The simplest analysis of USC’s win over Notre Dame is that the Trojans have Caleb Williams and the Irish did not, but there are obviously more components to this story.
Before the game, it was uncertain if USC was going to meet the physical challenge presented by Notre Dame. Playing Arizona, Cal, Colorado, and even a tissue-soft UCLA defense offered no real preparation for facing Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish defense. Notre Dame is definitely a few notches better on defense than USC’s recent 2022 opponents.
The last really good defense USC faced: Washington State on Oct. 8. Before that: Oregon State on Sept. 24. Those are the two really solid defenses on USC’s 2022 schedule. Utah has a defense-first reputation but has not played great on defense this year — not against good offenses with fully healthy quarterbacks. (Oregon’s Bo Nix was nowhere close to 100% for last week’s game versus the Utes.)
USC’s offense wasn’t perfect against Notre Dame’s defense, but the offensive line fundamentally met the challenge against the Irish’s front four. Caleb Williams did the rest, avoiding sacks other QBs would not have avoided.
Let’s analyze this game with help from our friends at Fighting Irish Wire:
CALEB WILLIAMS
USC had him on its roster, Notre Dame did not. Any analysis of this game has to start and end with that simple point.
NOTRE DAME PASS RUSH
Against 99 percent of quarterbacks, including C.J. Stroud of Ohio State, the Notre Dame pass rush would have been a lot more impactful.
Not against Caleb Williams. He set himself apart.
STROUD AND CALEB VS NOTRE DAME
Stroud did make some key plays against Notre Dame, but his Ohio State offense managed only 21 points against the Irish. Caleb Williams put up 38. Yes, Stroud played Notre Dame in Week 1 and Caleb played the Irish in Week 13, but we still did see Caleb show dimensions of his game which…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football | Trojans Wire…