Notre Dame-USC: Lasting thoughts from Trojans Wire colleagues
Notre Dame turned in its most impressive victory last Saturday when the Irish put a 48-spot on USC, winning 48-20 and dashing their biggest rival’s hopes of a College Football Playoff appearance.
Notre Dame is finally into their first of two bye weeks as they don’t play again until Oct. 28 when they host Pittsburgh. With that in mind, we had a little more time to keep the book open on the USC game following things.
And quite frankly, given the result, we don’t mind doing so.
Matt Zemek is the editor of Trojans Wire and knows USC football incredibly well. He shared a few thoughts following the game both on the state of things at USC and a few thoughts on what he saw from Notre Dame.
Here is what Matt had to say following the 48-20 rout.
Starts, or doesn't start, up front
Why was the performance of USC’s offensive line so dramatically different against Notre Dame in 2023 compared to 2022? That’s the question everyone is asking right now. To be sure, Notre Dame was fantastic. Playing at home, the Irish rallied ’round the flag and had a supportive crowd to feed them adrenaline. Marcus Freeman and Al Golden had their guys ready to play and were on point with their tactics. It probably helped the Irish for this game — and hurt USC — that Notre Dame was coming off the ugly loss to Louisville. That got the attention of everyone in the locker room. All of those details matter to a point.
Missing their best from a year ago
The main reason, however: USC didn’t have Andrew Vorhees or Brett Neilon. They were both starters last year. Their USC careers ended. Vorhees, injured and rehabbing, is now with the Baltimore Ravens. Point-blank: No one on the 2023 USC offensive line is as good as those two guys were. Notre Dame proceeded to kick the snot out of the Trojans’ offensive front.
Lincoln Riley Year 1 vs. Year 2
It always bears watching when a coaching staff takes over: How is Year 1, when a staff inherits players on a roster while making various other changes? How is Year 2, when the inherited players are no longer in the picture and the program becomes more the product of the new vision and the new regime? It’s clear that of the few players Riley chose to retain from Clay Helton in Year 1, Vorhees and Neilon were hugely and centrally valuable. Without them, the USC offensive line looks lost, and is far worse than any of us at Trojans Wire expected or anticipated in late August.
Notre Dame Offense vs. USC Defense Was Overblown
What a bizarre and unexpected result — no, not that Notre Dame won (that’s not a shocker at all, given the way USC is playing and had been playing entering the game), but the way in which the Irish won.
I certainly thought the Alex Grinch-Gerad Parker matchup would lean in one direction or another and really tip the scales to the winning side. Instead, we got a game in which the matchup between the USC defense and the Notre Dame offense was essentially peripheral to the proceedings. Notre Dame got short fields and free points, later a kick return for a touchdown. The Irish collected just 253 yards but didn’t ever need to drive 75 or more yards to score touchdowns. Notre Dame grabbed a big early lead and never faced an especially difficult situation. USC’s defense was not atrocious but never really became a negative factor in the game except for the one touchdown it allowed after USC scored to make it 24-13 in the third quarter.
Who could have imagined that Grinch and Parker would be such non-factors? We certainly didn’t learn anything about either man on Saturday.
What's Next for Both?
It will be very interesting to watch USC against Utah this Saturday, and Ohio State against Penn State as well. Utah is basically “Notre Dame West,” in terms of style of play. Utah plays a physical style of football with a conservative offensive approach. Toughness, stamina, and an elite pass rush are things both programs aspire to. Will USC toughen up, or will Utah smack around the Trojans just as Notre Dame did? We hope at Trojans Wire that Notre Dame will have helped USC learn a few things for the Utah game. If the Trojans don’t learn and get absolutely roasted, Lincoln Riley needs to clean house on his staff.
Ohio State sting for Notre Dame from the outside looking in
Ohio State-Penn State becomes a top-tier test for the Buckeyes a few weeks after their escape from South Bend. OSU hasn’t looked convincing at all. If the Buckeyes significantly improve, Notre Dame will feel better about that gut-punch loss. If OSU remains ho-hum, that result will become a million times more annoying and frustrating in the offseason.
For More Trojans Coverage...
For more information on Notre Dame’s biggest rival we encourage you to follow the work being done by Matt and his staff at Trojans Wire. Not just on the field but off as they’ve been all over the college sports landscape with the downfall of the Pac 12 and USC’s move to the Big Ten.
Be sure to check them out:
