#13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-1) VS USC Trojans (3-3)

After a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh is back on the schedule. The Trojans, for most of the Brian Kelly era at Notre Dame, have been a hot mess. On Saturday, it will be the third time Brian Kelly coaches against an interim USC Head Coach.

The Pete Carroll era in L.A. is a distant memory, and it reminds me of the post Holtz era in South Bend with its inconsistency, and bad coaching hires. The Irish on the other hand, have been one of the most stable programs in the country for the past four and a half years — so beat Southern Cal to a bloody pulp.

Notre Dame is walking around in no man’s land at the moment. Because of all of the unranked opponents in the back half of the schedule, the ceiling for the Irish is likely outside of the top 4 (playoffs). Very little attention or respect will be tossed Notre Dame’s way for the next six games — especially if they keep winning.

The Irish can only do what they can do, so I vote for beating the hell out of Southern Cal.

Notre Dame still has a 36 game winning streak against unranked opponents, and USC is tied with Notre Dame right now for 2nd most road wins in a row with 8.

UND.com

Everything you need to know about Notre Dame VS USC can be found in the stream below.