USC comes into its matchup on Saturday against Notre Dame as underdogs. It’s no surprise considering its play, specifically on defense, over the past few weeks.
If USC has any hope of keeping its undefeated season intact, it will have to rely on the play of its defense to silence graduate quarterback Sam Hartman and the Irish.
The Irish are struggling to score over their past three games – they’ve averaged just over 18 points per game. A big key to keeping them off the scoreboard is in the play of the linebacker position.
In his weekly presser, head coach Lincoln Riley spoke of that group’s play last week and what he looks to get out of them in South Bend. Each of senior Mason Cobb, junior Eric Gentry, redshirt senior Shane Lee, freshman Tackett Curtis and junior Raesjon Davis have earned significant snaps at the position so far this season.
“We felt like all of those [linebackers] practiced well enough that we were gonna play them,” Riley said. “After the first quarter, we got settled in and had a pretty good stretch of ball from the backers. We had the one big mistake on the seam ball for a touchdown, but other than that we were doing good things in the linebacker world. Shane came in … he, Mason and Gentry were all playing at a high level. I feel like that group, certainly with Raesjon [and Tackett Curtis] still in the mix, we feel like there are five that we are very comfortable with.”
A big key heading into Saturday will be the continued leadership of guys like junior safety Calen Bullock to ensure the Trojans stay focused and sharp, considering the challenges they’ve faced the past couple of weeks and the inherent challenges of playing on the road.
“[Calen] has played a couple years for us now. He knows the defense, he knows the culture, he knows the guys — specifically in the defensive backfield with our secondary guys,” Riley said. “Having some leaders step up there is very important for us. You need it on offense, you need it on defense, on special teams. But in these different pods within the team, you need those guys to step up as well.”
Another issue for the Trojans has been converting on third downs. Over the past three games, they are just 9 for 28 on third-down conversions. Riley believes the key is ensuring that they get more third-and-short opportunities and staying away from the third-and-long shots that they’ve taken.
“We’ve hardly run any third-and-short plays the past few games. You’d be the best team in the country if you convert 30% of your third and longs. It’s just the name of the game,” Riley said. “We’ve had a couple of opportunities that we’ve missed on some manageable ones that we have to make. Number one thing is we have to stay off third and longs more than we have the past couple weeks.”
The Trojans will travel the furthest they have all season for the game on Saturday, and they will seemingly play in some pretty cold and rainy conditions. On top of the game being an extremely important one for the fans and because of the storied rivalry, the weather conditions add an extra layer that the team needs to be ready for.
“In terms of the intangible side of it, you gotta handle all parts of this,” Riley said. “We’ve talked about the road and the intensity. You gotta handle the elements and whatever the weather does present. A lot of fun, unique challenges. But again, it’s a rivalry game, it’s what it should be like. It’s two good football teams. It’ll be a fun environment.”