The 2014 regular season comes to an end tomorrow afternoon
when Notre Dame (7-4) travels to southern California to take on their rival USC
Trojans (7-4). With both teams out of playoff contention and no chance of making
a significant bowl game, this game is all about pride. The Trojans dominated
this rivalry for nearly a decade in the 2000s, but the Irish have had the
upper-hand in recent years by winning three of the last four matchups. Who will
prevail tomorrow?
The story for Notre Dame on offense has become a broken
record. They must protect the football and minimize careless mistakes. If the
Irish can do that, they will likely win because they should be able to move the
football with relative ease against a USC defense that ranks 71st in
total defense (402.6 yards per game) and 53rd in scoring defense
(24.6 points per game). Like they have all season, the Irish should have
success through the air as the Trojans’ defense has struggled against the pass
by allowing 267.5 yards per game, good for 108th in the country.
Everett Golson will likely throw for over 300 yards, so if he can avoid
multiple turnovers, then the Irish should score 30-plus points. Although the
Trojans have played poorly against the pass, they have excelled versus the run
by allowing 135.1 yards per game which places them 30th in the
nation. While that means USC has an above average run defense, Notre Dame
should be able to find some running room since I expect the Trojans to be more
worried about the pass. Tarean Folston will get the bulk of the carries, but
Brian Kelly hinted that Greg Bryant will likely get some carries now that he is
fully healthy. It would be nice to see one of them break off a long touchdown
run in a game that figures to be very tight.
The Irish defense has been a disaster over the last several
weeks, and I do not think that will change much tomorrow. With a number of
injuries and many inexperienced players playing significant minutes, the Irish
will likely struggle to stop an explosive USC offense. Quarterback Cody Kessler
(30 TDs and 4 INT) leads a Trojan offense that is averaging 441.5 yards per
contest and 33.8 points per game. Kessler has completed 69.7 percent of his
passes for 3,133 yards which places him among the nation’s best passers.
Considering that Notre Dame’s defensive line and secondary is very depleted, it
could be a very long day for the Irish defense. If Notre Dame is going to win
this game, then they will have to create some turnovers to give their offense
more possessions to keep up the amount of points USC should be able to put up.
If worrying about the passing game wasn’t enough, the Irish will have their
hands full trying to stop USC’s rushing attack. Javorius Allen has been a workhorse
for the Trojans by accounting for 1,244 yards and nine touchdowns on 231
carries. Allen has rushed for over 100 yards in eight out of eleven games, and
I would be shocked if he didn’t rush for well over 100 yards tomorrow
afternoon. As you can see, the Trojans should have no problems moving the
football and putting up points against a defense that has been lousy for over a
month.
Both teams will move the chains and light up the scoreboard,
but Notre Dame’s tendency to make critical mistakes will cost them once again.
USC wins a shootout.
Prediction: USC 41,
Notre Dame 38
Twitter: @etichel07
No comments:
Post a Comment