No. 21 USC vs No. 10 Notre Dame: Numbers to know before Saturday's kickoff at 7:30 ET

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — USC has been an underdog in seven straight games at Notre Dame, winning outright in 2011 in the first night game at Notre Dame Stadium since 1990, losing the last five, with tonight being the seventh.

Of those previous six games, only one has been as tight as this pregame spread, 2013 also having a -2.5 mark. Notre Dame covered that year, winning 14-10 in a defensive mess with no second-half scoring.

In the five-game Irish winning streak, they have covered the spread in four of them, USC using a 24-13 second-half to at least beat bookmakers’ expectations in a 30-27 loss as a 10.5-point underdog in 2019.

None of that much matters tonight, though some in the gambling content business will represent it all as a pertinent trend. What matters tonight is No. 21 Notre Dame (5-2) is a 2.5- or 3-point favorite, depending on your sportsbook, with a combined point total Over/Under of 60.5.

Before the Irish face No. 10 USC (6-0) at 7:30 ET on NBC, let’s rattle off a few other numbers to keep in mind at kickoff.

22: Notre Dame junior tight end Mitchell Evans leads the Irish with 22 catches for 343 yards and one touchdown.4: Notre Dame sophomore tight end Holden Staes leads the Irish with four touchdown catches.2: Freshman lacrosse player Jordan Faison has two catches for 48 yards and a touchdown, all last week at Louisville, plays that automatically moved him from a partial lacrosse scholarship to a full football ride. Notre Dame has only three other fully healthy receivers — senior Chris Tyree, sophomore Tobias Merriweather and freshman Rico Flores Jr. — as two near 100 percent, junior Jayden Thomas and freshman Jaden Greathouse both recovering from nagging hamstrings.80: For your reference, Faison wears No. 80, standing 5-foot-10 ⅛ and weighing 182 pounds.

1: Jersey number of USC freshman receiver Zachariah Branch, a “game-time decision,” per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, having missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury. Branch stands 5-foot-10, weighing 175 pounds, and has made his presence very well-known when on the field.

He has caught 13 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns in four games, returned six kicks for an average of 28.5 yards per return with one touchdown and returned seven punts for an average of 22.6 yards with one touchdown.

15-18: Today’s rain should have slowed by kickoff, but northern winds of 15-18 miles per hour are still expected. Both USC and Notre Dame spent some time this week fielding punts with wet balls and spraying water, but the greater challenge may be tracking the ball in those winds.

Temperatures are expected to dip below 50 degrees as kickoff approaches.

126: Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman has thrown 126 career touchdown passes, five behind former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield (2013-17) for No. 6 all-time.14,679: Hartman has thrown for 14,679 career passing yards, No. 6 all-time and 352 yards behind former BYU quarterback Ty Detmer (1988-91) for next on the all-time rankings

5-2-1: USC is 5-2-1 when arriving at Notre Dame unbeaten. It hasn’t happened since 2005, an occasion that all Trojans and Irish fans remember well.

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