It was ugly, but the road victory over USC could be a blessing in disguise for Notre Dame football
It wasn’t always pretty, but anytime Notre Dame football can come away with a 49-35 road victory against the USC Trojans, it’s a good day. It’s especially sweet when you consider that victory also punched your ticket to a College Football Playoff berth, and a first-round home game to boot. For the first time pretty […]
It wasn’t always pretty, but anytime Notre Dame football can come away with a 49-35 road victory against the USC Trojans, it’s a good day. It’s especially sweet when you consider that victory also punched your ticket to a College Football Playoff berth, and a first-round home game to boot.
For the first time pretty much all season, the Irish defense had a major off day. That unit was an elite one coming into the contest, ranking second in college football allowing just 11.6 points per game. A big reason was their stellar pass defense, which allowed just 139.5 passing yards per game, and a 47.6 completion percentage.
On Saturday, the unit played its worst game. The Trojans did add a score late but they managed to throw for 360 yards, rush for 197, and score 35 points. Those were all season highs the defense has let up. It was a very frustrating defensive showing throughout the contest.
It was also the first time we saw the Notre Dame offense have to carry this defensive unit, which they did for the majority of this football game. The unit stalled a good bit in the fourth quarter but managed to score 35 offensive points, and that number was even hurt by a missed field goal and two turnovers. The offense in total ran for 258 yards as a team, and had 436 yards in total.
This was also the first time in quite a few weeks that this Notre Dame team was forced into an uncomfortable situation late in the game, holding a 35-28 victory with the USC offense driving. Their backs were against the wall, and needed some of their talented defenders to make some big plays. We saw them come to the table, including back-to-back interception returns for touchdowns by Christian Gray and Xavier Watts.
Seeing this Irish team in that type of uncomfortable environment on the road was a sight we haven’t been used to this season. We also haven’t seen the offense have to be forced to carry the defense for a long stretch of a game. A close game in the fourth quarter that needed a big play to be made? That’s also an unusual occurrence the last several weeks.
This was a game of unusual circumstances for Notre Dame, and they responded. It wasn’t a perfect game. It was downright ugly at times, but it could be a blessing in disguise in the end. The playoffs will force them to be uncomfortable.
