Using counting stats, it's tempting to construct the narrative that Notre Dame's massive win over USC was fluky. A 5-0 turnover margin, a special teams touchdown, more total yards for the Trojans and just 255 total yards for the Irish? But as we dive into the numbers, it's clear that Marcus Freeman's team - the [...]
Notre Dame dictated the game from start to finish, but USC was on par or better in efficiency and explosiveness. A massive early turnover (worth nearly 10 points in EPA, expected points added) set the tone, and the Irish dominated the Trojans in cashing in scoring chances to hold Southern Cal at arm's length. The [...]
Notre Dame entered the final game of the 2018 season having allowed an opponent to go over an average (40%) success rate just once, against Michigan. The Trojans put up a 50% efficiency mark, besting the Irish by 12%. How did Notre Dame overcome this disadvantage, and what areas still need to be cleaned up [...]
Easy, it was not. Notre Dame walked into the L.A. Coliseum on Saturday night with a playoff berth on the line and found itself quickly struggling against a precision short-passing game from JT Daniels and a revived USC defense with an aggressive blitz-heavy attack. It took a while, but the Irish righted the ship, crawled [...]
The stakes are high as the Fighting Irish take the biennial plane ride to Los Angeles and face their rival Southern California Trojans. For Notre Dame, a trip to their first-ever College Football Playoff is on the line while USC has little to play for except a minor bowl game or the role of spoiler [...]
Eventually Notre Dame will have a game where they aren't ripping away turnovers, rushing at will for over 300 yards, and dominating on both sides of the ball in the red zone. That day was not last weekend against USC, as Brian Kelly stayed undefeated since dancing with his team to Post Malone and Quavo [...]
I thought Notre Dame could score 40+ points in a high-flying affair against USC. Turns out, the Irish were able to score over 40 but the Trojans, with the "help" of the Notre Dame defense, were unable to make this a high-scoring game. It's Sunday late morning and it's time to recap an absolute smashing [...]
For the second straight season Notre Dame will be facing a ranked USC team. You have to go back to the 2009 season during Pete Carroll's final season in Los Angeles for the last time a ranked Trojan team came to South Bend. That was also the last time both teams in the series came [...]
Ahead of Saturday's battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh (anyone notice Brian Kelly is super into rivalry trophies lately?), how do the Trojans and Irish match up in each advanced stats category? Where is USC susceptible, and what should Notre Dame fans be worried about? USC Offense vs. Notre Dame Defense Immediately after the loss to [...]
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