Notre Dame vs USC: Winning Is The Best Medicine
Notre Dame nation is in an odd place this week. Questioning this team. The coach. Themselves. Trust was broken with this Louisville performance and it’s hard for fans to tell where exactly this team is at. And why it’s there? And how will it be moving forward? Simply put, there is doubt. Justifiable doubt. There’s only one way out of this mess in the short term. Beat USC.
Winning cures all. At least in the short term. If Notre Dame can somehow knock off the Trojans they’d be able to at least enter the bye with one elite-level win feather in their cap trending up into a week to regroup. If things go poorly against USC however, the bottom will have completely fallen out and the bye will be filled with nothing but negativity.
Let’s examine just how critical a win over the Trojans would be.
Freeman Needs It
After what’s been a rough few weeks full of questionable decisions, few of which went his way, Marcus Freeman is struggling to keep the Irish on track at the moment. The last thing he can afford practically and perceptually right now is a 3rd loss for the year and a 0-2 record against USC to start his tenure.
If the Irish can get this win Freeman can begin to gain back some of the faith and trust he and his staff have lost the last few games. This win would be a signature one against an elite-level team with the reigning Heisman winner. Notre Dame vs USC is always huge, add in everything that’s now on the line big picture as well, this is a must-win of must wins.
Hartman Frustration
Sam Hartman came to Notre Dame to put up fat numbers against high-level competition before heading to the NFL draft. In that respect, the last 3 game results are not what he or anyone else had in mind. Notre Dame has not scored many points and has truly struggled against better competition.
Sam Hartman has got to be frustrated with the situation just like everyone else involved with Notre Dame in any capacity is. This week he has a chance to face off with the reigning Heisman winner. If he could somehow manufacture a win on Saturday, it’d certainly go a long way in turning the perception of how his Irish tenure is going.
Record Saver
While the Notre Dame fan base ponders big-picture worries post-Louisville, in the short-term, the rest of this season needs to be salvaged before recruiting defections and a storm of negativity hangs over the Golden Dome like a cloud. The Irish cannot let the rest of the year fully unravel.
Beating USC would make 10-2 still a reasonable possibility big-picture outcome-wise, with the hardest games in the rearview mirror. I know this outlook is on the, shall I say, rosy end of the spectrum, but it’s still a fact. On the other hand, if the Irish have 3 losses entering the bye, Notre Dame fans will be bracing themselves for what the second half of the season might bring. Winning is and always has been the best medicine for what ails a football team.
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