Early rivalry game odds for USC vs. Notre Dame revealed

The battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh between USC and Notre Dame could have College Football Playoff implications this season.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams essentially clinched the Heisman Trophy for his performance in the Notre Dame game.

The Trojans captured the Jeweled Shillelagh, as Williams captured the attention of Heisman voters everywhere who hadn’t already turned in their ballots. Oh, he still won by a massive margin, but could you imagine if he got all of the first-place votes? With Lincoln Riley and Marcus Freeman entering their second seasons at the helm, let’s see what the early betting line is for this game.

FanDuel Sportsbook has the visiting Trojans as a three-point road favorite vs. the Fighting Irish.

USC would be a six-point favorite in a neutral site and a nine-point favorite if this one was in L.A.

USC opens as a slight road favorite over Notre Dame in their huge rivalry game

Although no other USC game appears in Brett McMurphy’s tweet full of FanDuel lines, Notre Dame is on there two more times. While they are laying a whopping 17.5 points to traditional rival Navy over in Dublin, they are getting 8.5 points at home vs. Ohio State. The Buckeyes were a playoff team a season ago. They got that last spot in after USC fell apart vs. the Utah Utes in Las Vegas.

The Pac-12 may be really competitive in USC’s final year in the league, but Notre Dame should be much improved in year two under Freeman. He landed former Wake Forest starting quarterback Sam Hartman in the transfer portal. Hartman is no Williams, but he is one of the best returning college starting quarterbacks in the game today. He can help bridge the gap for the Irish offense.

Even in an age of conference realignment, traditional rivalries such as this one existing outside of conferences remain a real treat. Times may be changing, but Notre Dame is always going to find a way to get teams like Navy, Stanford and USC on its 12-game schedule. There are few programs as tradition-laden as Irish, so being able to continue this rivalry series should remain a top priority.

USC should be favored over Notre Dame, but the Irish seem to be bridging the gap to some degree.

For more College Football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.