48 days until Notre Dame football: Can Irish topple USC on the road?

BlueandGold.com will release a countdown article highlighting a significant Notre Dame football statistic every day until the 2024 season opener at Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 in College Station, Texas. Today, there are 48 days until the Irish and Aggies kick off at Kyle Field.

Stunning is the best word to describe Notre Dame’s 48-20 win over USC on Oct. 14, 2023.

The Irish, reeling after a 33-20 loss to Louisville a week prior and playing their fourth-straight night game, were hosting an unbeaten Trojans team led by the defending Heisman Trophy winner and eventual No. 1 overall pick. Even those who thought Notre Dame would win — and there were certainly signs that USC was not as good as its 6-0 record indicated — couldn’t have imagined it would go like it did.

Xavier Watts played one of the best defensive games South Bend has ever seen. Al Golden‘s brilliant game plan flustered Caleb Williams into the worst game of his career. Jadarian Price squashed any hope of a USC comeback with a kickoff return for a touchdown. Sam Hartman did enough, most notably throwing a 46-yard touchdown pass to Chris Tyree, to ensure the Irish kept their distance from the Trojans.

Notre Dame fans could be forgiven for remembering that — as well as USC proceeding to limp to a 7-5 finish — and thinking this season’s matchup will be easy. Williams is gone, too. But winning in Southern California is more difficult than many might realize.

Case in point: The home team in the Jeweled Shillelagh Rivalry is 9-1 in its last 10 matchups.

The only road win in the past decade belongs to Notre Dame, who toppled USC 24-17 in 2018. That blip requires some important context, though. The Irish were the No. 3 team in the country at the time, and that was a truly bad Trojans team. In its third season under former head coach Clay Helton, USC finished 5-7.

As for this Trojans team, head coach Lincoln Riley needs to earn back the benefit of the doubt after last season’s collapse. He took a big step toward that by hiring former UCLA defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who led a top-10 scoring defense in 2023.

Reinforcements on the back seven include All-Pac-12 linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold (Oregon State), as well as stout former UCLA defensive backs Kamari Ramsey and John Humphrey.

Offensively, quarterback Miller Moss‘ 372-yard, 6-touchdown outing in the Holiday Bowl against Louisville earned him the presumptive starting nod. By all accounts, Riley was leaning toward acquiring a veteran quarterback in the transfer portal but Moss’ performance convinced him otherwise.

On paper, Notre Dame is the better team right now. Nearly every preseason top-25 reflects that reality. But football games, particularly in this rivalry, are not won on paper. The Irish will have to bring their A-game to win at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 30.

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