After a lackluster showing in Week 6 nearly led to an upset loss at the hands of Arizona, the No. 10 USC Trojans looked out of sorts for a full 60 minutes against the No. 21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish demolished the Trojans in the rivalry game, intercepting Heisman Trophy candidate Caleb Williams three times in the 48-20 victory. Notre Dame is likely out of the College Football Playoff unless there’s a substantial amount of chaos, but this loss does some serious damage to USC’s CFP aspirations.
The Trojans are going to have a strong resume if they win out given their schedule. They’ll played ranked conference opponents with Utah, Washington, Oregon and UCLA left. They’ll play one of those teams again in the Pac-12 title game. The problem is there could be four undefeated conference champions across the rest of the Power 5. There’s no margin for error this year, and getting blown out by a Notre Dame team that looked dead in the water after a loss to Louisville is not exactly a glowing statement for USC.
USC is going to need some serious style points the rest of the way and hope for losses elsewhere. Williams and this offense is talented enough to put on a show, but this Trojans defense is clearly not up to the mark with the elite of the sport.