When the Fighting Irish take on the USC Trojans at South Bend this Saturday, it will be a showdown between one of the finest passing—led by Jimmy Clausen, who leads the nation in passing efficiency—and one of the toughest defenses in college football. The Trojan defense line has not yet allowed a single touchdown this season, the only team in the country with a clean slate.
Under Coach Charlie Weis, Notre Dame averages 33 points a game, with 470 yards on offense. The chemistry among the veterans is clicking well.
“You can see it in the way we’re making calls or how, when we’re in pressure-packed situations, we’re keeping our cool,” right tackle Sam Young said. “It’s awfully good to have a group of guys who have been playing together for a while now.”
USC, losing 11 players to the NFL draft, suffered a great loss on their defense line, including big names such as Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Kaluka Maiava.
However, the no-name linebackers turned out to embody the reputation of USC’s defense just fine. The defense team, led by Chris Galippo, Michael Morgan and Malcolm Smith, managed to churn out impressive statistics—USC ranks fourth in the nation in scoring (8.6 points per game), sixth in total defense (238.6 yards per game) and fifth in run defense (64.8 yards per game).
“Our guys now are very disciplined, very strict about everything they are doing—probably more accurately fitting in runs than the other guys had done in the past when they’d kind of clutter their way through,” said Trojans coach Pete Carroll, who is in charge of the defensive plays to ESPN.
Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame’s all-star quarterback, is currently a red-hot Heisman contender, leading the quarterback ratings on ESPN. Getting a win as huge as one over USC will undoubtedly give Clausen another boost in reputation.
In order to fully showcase his passing ability, however, Clausen has to first survive USC’s dominant defense against quarterbacks. The Trojans rank the 1st in the country in sacks, averaging as many as four per game.
Another person that desperately needs the win over USC is Notre Dame’s head coach Charlie Weis. Although having managed to produce a 4-1 record, Weis has been under a lot of pressure. There were four of Notre Dame’s five games that had to come down to the final seconds.
Fortunately for the Fighting Irish, they survived three of them. Yet fans do not like riding roller-coaster all the time. They want a convincing win that proves the Fighting Irish have indeed come back from oblivion.
Last year, the Fighting Irish suffered a complete fiasco at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. They lost by 38-3, tallying a meager 91 yards on offense. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen was sacked four times and finished just 11 of 22 for 41 yards. Of Notre Dame’s last seven consecutive losses to USC, five were by margins of at least 31 points.
Now that they are 4-1, the Fighting Irish believe that this week is going to be different. “The biggest difference between this year and last year is confidence,” said senior strong safety Kyle McCarthy. “...This team has the confidence that we can go out and compete with anyone on our schedule.”
This Saturday at the South Bend, with the morale sky-high, the Fighting Irish will be fighting for more than just a win. The fight will be for redemption.
