Ok folks I'm a little amped for this game, completely sober, and wanted to get on this.  This is our arch-rival and they are ripe for a plucking.  I would love to dash their playoff hopes, though I wish they were undefeated(thanks Utah).

The condoms are soft on D and cannot hold up against a strong run/clock eating offense(see Utah).  They are opportunistic in takeaways.  We have to play our game, to our offensive strengths that we really started to hone the second half of the season.  Pound them with the three headed monster.  

Defensively, play sound football.  If we control the clock with our offense, it keeps theirs off the field and our defense stays fresh.  Its really that simple.  Throw in great ST play.

Riley's teams do not play well against fundamental power type teams.  Campbell and Iowa State gave Oklahoma fits every time they played, because of the above formula.  They want a track meet, and when they are thrown off their game plan they don't play well.  Punch them in the mouth.

LFG!!!!!

That USC QB is pretty good and seems awfully self-assured. Seems like ND will have to spy him and play man defense.  Morrison will surely be tested again. Big game, big spotlight.  Need a strong 4 man rush with pressure on the QB without loosing containment. 
If the O line can hold up, could be a good evening all the way around for the offense. USC has talent on D but it doesn’t look like it has coalesced yet this year. 
It is a winnable game. 
And that would cure my mind and body of the aches still lingering from the Marshall and Stanford games.  
If the potential of a team and coach are judged by their best victories, beating Clemson and USC in Freeman’s first year would seem to indicate the sky is the limit. 
 

USC sucks…I mean, literally.  I’ve watched them a bit this season.  They are not a good team.

15 minutes ago, AnTostal said:

That USC QB is pretty good and seems awfully self-assured. Seems like ND will have to spy him and play man defense.  Morrison will surely be tested again. Big game, big spotlight.  Need a strong 4 man rush with pressure on the QB without loosing containment. 
If the O line can hold up, could be a good evening all the way around for the offense. USC has talent on D but it doesn’t look like it has coalesced yet this year. 
It is a winnable game. 
And that would cure my mind and body of the aches still lingering from the Marshall and Stanford games.  
If the potential of a team and coach are judged by their best victories, beating Clemson and USC in Freeman’s first year would seem to indicate the sky is the limit. 
 

7 minutes ago, irishwavend said:

USC sucks…I mean, literally.  I’ve watched them a bit this season.  They are not a good team.

I watched a little bit of the game last night.  USC definitely look beatable.  They looked just like Oklahoma with Riley, all offense no defense.  This is a winnable game for the Irish.  The Irish should be able to pound the ball down their throats.  The D needs to have a game.

I'm confident we win Saturday. We are going to see it all click for us and I also think the Trojans are going to underEstime us.

Yes! In my opinion later on this week this becomes the game thread @NYGoldenDomer!  @jessemoore97 If you could start a thread when we know the bowl game and thru each week next season that would be awesome! No pressure, I like being the sub but not the one that starts the threads.

This is a Classic Offense vs Defense playing style clash.

Will it be played in the 20 or low 30s points where ND likes it

or the high 30's-40 points points where USC likes it? 

 

 

 

25 minutes ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

Yes! In my opinion later on this week this becomes the game thread @NYGoldenDomer!  @jessemoore97 If you could start a thread when we know the bowl game and thru each week next season that would be awesome! No pressure, I like being the sub but not the one that starts the threads.

This is a Classic Offense vs Defense playing style clash.

Will it be played in the 20 or low 30s points where ND likes it

or the high 30's-40 points points where USC likes it? 

That was my plan once this was posted 👍

This is a game we should dominate in the trenches. We’ll have to score some points cuz we probably won’t totally stop their offense.
 

But, no one has punched FUSC in the mouth this year like we can. I can see them folding and crying all the way back to their beach front condos. 

16 minutes ago, SDIrishFan said:

This is a game we should dominate in the trenches. We’ll have to score some points cuz we probably won’t totally stop their offense.
 

But, no one has punched FUSC in the mouth this year like we can. I can see them folding and crying all the way back to their beach front condos. 

From your lips to Gods ears.

3 hours ago, irishwavend said:

USC sucks…I mean, literally.  I’ve watched them a bit this season.  They are not a good team.

Yeah I've seen them a few games this year also.  They have star power at the skill positions for sure.  Have to make it our game and shut their fair weather fans up early.

If we are going to blitz and go man a lot, our LBs have to hit home.  Liufau takes himself out and is completely ineffective 90% of the time.  The safeties have to be able to help over the top and not get sucked in when Williams gets flushed, he can be lethal throwing from the run.  The DBs have to cover their receivers like flies on shit.  I think we need a spy on Williams like Kizer or Kollie.  I know Kollie is young but one task us all he needs to do, similar to how we used to utilize Jaylen Smith a few years ago.  He can do it I believe.

This will be the biggest challenge for Rees and by virtue Freeman.  We throw it more than 20-25ish times then we shit the bed and are trying to have a dick measuring shootout that we will NOT win.  I think Freeman needs to keep his OC focused on what has absolutely been working with our offense, and stressing the importance of keeping our D off the field with clock gobbling TD drives all game long.

We have a chance, a good one.

The one good, physical team (Utah) they played resulted in a loss. ND has a huge advantage on the lines. Their qb is very good, they have a game changing wr in Addison, they rarely turn the ball over. This comes across as a similar to UNC team. ND absolutely needs to come and out and punch thr condoms in the mouth. They have an opportunistic defense that generates takeaways, Pyne and the offense needs to play smart and protect the ball

On 11/20/2022 at 7:13 AM, AnTostal said:

That USC QB is pretty good and seems awfully self-assured. Seems like ND will have to spy him and play man defense.  Morrison will surely be tested again. Big game, big spotlight.  Need a strong 4 man rush with pressure on the QB without loosing containment. 
If the O line can hold up, could be a good evening all the way around for the offense. USC has talent on D but it doesn’t look like it has coalesced yet this year. 
It is a winnable game. 
And that would cure my mind and body of the aches still lingering from the Marshall and Stanford games.  
If the potential of a team and coach are judged by their best victories, beating Clemson and USC in Freeman’s first year would seem to indicate the sky is the limit. 
 

I completely disagree with your opinion on ND's defense. I think ND should employ the same shell they did against Ohio State. Keep everything in front, make them work methodically down the field. Williams-Riley are always looking for chunk plays. ND does not have the DBs to stay in man with USC for extended stretches. Williams can get impatient. They can pick some spots to blitz, I don't want to make man the default. I think ND gets lit up if they go that route. 

1 hour ago, DamshaBua said:

I completely disagree with your opinion on ND's defense. I think ND should employ the same shell they did against Ohio State. Keep everything in front, make them work methodically down the field. Williams-Riley are always looking for chunk plays. ND does not have the DBs to stay in man with USC for extended stretches. Williams can get impatient. They can pick some spots to blitz, I don't want to make man the default. I think ND gets lit up if they go that route. 

Admittedly I'm not a defensive coordinator.  Just a guy who watches a lot of ND, and other, football.  It's an opinion board, and we'll see how it plays out Saturday night.

An ND victory would be sweet no matter what defense they run.

Edited November 22, 20222 yr by AnTostal

This is a classic old school vs new school matchup. If you look back during his tenure at OU, Riley struggled with teams similar to this years Notre Dame squad. If ND can control the LOS, I think ND can pull out the win. Keeping Williams off the field with a ball control offence is going to be the best defence. Plus, I don't think USC has seen anything close to the defence they will see Saturday. 

 

https://www.oddsshark.com/ncaaf/notre-dame-usc-odds-november-26-2022-1634836

 

This site has been pretty spot on with their predictions. They actually only had us beating Marshall by 5, which was nowhere close to the 20 point spread by Vegas. 

For readers:

https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/LongFormArticle/Everything-Marcus-Freeman-said-Monday-before-Notre-Dame-vs-USC-198228030/

On 11/20/2022 at 10:13 AM, AnTostal said:

That USC QB is pretty good and seems awfully self-assured. Seems like ND will have to spy him and play man defense.  Morrison will surely be tested again. Big game, big spotlight.  Need a strong 4 man rush with pressure on the QB without loosing containment. 
If the O line can hold up, could be a good evening all the way around for the offense. USC has talent on D but it doesn’t look like it has coalesced yet this year. 
It is a winnable game. 
And that would cure my mind and body of the aches still lingering from the Marshall and Stanford games.  
If the potential of a team and coach are judged by their best victories, beating Clemson and USC in Freeman’s first year would seem to indicate the sky is the limit. 
 

 

3 hours ago, DamshaBua said:

I completely disagree with your opinion on ND's defense. I think ND should employ the same shell they did against Ohio State. Keep everything in front, make them work methodically down the field. Williams-Riley are always looking for chunk plays. ND does not have the DBs to stay in man with USC for extended stretches. Williams can get impatient. They can pick some spots to blitz, I don't want to make man the default. I think ND gets lit up if they go that route. 

 

In my opinion you guys are BOTH Correct. Let me explain.

@AnTostal I think Morrison WILL be man to man on the boundary. The money maker side of college football will always be the boundary. The boundary or short side of a college field is where most QB's throw their comfortable deep ball, their comfortable route tree as a whole

 

@DamshaBuaI think you are correct to the field. I believe ND will play zone to the field.

The field is the longer throw so many Qbs either won't throw the field long side throws much, or even the strong arm guys will take a few steps or alter their footwork to make the longer throw work better resulting in a slower release time and zone still being effective.

 

This combo coverage has worked for ND thus far. I expect they will employ it quite a bit on Saturday as well as mixing other coverages/pressures in

 

Bunch of good insight above, IMO.  It looks like a decent matchup - but rivalry games can be chaos.

We have to shut down the big play, safeties over top.  Lots of 2-high safety, but if we can get pressure to flush (or move the pocket) to one side, they'll roll the back safety underneath.  We've done that by design some this year to green light Brandon Joseph (hoping he's fully healthy).

ND has managed to improve a lot of the pass rush lane errors throughout the course of the season.  We were bad early on, just undisciplined.  So I think we'll bring standard pass rush -  I don't see them spying all game - Caleb Willisms would love to play against 10.  We'll need to pressure with 3 and 4 man rush - gotta get home without losing contain and creating vertical gaps .  Williams is gonna make some plays - need to limit him best we can.  And with a lot of their shallow routes and RB patterns, LB's can move laterally and come hard on the backside to fill.  I think we have that personnel, but they'll have to play aggressive in reads.

I believe we'll certainly blitz here and there, and react up, as above.  Maybe some delays based on formation tendencies. Keep contain as best we can - some twists will work, too, with guys like Mills containing if we flush.  Seems we'd want to push to the short side/boundary, as well....Our D is certainly capable in this matchup!

If Rees can move the ball and punch some in - we'll be in it. 

Keep listening to a lot of pundits completely dismissing ND as having no chance. Should be good locker room fodder for these guys.