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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are all set to end their season in Los Angles against the USC Trojans. No one truly believes that Notre Dame has much of a chance against Southern Cal this year- and who can blame them? Notre Dame is playing for nothing but pride in this game, and “pride” has certainly been a problem this year. How else can you wrap up a 4 win season that saw so many breakdowns?
Win or lose, this has been one of the worst seasons in Notre Dame history- especially when you factor in the expectation factor. It’s almost over.
Staff Picks
Wes is the man to beat, and a couple of writers dropped out this week. Who can blame them?
Puppet | ND VS USC | UM VS OSU | WASH VS WAZZU | BOISE VS AFA | FLA VS FSU | BAMA VS AUB | YTD |
Joshua Vowles | ND | OSU | WASH | AFA | FSU | BAMA | 22-23 |
Pat Sulivan | USC | OSU | WAZZU | BOISE | FSU | BAMA | 21-24 |
Wes Sweigert | USC | OSU | WASH | BOISE | FSU | BAMA | 29-16 |
M. Sweigert | USC | OSU | WASH | BOISE | FLA | BAMA | 24-21 |
Bobby Norell | USC | OSU | WASH | AFA | FLA | BAMA | 19-26 |
Brad Wechter | USC | OSU | WAZZU | BOISE | FSU | AUB | 21-24 |
Weather Report
For those looking for that legendary California sun, there shouldn’t be much for the game on Saturday. Cool temperatures in the morning followed by periods of rain in the afternoon. In a lot of cases this would be ideal for a team like Notre Dame playing a team like Southern Cal, but not this year, and not for Notre Dame.
The Coliseum turf has been known to get torn up a bit with some rain, so this could get sloppy. The rain won’t be anything like 2010, so that image should get right out of your head.
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Depth Chart
There aren’t any changes to the depth chart this week. However... I highly doubt Daniel Cage plays after a few weeks suffering from another concussion. Perhpas we do see more of Pete Mokwah this week, but this is a Jarron Jones type of game and it will be his last to prove himself to NFL scouts.
Really hoping there are more Chase Claypool, Dexter Williams, and Asmar Bilal sightings on Saturday. A big game from CJ Sanders returning kicks and in the slot would be nice too.
Position | 1st Team | 2nd Team (& OR) |
Quarterback | DeShone Kizer | Malik Zaire |
Running Back | Josh Adams | Tarean Folston OR Dexter Williams |
W Receiver | Equanimeous St. Brown | Miles Boykin OR Chase Claypool |
X Receiver | Torii Hunter Jr. | Kevin Stepherson |
Z Receiver | CJ Sanders | Corey Holmes OR Chris Finke |
Tight End | Durham Smythe | Nic Weishar |
Left Tackle | Mike McGlinchey | Hunter Bivin |
Left Guard | Quenton Nelson | Trevor Ruhland |
Center | Sam Mustipher | Tristan Hoge |
Right Guard | Colin McGovern | OR Mark Harrell |
Right Tackle | Alex Bars | Tommy Kraemer |
WDE | Andrew Trumbetti | Jay Hayes OR Daelin Hayes |
Defensive Tackle | Jerry Tillery | Elijah Taylor |
Nose Guard | Jarron Jones | Daniel cage OR Pete Mokwah |
SDE | Isaac Rochell | Jonathon Bonner |
WILL Linebacker | Te'von Coney | Asmar Bilal |
MIKE Linebacker | Nyles Morgan | Geer Martini |
SAM Linebacker | James Onwualu | Jamir Jones |
Left Cornerback | Julian Love | Donte Vaughn |
Strong Safety | Drue Tranquill | Jalen Elliott |
Free Safety | Devin Studstill | Nicco Fertitta |
Right Cornerback | Cole Luke | Troy Pride |
Place Kicker | Justin Yoon | Tyler Newsome |
Kickoffs | Tyler Newsome | Justin Yoon |
Punter | Tyler Newsome | Jeff Riney |
Long Snapper | Scott Daly | John Shannon |
Holder | Montgomery VanGorder | DeShone Kizer |
Punt Return | C | Chris Finke |
Kickoff Return | CJ Sanders | OR Dexter Williams |