call with reporters. "Obviously, you don’t want to lose Gabe, just from experience, from production, from a veteran guy."
That production came to the tune of starting eight of the last nine games for Notre Dame. In those games, he made 13 tackles, a sack, six pressures, and a batted pass.
Rubio leads all Irish defensive tackles with 173 defensive snaps. His Pro Football Focus grades place him sixth in run defense (76.7) and fifth in tackling (80.1) on an Irish defense that has seemingly turned things around after abysmal play in its first three games. The unit has allowed an average of 9.0 points per contest in games against Arkansas, Boise State, and North Carolina State.
Things could be very different on Saturday night when the Irish face a USC team that enters the game averaging an impressive 6.38 yards per carry, suitable for the fourth-best in the nation. Obviously, losing one of your best run stoppers up the middle is not a good thing for Notre Dame, as Gabriel Rubio has really shown growth over the last month.