Notre Dame VS USC: Southern Cal WR Michael Pittman starts the trash talking

The excitement for Saturday night’s game against the USC Trojans has steadily picked up a head of steam this week. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are knee deep in their “Irish Wear Green” campaign for the scheduled green out (for you — not them) but now we have something juicer to chew on mid-week.

Southern Cal wide receiver, Michael Pittman Jr., gave a nice fat bulletin board quote on Tuesday to the media:

“I told them to embrace the suck. It’s going to be cold. But it’ll be fun when we’re running up the score.”

Game temperatures inside Notre Dame Stadium are expected to get down to the low 40’s, but the ice water running through Pittman’s veins are ICE COLD.

Pittman was a big problem for the Irish last year in Notre Dame’s 24-17 win in Los Angeles (the 2nd time in 6 years Notre Dame finished a 12-0 season in Southern Cal’s home). The mouthy WR had 7 receptions for 91 yards, and he was part of a three-headed monster at wideout with Amon-Ra St. Brown (10 rec 94 yds) and Tyler Vaughns (12 rec 120 yds 1 TD) — so they have some reason to be a little cocky despite having lost the last two games in the series and the last three in South Bend.

As much as you want to be mad — you don’t really want to be mad. This is great, and how every good rivalry should go down in the week leading up to the game. It’s fun and it adds just that much more to the game and the atmosphere.

The Trojans got healthier during their bye week. Kedon Slovis will be back as the starter at quarterback after going through concussion protocol, and safety Talanoa Hufanga is also medically cleared.

The Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh is rapidly approaching, and now we have even more fuel for the fire... BURN TROY TO THE GROUND.