I think there's a difference between swag and being pretty obnoxious. The guy just seems fairly self-centered and I'm not sure I'd call it a "big show personality" by painting your fingernails. There's a difference between a good foil like Johnny Manziel who was annoying as hell but just seemed to exude joy and flair. I watched him pretty closely yesterday (5 rows behind the Trojans bench). A lot of him standing by himself. Little/no connection/interaction with the fans. Actually became pretty convinced he'll sit out next year if he thinks its in his best interest. (Fans were also miserable by the way yesterday... We think our fans are bad, but I stood for the first play from scrimmage - again, fifth row - and fans yelled at me to sit down. I said I'm not doing that for a top 15 rivalry matchup and literally people yelled at me until I sat three plays later. The woman behind me then explained "our section only stands for opposing team's 3rd downs in the second half" like it was some rule or something. Made me hate USC even more that it just seemed so joyless and robotic - Caleb's interaction with the fans, their success, everything).
Should we assume Tyree is transferring? Estime / Diggs I would assume will share 80% of the carries with whoever emerges from Price / Love / Edwards getting other 20% (unless Price truly is that good and gets healthy again) Also, was Staes hurt down the stretch? I thought with Raridon out he would get a ton of looks but I don't remember him playing the last month plus
Several things can be true. -There are legit excuses for sluggish offense at times (talent at QB, offensive line not firing early on, hell the rb's looked and played like shit early on -Rees has his strengths -Rees has weaknesses, some of which could be chalked up to inexperience. I still say many of his failures to this point are more on Kelly. (You promote a coach in his 20s to OC and give him zero support in recruiting? He also let Long turn into a cancer and did nothing til it was too late - thus necessitating said hire prematurely) -It is not crazy to think that he will be a better OC next year than he is now -All this said, another middling year and he should go take a job in the NFL as a QB coach.
All fair. Nd seems to give coaches no cutting it one more year than they should all the time. Hope this isn’t another example
Didn't see any of that but it's for sure worth noting. Reminds me of the QB in Draft Day ("How many teammates went to your birthday party" haha. I was in 217 and had no issues with the fans. Good conversation about each others season. Answered some of my questions about USC players I wasn't super familiar with. Aside from the game watching & tailgating, The Coliseum needs a ton of work. Concourses are so narrow w/ open staircases right where the concession lines are. No way to get food/drink without missing half a quarter.
Glad to see you had a better fan experience than we did. I was told at halftime we were in a section that was a mix of "heavy USC donors and players' friends." That checked out as the row in front of us were college aged kids on their phones the whole time and behind us for a few rows were 70 year old USC fans who wanted to kill me for standing up. After a big Colzie third down catch, I said "nice catch, Deion!" and clapped, a kid a row in front of me said "bro, unless thats your brother, settle down man its just a game!" and his friends laughed
That would be the most infuriating experience. I think luckily was with real fans Was nice to see that place rocking for what feels like the first time in years, even with the loss
oof...Pro Football Focus dinged Notre Dame for 20 missed tackles against USC. The Irish were averaging 6.1 missed tackles per game this season and had 16 total in their previous four games. Not only did Notre Dame tackle poorly on Saturday night, the Irish were often in poor positions to make tackles in the first place.
What about the dude from GT? Know nothing about him but his stats looked p decent (especially considering he was playing for GT)
ToT Spoiler “It’s difficult to play catch up to any team but when you’re not able to stop their offense, it’s extremely difficult. We weren’t able to do that at critical points of the game today. There were a couple of times we got a stop. But at critical points of the game, we weren’t able to get a stop. “You see it happen over and over all year. (Caleb Williams’) ability to feel pressure, to spin out of it…We told our guys, ‘He’s going to spin, he’s going to spin, work upfield.’ He’s elusive, man, and he’s got huge legs. He’s like a running back at times, but he’s got an arm of a great quarterback. He’s really difficult to bring down. He’s a special player.” -- Marcus Freeman following Notre Dame’s 38-27 loss to USC • While most would agree that in 2023, Notre Dame needs an upgrade at the quarterback position, QB-Drew Pyne deserves a ton of credit for his performance against USC in the 38-27 loss to the Trojans, who now have a spot in the College Football Playoffs if it defeats Utah in the Pac-12 championship game. Pyne completed his first 15 passes with a touchdown toss to TE-Michael Mayer. He closed by connecting on his last 8-of-11 with touchdown throws to Deion Colzie and Mayer again. It’s too bad he didn’t pull the trigger to Colzie up the sideline in the fourth quarter, instead rolling to his right and throwing across his body to Braden Lenzy for an easy step-in-front interception by Calen Bullock that led to a touchdown. In fact, Pyne’s two turnovers – including the failed mesh with Audric Estime early in the third quarter – led directly to 14 USC points, which was very costly. But if it wasn’t for Pyne’s performance – the Irish had no running game consistency – the Trojans would have won by three touchdowns. Pyne squeezed in a couple of passes to Mayer in the second series and then correctly checked down to Audric Estime for a 31-yard gain. Per usual, Pyne took some shots, but kept the Irish in the game by leading a five-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a Colzie touchdown, a seven-play, 75-yard march that resulted in a five-yard Logan Diggs score, and a six-play, 56-yard drive capped by Mayer’s second touchdown from 24 yards out. Pyne stood in there and willingly took a shot by USC’s Tuli Tuipulotu to connect with Colzie on his 30-yarder. Kirk Herbstreit was correct that the motion of Jayden Thomas distracted the mesh point with Estime on the fumble because Pyne thought if he handed it to Estime, he and Thomas were likely to collide. Pyne finished 23-of-26 for 318 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions and two sacks. He did virtually everything he’s capable of doing to lead the Irish to an upset, although the turnovers certainly played a role in the defeat. • Notre Dame had to do something different defensively to try to slow down Caleb Williams and the USC offense. The Trojans came into the game averaging 513 yards total offense (No. 2), 331 yards passing per game (No. 4), 42.9 points per game (No. 3) and 9.1 yards per snap (No. 7). Notre Dame ran a version of a 3-3-5 defense in order to match up with Lincoln Riley’s 2-by-2 wideout alignment with one running back and no tight end. When Riley went with 11 personnel in 3-by-1 with a tight end or 2-by-1 with a blocking tight end in the slot, Al Golden employed a four-man front. It was a matchup-driven decision and it was the right one, even if it didn’t always work and led to some gash runs by Austin Jones. When USC was in 2-by-2 without a tight end, the Irish frequently blitzed Marist Liufau to join the three down-linemen with two linebackers – JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser – patrolling the second level with a five-man nickel shell around them. Lincoln Riley is an offensive savant and he does it through matchups and execution. You have to adjust to what he does in order to have a chance to slow them down. But when they run the football effectively, now you’re facing double jeopardy. To hold USC to 436 yards total offense was an achievement. It was USC’s third-lowest output of the season. Unfortunately, Notre Dame’s interior defensive line in particular was beaten up front most of the night by OG-Andrew Vorhees, C-Brett Neilon and OG-Justin Dedich, and thus, RB-Austin Jones. Jones averaged about three-and-a-half yards per carry last season for Stanford. Against the Irish, he rushed for 154 yards on 25 carries (6.2), which matched his season rushing average. • Particularly ineffective for the Irish was junior Rylie Mills, who was rooted off the football with regularity while continuing the pattern that is holding him back from getting to the next level of play. Mills gets stymied at the point of attack, does not keep bringing his feet, and then allows the offensive lineman to either dance him out of the play or to simply accept his fate of getting no penetration and staying in the place initial contact is made. Mills’ name did not appear on the final defensive stat sheet, which means he didn’t make an individual play on any of his snaps. NT-Howard Cross III also was less effective than he normally is. He, too, was rooted off the football and spun around much more often than we saw throughout the regular season. DT-Jayson Ademilola was his typical battling self. He made five stops and two tackles for loss, including a co-sack with Isaiah Foskey, who ended up with one-and-a-half sacks. But Notre Dame’s interior defensive line, which has battled a lack of overall bulk throughout the season, did not have a good game. NT-Gabe Rubio made a play for a two-yard Austin Jones gain, but for the most part, Notre Dame’s interior defensive line was the most responsible for getting gashed and pushed off the football. The Irish need a healthy/strong Aidan Keanaaina on the field, perhaps as soon as the bowl game. • This game was a perfect example of why I’ve defended Notre Dame’s linebackers, especially JD Bertrand. When the defensive line is rooted off the football, the linebackers have to sift through the opposing offensive line while getting their teammates pushed back into their lap. They’re trying to tackle Austin Jones with a stymied 300-pound defensive lineman between them! Marist Liufau is inconsistent. He’s at his best, as we’ve said many times, when he plays the disruptive battering ram role at the point of attack. We’ve never said anything other than that. Jack Kiser is an intelligent, instinctual, resourceful football player, but can be absent from the action for long periods of time when he isn’t subbed out to fit the defensive package. He had a chance for a red-zone interception but didn’t get his body positioned to gather his weight and leave his feet. The only linebacker I’ve ever defended and still do is Bertrand, who led the defense against USC in tackles (9) and solos (6) with one-and-a-half tackles for loss. To expect perfection from Bertrand, who is flying to the football and trying to be disruptive when he’s not in a position to actually make the tackle, is unrealistic. He missed some tackles against USC, particularly on a 24-yard Jones run. One time, he wasn’t ready for a snap as he was directing traffic and Jones rushed for 15 yards on the play. He does, like all linebackers, miss some plays. When an offensive lineman gets to the second level against a linebacker, most linebackers lose, including the ones Notre Dame faces when the Irish offensive linemen get to the second level. It’s the nature of the game and the size disadvantage that comes into play for every linebacker giving away 50, 60, 70 pounds to an offensive lineman. Yet he gets dinged for not making the play because he gets a paw on the running back but just doesn’t have a good enough angle to make the stop. He’s not the ideal size, which will always be a somewhat limiting factor. But Bertrand is not the problem in Notre Dame’s run defense. Think about this for those who say Bertrand shouldn’t play. Brian Kelly, Marcus Freeman and now Al Golden believe he’s critical to the Irish defense and needs to be on the field every snap. If Bertrand’s critics are right, they’re smarter than Brian Kelly, Marcus Freeman and Al Golden – combined! If Prince Kollie and Jaylen Sneed give Notre Dame’s defense the best chance to succeed at linebacker this year, then Freeman and Golden are flat-out wrong. I find that really difficult to believe. We’ve said in the past that Golden was completely astonished when told about the outside criticism levied at Bertrand. Thank goodness for Notre Dame that Bertrand will return in 2023. • This game was a constant anomaly because on one hand, the Irish fought tooth-and-nail with the Trojans. After falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter, Notre Dame matched USC touchdown for touchdown. They each scored a touchdown in the second and third quarters; they each scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. But USC won this game in the trenches and with the illusionist at quarterback. Notre Dame gave up 204 yards rushing; USC allowed 90. USC averaged 5.2 per rush to Notre Dame's 3.5. USC had 96 yards rushing on 10 carries in the third quarter. Logan Diggs never launched; Austin Jones launched repeatedly with runs of 7, 5, 12, 9, 12, 24, 13, 6, 14, 5, 9 and 5 yards. Jones had 153 yards rushing and averaged 6.2 yards per carry. USC won the time of possession by more than 10 minutes. USC possessed the football more than the Irish in each quarter. USC was 8-of-12 on third down. USC led by double-digits over the last 30:34 and 42:49 of the game. Notre Dame didn’t get blown out, but Notre Dame never truly reached the point of having a chance to win the game. They didn’t cut the differential to one score. Caleb Williams was never going to allow that to happen. Great credit to Notre Dame and I echo the words of Kirk Herbstreit (see below), who correctly stated that Marcus Freeman’s team played to win until the very end. But USC’s offensive and defensive lines were better than Notre Dame’s offensive and defensive lines on this night, and that was not the narrative going into this game. It was thought that Notre Dame’s power and strength would be superior to USC’s, and that was not the case. • We all could go on and on about the performance of USC QB-Caleb Williams. I couldn’t believe it when I read some comments about Williams heading into the game, as if he was being over-sold by Irish Illustrated. The kid is a magician. His feel for the game is otherworldly. He knows where all the chess pieces on the board are. He pounds you with his physicality while still being elusive. We warned of this during the Trojan analysis during the week. His spatial awareness is off the chart. He got banged around by Xavier Watts and Isaiah Foskey in second series. I didn’t realize until watching the TV version of just how beaten up he was at that moment. When he sat down on the bench, he was still gathering his…shall we say, wits, after Watts inadvertently kicked him below the belt. I can’t appreciate the unnecessary, vulgar epithet painted on his fingernails directed at Notre Dame. But I’m an old man who was taught that sportsmanship is a significant part of competitive athletics. As for his Heisman Trophy pose following one of his touchdowns, he really should have worked on that move before pulling it out in a game. It was pretty bad. Michigan’s Desmond Howard had it mastered when he did it prior to being crowned in 1991. But Williams certainly was entitled to it. He is that good. “He’s playing like a baller,” said Lincoln Riley at halftime. And then some. There is no more dangerous quarterback in the country than Caleb Williams. • The improvement of sophomore WR-Deion Colzie has been nothing short of phenomenal. After suffering a sprained MCL during the pre-season and causing great consternation within the coaching staff that he might not ever develop the attitude and demeanor to be a consistent, hard-nosed football player, Colzie has done a 360. Chansi Stuckey deserves a ton of credit, but mostly, it’s Colzie. Here’s how Colzie concluded his 2022 regular season: three receptions on three targets for 44 yards with a long of 21; no receptions on one target versus Clemson; two catches on two targets for 50 yards, including a 29-yarder against Navy; one reception for 23 yards on two targets versus Boston College; three receptions on three targets for 75 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown against USC. Over the last five games, Colzie caught nine passes on 11 targets for 189 yards (17.1-yard average) and a touchdown. Six of his grabs converted third downs. Right before his 30-yarder in the second quarter, I turned to Tim O’Malley and said, ‘Man, they’re going to have to throw the football down the field.” Sure enough, a 3rd-and-10 conversion. (Note: Herbstreit said the same thing shortly before the play. You could just feel that it was time to test the waters.) Colzie won the battle in the end zone for the touchdown and then made an incredibly athletic, leaping grab in Notre Dame’s last scoring drive. On the 30-yarder, he carried USC CB-Ceyair Wright for 13 yards. It took three USC defenders to bring him down. On Pyne’s interception, in which he could have connected with Colzie up the sideline, Colzie got back in the play and made the tackle of Calen Bullock. So in addition to Colzie making plays, he’s aggressive and confident. A physical tackle on an interception is another sign that he’s really settling in and getting a feel for the game. • On the flip side, Irish CB-Jaden Mickey is a million miles from what was thought in the spring when he took the camp by storm long before Irish fans were aware of what Benjamin Morrison would be bringing when he arrived in June. It’s difficult to imagine Mickey playing any more poorly than he did with Cam Hart and TaRiq Bracy out against USC. His coverage was nearly as bad as his tackling. He was completely lacking technique and confidence in the USC game. He lunged and “felt” his way to tackles as if he were walking into a dark room reaching out for a light switch without knowing its whereabouts on the wall. The initial reaction when O’Malley and I saw Bracy on the sideline at the start of the game was: You cannot beat USC without Hart and Bracy. Then when you saw how gun-shy Mickey was, you really knew Notre Dame would not be able to out-score the Trojans. Mickey was buried on a block by WR-Mario Williams. He waved at a tackle of Williams on a 14-yard reception. He flailed in a windmill attempt to tackle Caleb Williams on a 19-yard run that looked like he might attempt a cartwheel. He whiffed on WR-Brenden Rice in the fourth quarter…and picked up a facemask penalty in the process. Right now, Mickey is armed with nothing other than his natural abilities and those are so far hidden by his lack of confidence that he was not mentally or emotionally prepared to compete at that level against the Trojans. The end of the regular season came at the right time for Mickey. All that being said, there’s still a good football player in that 5-foot-11, 176-pound frame that Mike Mickens can and probably will bring out. Deion Colzie’s development on the other side of the ball shows what determination, will and good coaching can do. Buried within that scared football player right now is a kid with confidence and bravado. He needs to humble himself, acknowledge his shortcomings and the corrections he needs to make, and re-tool his mindset to get back to where he was playing when he arrived at Notre Dame. • The failed 4th-and-1 run with TE-Mitchell Evans eventually was going to be stopped. I believe it was six times they had run it, five for a first down and one for a touchdown. The problem with this one was that the damn thing looked like a pre-scrum alignment in a rugby game. Everybody was in the box. Notre Dame’s front just couldn’t get enough push with 6-foot-3, 345-pound NT-Brandon Pili in the middle of it as DE-Tuli Tuipulotu made great penetration slanting and caving in on LT-Joe Alt. • I was surprised to learn the TV feed some people received of the Notre Dame-USC game was different than the one I watched upon returning from Los Angeles. I read on Twitter and Irish Illustrated that the two ESPN/ABC broadcasters were openly cheering for the Trojans and showing an extreme bias toward USC HC-Lincoln Riley and QB-Caleb Williams. So I watched it. I heard Chris Fowler, from the get-go, say that USC’s defense wasn’t very good and that USC’s offense was going to have to score a lot of points, suggesting that Notre Dame was going to score a lot of points. At one point in the broadcast I heard Fowler say USC’s defense was “a laughingstock,” which made me wonder how USC’s followers took that comment and how Irish fans would have responded had Fowler said anything about Notre Dame football being “a laughingstock.” I’m surprised that I’m the only one that heard it because I haven’t seen or heard that mentioned anywhere else. Also before the game, I heard Herbstreit – an Ohio State graduate and former captain of the Buckeyes – say Ohio State “played not to lose” in their one-sided home loss to Michigan and that QB-CJ Stroud “got caught up in the individual accolades” and allowed it to negatively impact his performance against the Wolverines. That’s strikingly unbiased for someone deemed overtly biased against Notre Dame. Fowler earned the wrath of Notre Dame’s fans by admitting that as a 10-year-old, he “wasn’t the biggest Notre Dame fan” and that 1972 Notre Dame-USC game star Anthony Davis was “5-foot-9 and I ran in the back yard and I did that touchdown dance.” How dare he grow up as something other than a Notre Dame fan! Herbstreit clearly made a mistake when he said that Brandon Joseph was not accustomed to returning punts. He probably looked at film from the previous couple games and did not see Joseph returning punts because he was injured. On a daily/weekly basis, Herbstreit is expected to know hundreds upon hundreds of college football players. Every week, he does a three-hour morning show that he prepped for all week and pre-live at 9 a.m. Saturday. Then he either does the game from his pre-game location or flies to it for a night game. So on a given Saturday, he’s on live broadcasts for about six-to-seven hours. And yes, he referred to Deion Colzie as Jayden Thomas, but he corrected it when he saw the replay, although he never did say Colzie’s name in that instance. And then the most damning of all, Herbstreit’s final thoughts on Notre Dame: “I just like how Notre Dame keeps playing. When you’re a first-year head coach, you want a team that just keeps fighting. I know they’re not going to come back and win this game, but I love to see Marcus Freeman establishing that in their culture.” The audacity. The gall. Proof once again that many watch, but few see; many listen, but few hear. • I continue to be surprised that broadcasters don’t have injury news heading into some games. The same thing happened with Syracuse QB-Garrett Shrader. Irish Illustrated knew Shrader was injured coming into the game; game analyst Greg McElroy did not, and yet he never questioned why Shrader, averaging more than a dozen carries per game, ran just one time in the first half. If you’re announcing the game and a guy that’s playing is hurt and you don’t know it, you’re looking at the game through a blurred lens. Notre Dame RB-Audric Estime came into the USC game battling turf toe. Irish Illustrated reported it pre-game. Neither Fowler nor Herbstreit acknowledged it. We learned shortly after the game began that CB-TaRiq Bracy was out (hamstring), which means two of Notre Dame’s top three cornerbacks, including CB-Cam Hart, would miss the game against perhaps the most dangerous run-pass quarterback in the country with an ultra-deep receiving corps. And yet ESPN/ABC had sideline reporter Holly Rowe on the field pre-game, during the game, and upon the conclusion of the game and these things were not reported. • Irish Illustrated was correct about RB-Audric Estime being limited by turf toe. He was hurt but not injured. We verified it again on Sunday. The Irish spread out Estime’s contributions to six carries for 43 yards with 31-yard reception. He finished the regular season with 825 yards, 5.8 yards per carry and 11 rushing touchdowns. He’s going to continue to be a foundational piece with Logan Diggs and Jadarian Price moving forward. • This is pure speculation, but Chris Tyree just might want to take his game somewhere else to get his touches because Price is considered in some Notre Dame circles to be the best running back on the roster post-Achilles…This should never happen again. Xavier Watts and Benjamin Morrison had a chance to hit Caleb Williams after his disrespectful skip into the end zone from two yards out. They would have killed him because he was elevated and the fallout probably would have been bad because Williams would have been launched. But he deserved to get his ass sent into the first row of the bleachers, just as he did in his taunting second touchdown run…Seriously, what’s with the grown men on the USC sideline swinging towels around like they’re fifth-graders crashing a slumber party? I have to admit, it certainly creates some excitement along the Trojan sideline. But imagine your friends saying, ‘Hey, dude, great job swinging the towels! You get paid for that?”... • Seldom acknowledged is that Tommy Rees had to create a completely different offense/approach when Tyler Buchner went down. His approach with Drew Pyne had to be completely altered. Again, blame Rees for the skill-position roster. It’s insufficient. But he had to reinvent the wheel offensively with, admittedly, mixed results…Nice PBU by CB-Benjamin Morrison on quick out to Brenden Rice. Morrison is the one secondary constant for the Irish…Really nice job by DE-Nana Osafo-Mensah forcing Caleb Williams to roll hard to his left while retreating and throwing a very difficult ball into the ground…For us old-timers, I did not know – or remember – that USC RB-Anthony Davis, who killed the Irish in the second half of the 1972 game (and made little Timmy Prister very upset at the time), won two national championships in football and three in baseball… • Just think about this. On Michael Mayer’s first touchdown, it was the 6-foot-4, 265-pound Mayer getting position on 5-foot-9, 180-pound safety Max Williams. That’s seven inches in height and 85 pounds on Williams…I thought Lorenzo Styles played harder than he has in about two months. He still doesn’t fully believe he’s going to break a tackle. It’s in his body language. But on his one kick return for 37 yards, he showed a level of explosion that Chris Tyree hasn’t flashed since the Wisconsin game in 2021…Here’s a relative rarity. Tim O’Malley’s “second touchdown” hypothesis didn’t hit this time…Logan Diggs’ stretch for a first down that led to Notre Dame’s first touchdown was tremendously clutch. The Irish rightfully benefitted from the overturn…Another good observation by Herbstreit. USC’s defense has been hurt this year by teams that spread you out and then mix in the run. Notre Dame is so tight end-reliant that the Trojans could sit inside a bit more, anticipate the running game and take their chances with the wideouts. Drew Pyne and the Irish receivers passed their way into the game…Yes, yes, absolutely can verify that USC should have been called for a whole bunch of holdings before they started throwing flags late… • I thought USC’s linebackers and safeties stayed off blocks and made a lot of plays. Notre Dame’s offensive line had difficulty getting to the second level, which is why USC’s linebackers and safeties were so effective…Watch the umpire on the interception thrown by Drew Pyne. He – William Thomas -- gets caught amidst Calen Bullock during his return, Howard Cross III and Logan Diggs, and gets bounced to the ground…Just a tremendous call by Lincoln Riley in the first series. A fake end-around left to Jordan Addison, Williams rolls right and they drag TE-Lake McRee across the field for a 31-yard gain while Williams keeps his RPO alive. On the next play, they circle Addison again, only this time he gets it and gains 13… The touchdown pass to Tahj Washington is just unfair. Caleb Williams steps up, JD Bertrand peels off accordingly because Williams looks like he’s going to run, Ramon Henderson gets picked off by a blocker in the middle of the field and Williams RPOs the easy pitch-and-catch touchdown with a half-hearted effort by DJ Brown at the goal line…The quarterback pooch punts were a brilliant counter to Brian Mason’s punt blocking unit…Chris Fowler said Lincoln Riley “figured out a way to get Caleb Williams, Mario Williams, Jordan Addison, Travis Dye” et al to get them to come to USC. Yeah, they “figured out a way” (wink wink)… • Jarrett Patterson probably should skip the bowl game, particularly with his injury history. How’d you like to be him telling Harry Hiestand that he’s decided to opt-out? To be a fly on the wall. Wouldn’t be shocked in the warrior Patterson plays...I don’t own “the chart” but why go for two down 11? I’m not saying it’s wrong, I just need someone to explain it to me…Xavier Watts played a solid, aggressive game. He finished with a co-team-leading nine tackles. But be a receiver! All he had to do to record an interception was to step in front of a floated pass to Jordan Addison with Ben Morrison already in contact with Addison. Come back to the ball and make the play! Be a receiver! It’s in your DNA!…Brandon Joseph signals four times it’s Notre Dame’s ball on a fumble. And then it wasn’t. Tremendous job by Isaiah Foskey pursuing downfield on the fumble that Addison got back. Great job by Liufau punching it out, but a good overturn. Joseph whiffs defending the pass on the edge to Austin Jones, who takes it to the two-yard line. Less theatrics, more plays needed from Joseph…Justin Ademilola with a tackle for loss. Notre Dame really needs him to come back…Need to see more of the Jayden Thomas since Game 5 versus BYU. He was an impactful football player. They need him to catch 30 balls next year… • My, goodness, what a horrible spot for a Trojan first down on a 3rd-and-1 in the touchdown drive before halftime. How was that not questioned from the booth?...A 12-yard run by Austin Jones in which Jordan Botelho gets engulfed by OG-Justin Dedich is a microcosm of why Botelho doesn’t get consistent reps…Rylie Mills’ best play of the game is the tackle he makes of Austin Jones, who doesn’t actually have the ball…Chris Tyree is one of the slowest fast guys I’ve ever seen on kick returns. Concerned about the look of his six-yard fourth quarter run in which he was grabbed by the foot and he yanked his right leg forward. It looked like that Bo Jackson hit that changed his professional career forever. Tyree immediately waved that he needed to be replaced and limped to the sideline. Head trainer Rob Hunt immediately greeted him on sideline…Nineteen transfers for USC. There’s no way Notre Dame will duplicate that. Six? Eight? Perhaps. But not 19… 5COMMENTS • I understand Rees’ 3rd-and-1 call in the opening series. They’ve got five blockers to the right of Zeke Correll -- Josh Lugg, Blake Fisher, Davis Sherwood, Michael Mayer just off the line of scrimmage and Mitchell Evans. Sherwood runs right by LB-Shane Lee to get to the second level and Lee runs completely free to get into Logan Diggs for a four-yard loss. The play was designed well; the execution was lacking, which is a shared blame between player and the teachers… The apple doesn’t fall far from the Pyne tree. Grandpa George Pyne III played DT for the Boston Patriots in 1965 and Uncle Jim Pyne -- co-founder of Wheels Up -- played OL in NFL from 1995-2001. Drew looks just like them, only smaller…The live D.J. in the house at USC seems to be crossing a line, or rather, creating a new threshold for stirring up a crowd…Great block by Braden Lenzy on Estime’s 31-yard reception and an outstanding Lenzy catch on diving comeback…A rare whipping absorbed by RT-Blake Fisher from DE-Tuli Tuipulotu. But Fisher gets him back on the lead block of Logan Diggs’ five-yard touchdown run…It looked as if Chris Velotta missed the block on the second Tyree kick return. Notre Dame’s kick return has been bad, particularly for a Brian Mason-coached group. By the way, it’s a rare team that is good in all four phases of return/coverage. Very rare… • If you’re not concerned about what Lincoln Riley is creating at USC, you better think again. The Clay Helton gravy train has left the station. There are some titanic battles between Riley and Marcus Freeman coming up.
Decided to watch a davis brim highlight at lunch. First 4 possessions - pick 6, pick, stood in the pocket too ping and gets sacked x2
"If you’re not concerned about what Lincoln Riley is creating at USC, you better think again. The Clay Helton gravy train has left the station. There are some titanic battles between Riley and Marcus Freeman coming up." First, who's not concerned about USC? Second, everyone is an offensive savant until you don't have a generational talent at QB. At some point, they're going to miss on one of these guys or have a major offensive injury, and it'll be interesting to what happens then
You can’t expect Lincoln Riley to *not* have a Heisman level QB at this point. It’s literally who he is. And every single time people say “there’s no way he can find another Mayfield/Kyler/Caleb”, and then he does. USC’s QB room behind Caleb is already insane, and that’s before Malachi Nelson hits campus. Im not saying he’s unbeatable. The guy can’t field a defense. But we always have to assume his QB will be elite. And with both the Transfer Portal and NIL, his margin for error on QBs only increases.
They’ll just hit the portal. Riley was taking great QBs from the portal as far back as Baker Mayfield. Then there was Kyler Murray. Then Jalen Hurts. No matter what there are (rightfully) going to be too QBs dying to play for him.
Yep you need to be good enough to get 2-3 stops (which they did) and super efficient on offense (which they weren’t)
A team that isn’t used to having to throw the ball to win can’t get into a shootout with Riley/USC. And that’s exactly what happened to us once we got stuffed on 3 straight short yardage situations to start the game. We’re honestly extremely lucky Drew Pyne kept the game as close as he did. Sure, his turnovers sucked. But all in all, he played the best game of his life. You can’t expect a kid with his skillset to be perfect. You have to do everything you can to not allow him to be put in that situation.
I don’t blame Pyne in the slightest, none of this is his fault. Seems like a good enough dude, so do you guys, I don’t want any of you to be ND’s QB either.
the way to beat Riley's offense is to have elite athletes on defense...ND has some pieces in place and they are recruiting A LOT more talent on defense to supplement what they already have Imagine having two more Ben Morrison type players and then throw in Peyton Bowen or Shuler at safety We are recruiting at an elite level at LB in Sneed/Kollie/Junior/Ausberry/Drayk Dline has some major pieces coming in as well w/ more size and length (I think Freeman knew this was a major shortcoming on the current team, especially inside) Offense will be perfectly fine once we have a QB transfer this offseason
I actually grew up with the baseball version of Drew, my buddy still holds most of the records at our local little league, pro scouts coming to see him as a freshman… he’s the same size as when I met him in 8th grade. Ended up as a middling contributor at mid d-1 school.
also, this game would be much different if just two of those OBVIOUS holding calls are made on USC...not having those called truly impacted the game in a major way
Nd lsu in the gator looking more likely. Pls don’t. I don’t know who will sit for lsu but nd will probably be without foskey, Mayer, Patterson, and maybe hart
A1. You have been consistently great in here since Day 1. Wouldn’t you admit that USC was the better team? Way better coaching, play calling and certainly QB play. There’s a lot of old school Rivals whining in this thread - really, his fingernails?? - who gives a fuck. There certainly was holding but ND was beaten by a superior team. Period. 8-9 yards a carry on every single play. Superior clock management. Lining up fast and going slow. When was the last time ND showed any sense of urgency or creativity?
I am of the mind that USC getting better is good for ND. ND building a team good enough to beat Bama, UGA, OSU in the current environment is almost impossible. We need that talent spread out. UGA, Bama, and OSU not only locking up their local talent but also going out west to California to pluck elite talent does not help us. Our path to a title is a hell of a lot easier if the top gets worse
Those teams barely recruit USC's main areas, though. USC getting better will just mean teams like Oregon and Washington getting worse.
One game a year that's on our schedule every year going from 80% win probability (like it was the Helton years) to 35-40% win probability (where it looks like we'll be in the Riley era) will do significantly more damage to our title chance than UGa or Bama having one or two more 5 stars who would otherwise go to SC Michigan and Penn State are way ahead of the game in writing the books for what you need in a schedule in the current format. Both teams essentially are playing two game schedules. USC always being good and us always going out and scheduling an OSU, Oklahoma, etc. isn't doing us any favors.
Top 150 TE who goes to Rico Flores' school just de-committed from Stanford. Why weren't we ever in on this guy? https://247sports.com/player/walker-lyons-46099763/