Notre Dame football should have no trouble mustering motivation against rival USC

SOUTH BEND — All around the No. 21 Notre Dame football team this week it looked and felt and sounded familiar, and a little forced.

Two weeks ago, while pushing past the loss to Ohio State, Notre Dame talked up its bounce-back opportunity preparing for another ranked and undefeated opponent in Duke. There still was much for the Irish to play for, they told us on Tuesday of that game week, and no matter what had happened, they still were a good team.

It felt like they were trying to convince us.

Notre Dame then had to fight and scratch and claw to the end to win at Duke. The season’s second loss — this time, a second half disappearing act at ranked and undefeated Louisville — followed.

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So did the expected verbiage from the Irish on Tuesday, who again must prepare for another game against a ranked and undefeated opponent. They talked this week of still having plenty to play for and, regardless of what happened in Kentucky, they believe they’re still a good team.

This time, it felt like they were trying to convince themselves.

Two losses don’t doom a college football season, even at Notre Dame, but one more and doom would certainly loom over the Northern Indiana sky late Saturday. The team’s mantra — Choose Hard — is about to be put to the ultimate test, against the ultimate opponent, in No. 10 USC.

Notre Dame feels beaten up mentally and physically, but doesn’t need to do much to get going for this one. Three letters — U-S-C — will do it.

“If you don't have the bubbles in your stomach, then you're not the elite competitor we need you to be." Irish coach Marcus Freeman said Monday.

He’s right. Notre Dame feels wounded. Notre Dame feels worn down. Nothing about any of that should matter. Not for this one. Can Notre Dame be better Saturday against USC? There’s no choice. It must be or lose for the third time in the last four weeks. Two losses are manageable but a third would sink this season.

Three losses end any (slim) chance of sliding into New Year’s Six bowl contention. Three losses and you might have to put on a happy face for the Pop-Tarts Bowl (no, thanks). Three losses are not in the Irish mindset. Or so they say.

“We still have a good chunk of our season left,” said tight end Mitchell Evans, who continues to make a convincing case for offensive most valuable player. “Can’t just sit around and mope around.”

Notre Dame didn’t mope after Ohio State, and it can’t mope heading into Saturday for its most storied rivalry game. Everything Notre Dame (5-2) talked about in the days after Ohio State, it again talked about in the days after Louisville. Different circumstances, but the same mindset. Or something like that.

“It’s a little bit harder,” Evans said of spreading the bounce-back message of ‘We’re OK’ for a second time so soon after doing it for the first. “It’s the second (loss) against a team we believe we should beat. It’s just how it is. It’s been tough.”

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It’s going to be tougher to bounce back for this one. The Irish know that. They also know that this game means more. In a week when the next game, next opponent mantra could be offered, the Irish did the opposite. They know what this opponent means. They know what this game means.

USC week always hits differently, regardless of what Notre Dame has done to date. Win the previous week? Lose the previous week? Bye the previous week? Doesn’t matter. It’s USC week. That matters.

“There’s something there,” said Evans. “It’s a storied rivalry between two bluebloods of college football. We’re still really hungry.”

Circumstances surrounding this one leave some with a lesser appetite for it. As game week unfolded, there wasn’t the same anticipatory buildup as with the home night game against Ohio State. That one was special. You saw it coming on Monday and Tuesday. You felt it coming on Thursday and Friday.

By Saturday, it was bonkers.

It hasn’t been the same in any way this week. FOX is headed to town with its “Big Noon Kickoff” pre-game show. Big deal. Why? The feeling from getting Ohio State at home to getting USC at home has shifted from “Oh, yeah!” to “Uh-oh.”

The second Irish loss, the gloom of a forecast that calls for rain and cold and wind and maybe all three at once, has tamped everything down. The buzz has been muted. The USC game’s still special. It’s never not going to be special, but in some ways, where this Notre Dame program is right now after having no-showed at Louisville, it feels like just another game. Just another fall Saturday.

That stinks.

USC should never feel like another game. The rivalry has too much going for it. The teams. The locales. The bands (please, more Fight On!). The Trojans rocking their charter buses as they crawl down Moose Krause Circle and stop out front of Notre Dame Stadium.

This game typically is without peer on the Notre Dame schedule. Circle it. Here in Indiana in October and out there in Los Angeles in November. The site seldom matters. This game does.

Had Notre Dame been 6-1, the anticipation for this one would have more of a pulse. Who’s got an extra ticket? Parking pass? Tailgate plan? Still, it’s an opportunity for Notre Dame to show that it still has a heart, and it’s still beating. Two losses the previous three weeks have left everyone and everything uncertain. Maybe even in the Irish locker room.

“Nobody likes losing (but) we’ve got a great opportunity coming,” said safety Xavier Watts. “At the end of the day, we’ve still got a lot of season left. Do what we do (Saturday), we’ll be fine.”

It might rain Saturday. It will be chilly. Wind could be a factor. Maybe that plays into the Irish game plan. The colder, the windier, the rainier, the uglier, the better, said Evans. This is October football in the Midwest.

“I like it,” he said. “We’re still going to play Notre Dame football. We’ll be fine.”

But can they? Will they?

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.

No. 21 Notre Dame (5-2) vs. No. 10 USC (6-0)

∎ When: Saturday, Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m. EDT

∎ Where: Notre Dame Stadium (77,622), South Bend, Ind.

∎ Rankings: Notre Dame is ranked No. 21 in both the AP and US LBM Coaches Polls. USC is ranked No. 10/9.

∎ TV: NBC/Peacock

∎ Radio: WSBT (960 AM), WNSN (101.5 FM)

∎ Line: Notre Dame opens as a 2.5-point favorite

∎ Series: Notre Dame leads all-time series 50-38-5

∎ Last meeting: No. 5 USC defeated No. 13 Notre Dame, 38-27, on Nov. 26, 2022 at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: When Notre Dame and USC meet in college football, it always matters