Notre Dame, with a playoff bid on the line, travels to Southern Cal for its annual rivalry. Our staff make their official predictions for Notre Dame's biggest rivalry game.
Photo by The Irish Tribune
Liam Farrell - Associate Editor, Senior Football Writer
Score Prediction: 28-17 Notre Dame
I think the game relies on the matchup between the Notre Dame secondary and USC’s WR. I expect the Irish to give up an early touchdown and trail in the first quarter before kicking into gear. I expect at least one turnover for Jayden Maiava and the Irish to stifle the defense in the second half. Riley Leonard and the Irish offense will stall early but find out how to crack the Trojan defense and put up points in the second half.
Noah Wehby - Writer
Score Prediction: 31-13 Notre Dame
In a rivalry game on the road, a good start is very important for Notre Dame. In recent games, they have been able to fix their problems of slow starts, which plagued this team early in the year. The matchup to watch in this game will be the Irish running attack versus USC’s suspect run defense. Notre Dame will take advantage of this mismatch with the dangerous running of Love, Price, and Leonard. USC has struggled against mobile quarterbacks all year, so Leonard may be able to really exploit that part of the defense. On the defensive side, USC does have some talented skill position players that could cause problems for the Irish, but Notre Dame’s dominance in the trenches will dictate this game, resulting in several turnovers.
Clayton Stohler - First & Gold Podcast
Score Prediction: 35-13 Notre Dame
What a season. ND culminates it by handing their rival. Lincoln Riley exposes his team by focusing way too much on the passing game. Al Golden gets a definitive victory, and USC’s offense is completely neutralized. ND’s offense flies as Jadarian Price and Julian Love have a competition on who can be more impressive. It’ll be a good day to be in South Bend. ND just punched their ticket to the playoffs, and the debacle that was week two is far in the rearview.
Pete Mulroy - Associate Editor, First & Gold Podcast
Score Prediction: 31-14 Notre Dame
We've known for weeks that ND needed to run the table from Week 3 on to reach the CFP. And with one more hill to climb, that's exactly what is on the line. Against USC, the plan should be simple: Hammer the run, open up the passing game as needed, and slaughter the Trojans with your defense. This match-up massively favors Al Golden, and I expect Notre Dame's defense to more than rise to the challenge in what will be a historic victory.
Bruce Straughan - Recruiting Insider
Score Prediction: 38-14 Notre Dame
Rivalry games are always scary. It doesn’t matter how good or bad they are that year; they always give all effort to beat you. USC would love nothing more than to be able to wreck ND’s playoff hopes or, at best, their seeding by winning. It would be the ultimate bragging rights for a longtime rival.
USC will keep it close for the 1st quarter or so, but ultimately, Notre Dame’s defense will take over and lock them down. Notre Dame’s offense seems to play lethargic to begin games, although they did come out swinging against Army last week.
Love and Price will be too much for USC to handle, and they will have a big day on the ground. Notre Dame will improve to 11-1 and wait for their final seeding after Conference Championship weekend.
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Connor Regan - Long-Form Writer
Score Prediction: 38-23 Notre Dame
USC gives the Irish one of their most competitive games of the season in an all-out brawl that may be close for quite some time. The Irish defense wins the turnover battle once again while forcing USC to throw the ball. Riley Leonard eclipses 250 yards through the air for the first time this year while Jeremiyah Love takes care of business with another 100+ yard outing. Irish extend their win streak to 10 and close out their regular season 11-1.
Brady Burden - Social Media Manager
Score Prediction: 35-10 Notre Dame
This is the last opportunity for the Irish to prove themselves before the Playoff committee finalizes the rankings.
Notre Dame will come out with a chip on their shoulder and dominate the whole game. The defense will be very violent and too much for the Trojans to handle and will haul in multiple turnovers. The offense plays well above standards, showing great depth at the RB and WR position, with a lot of guys playing to that standard. The Irish prove they’re for real and not a team to mess with.
Caleb Conrad - Basketball Contributor
Score Prediction: Notre Dame 42-13
With it being a rivalry game, the stakes will be high, and both teams will come out firing from the start. USC will keep it close in the first quarter, but the Irish will open up the game in the second quarter and eventually pull away big in the third and fourth quarters. I expect big games out of both Riley Leonard and Jeremiyah Love! I believe that Notre Dame will win this game in convincing fashion and finish the regular season 11-1.
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