USC Trojans vs. No. 14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
It’s been a tough week and a half for the USC Trojans. First, they lost 17-12 an ugly game to Washington. Then, they fired head coach Steve Sarkisian after it was revealed that he was still struggling with a drinking problem. To cap things off, the Trojans also lost a couple of top-notch recruits.
Football still needs to be played, though, and that might be the best cure for these players who have gone through it all this week.
Despite having his worst game of the season against the Huskies in Week 6, Cody Kessler is still one of the top quarterbacks in the nation and the Fighting Irish secondary will have its hands full with this matchup. He has passed for 1,453 yards, 15 touchdowns and three interceptions this year while JuJu Smith-Schuster has caught 33 passes for 619 yards and six scores.
Notre Dame doesn’t have the luxury of an experienced quarterback like USC, but the Fighting Irish sophomore starter DeShone Kizer has exceeded expectations so far. Although he was a top-tier high school quarterback recruit two years ago, he was thrown into the fire in week two as Malik Zaire, the starter to begin the year, suffered a season-ending injury.
It seems like Kizer’s beginning to gain some confidence, passing for 1,143 yards, eight touchdowns and for picks with a completion rate of over 65 percent. Will Fuller has helped him out, too, catching 29 passes for 571 yards and seven scores. Don’t sleep on the run game, though, as C.J. Prosise has 779 yards and nine touchdowns.
It should be a great rivalry game at Notre Dame on Saturday evening.
Details for Saturday’s game are below:
Date: Saturday, Oct. 17
Start Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Notre Dame, IN
Stadium: Notre Dame Stadium
TV Info: NBC
Live Stream: WatchESPN app
Radio: For USC radio affiliates, click here. For Notre Dame radio affiliates, click here.