Physicality is the watchword for Notre Dame football against USC

The Notre Dame football team knows that there are plenty of people who think they are about to walk into a trap on Saturday afternoon. After looking dominant for most of the season (Northern Illinois not withstanding) the Irish might have their toughest opponent in quite some time coming up.

That’s despite the fact that the USC Trojans are just 6-5 on the season. Lincoln Riley’s squad has been one of those schools where, had they performed just a little better at the end of games, their record might be quite a bit better, they might even be talking about going for their own playoff bid with a win this weekend.

That’s why the Notre Dame football team knows that the name of the game this weekend is “physicality.” 

Notre Dame football looking to bring the boom against USC

”That’s really one of our keys to victory we talk about every week no matter who we’re playing,” linebacker Jaiden Ausberry said earlier this week. “This past week it was a real big thing. They run the quarterback a lot and use him a lot, so it was like we have to hit him as much as we could. Basically, make him quit.”

USC’s Jayden Maiava doesn’t run as often as Bryson Daily, but he’s known to occasionally pull the ball down and run. ”We basically have to tackle him,” Ausberry added. “We have to bring our feet, have good form tackling. Basically, what we did to Army last week and hit him as much as we could.” 

However, the Irish will try and take that physicality to the running back this week.

”No. 4 [Woody Marks] is a really good back,” explained Ausberry. “He’s really good at cutting and getting to the next level, so we’re going to have to play disciplined and be able to tackle him and make tackles in space.”

Should Notre Dame football stay disciplined and do what they’ve done all season, when the smoke clears, they’ll know they clinched a berth in the new 12-team playoff.