Notre Dame vs. USC Week

Its a special week for Notre Dame and USC football fans. Yes, records up to this point are thrown out the window (much to the delight of the 1-6 Irish fans) in what many call the greatest Intersectional Rivalry in all of college football.

There is a great summary/history of the rivalry here, straight from the gurus at Wikipedia. For instance, Knute Rockne's wife was a main reason the Irish play USC every year as a rival instead of Nebraska. She wanted to hit up some warm weather and convinced Knute to play USC instead of Nebraska.

This is a very big game for both teams. It might not be as bitter as the regional rivalries of Auburn vs Alabama, or Ohio St vs Michigan, but a win for either team is a very big deal. USC has beaten the Irish 5 straight games, and have never beaten Notre Dame 6 times in a row. The series record still favors the Irish (42-31-5); although lately, its hard to remember the days when the Irish were favored over the Trojans.


(The Obvious) Keys to Victory for the 2007 edition of the rivalry, for Notre Dame of course:

1. Win the Time of Possession Battle - Pretty simple, we need to get a ground game and sustain some drives. Their offense is cold right now but its still USC.





2. Win the Special Teams Battle - Our special teams have been awful this season. We need stops on all punt and kickoff returns, and we need to give ourself a few huge pickups in field position.





3. Execute more screen plays (no run game, must execute these on all out blitz) - We have no sustainable ground game this season. Screen plays have always been Weis's way of stopping over-aggressive defenses that prevent us from running. However, our O-lineman this year are young and look like monkeys trying to hump a football when we call a screen play. We need at least a few screen plays to work in this game.





4. Complete at least 3 passes of 30 yards or more - Completing these gets us yards in a hurry, and it keeps the defense on its heels a bit more. This will protect our QB and open up what little running lanes there might be.





5. Win turnover battle (at least 2 for us and 1 or none for them) - Obvious obvious obvious


6. Wear these throwback uniforms >>> The Irish have already announced that they will be wearing yellow pants and kelley green jerseys like to the right, to honor the 1977 National Championship team. Also, Adidas has it in their contract with us that we need to introduce a new special jersey every few years. I dont mind them but would prefer suprise I guess.
   
   


7. Dont let either of these happen again

The Pope also wants to give a special blessing to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in South Bend, for using fantastic discretion on this church signage:

The Pope's prediction: USC 28 Notre Dame 31

Yes, Im predicting a victory, despite the low chance of the Irish being successful on #2 and #3 of the keys to victory (not to mention the others!). I am not sure USC's offense is going to be able to score 30 on us, and I think we can score 20 on them. There will be a play or two go our way and we'll win.

GO IRISH BEAT TROJANS!!