This is bigger than any bowl game that USC will get and they'll face the #1 team in the country on their home field 2 days after Thanksgiving Day. Notre Dame has to travel across the country and for once they won't have a scheduling spot in their favor. This will be just Notre Dame's 4th road game and while they got by Michigan State, Oklahoma, and Boston College this will be a different challenge.
USC, has the right combination of things working for them in this match up, and I'm not concerned with Matt Barkley being out, Max Whittek is said to have the better arm, and he's had an entire week to practice and he's got plenty of confidence. Oh he's also got the best receivers in the country in Marqis Lee and Robert Woods. What I mean by the right ingredients is USC has the tools that have given Notre Dame issues in all aspects. Notre Dame has not faced any good passing teams this year with the exception of Oklahoma who are ranked 8th and Landry Jones completed nearly 70% of his passes and 356 yards. Notre Dame's offense which is one dimensional has also struggled vs. good defensive lines who can establish a pass rush and stop the run. Check, USC is ranked 17th in sack % with a 10.42% rank and they have been so good at stopping the run not even their impressive 3.6 ypc defense in home games tells the true story as they gave up 7 yards per carry to Oregon, but every other opponent could not average more than 3 yards. Notre Dame is not Oregon offensively, and they struggled against Stanford, and BYU two other teams that can get to the QB. Everett Gholston has had a lot of poise this year but I'm afraid that's about to end, he's only completing 59% of his throws on the season.
Notre Dame only throws 39% of the time on the road, but as I mentioned USC can stop the run and at some point you can only beat USC if you throw the ball and keep up with them, because Notre Dame's secondary is extremely vulnerable and who is better to take advantage than Marqis Lee and Robert Woods. I think the Matt Barkley injury is a bit over rated and being home is a huge advantage in this match up. Look for Lee to have a field day on the Irish secondary. USC is just as strong in red zone defense as the Irish are, but the difference is USC has the ability for big plays that won't require scoring inside the 20. As good as Notre Dames defense has been they have only allowed 35% conversions on third down which is not that impressive for a top 5 defense. USC actually has arguably the most balanced attack that Notre Dame has seen all year and unfortunately for Notre Dame I think USC will make this the game of their year that was supposed to be completely different.
