Week 14 Data Review Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS USC Trojans

The tale of the data coming out of the Irish’s 49-35 Rivalry Weekend win over the Trojans.

What a ride.

The 2024 college football regular season is done for Notre Dame and I’m not sure the Irish could’ve went out on a higher note. They traveled to Los Angeles for the annual matchup with the USC Trojans to accomplish two immediate objectives: 1) gain the rivalry win and 2) make their final case for placement at the top of the CFP rankings.

And they crushed both of them.

Scoring Overview

Notre Dame beat USC 49-35 and are now leading the series 50-37-5.

The game’s 1^st quarter was mostly a stalemate, with the Irish going up 7-0. But things started to get into gear during the 2^nd quarter and USC outscored ND 14-7. The Irish had one of their strongest scoring quarters in the 3^rd, putting up 21 points to the Trojan’s seven yards. The 4^th quarter was the most exciting period of play and the teams tied, 14-14.

Scoring Detail

The run game delivered the most points for Notre Dame and the team finished with three rushing touchdowns. They recorded two passing touchdowns and picked up 14 points on pick-sixes.

USC’s scoring came mostly through the air and they had three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns.

Drive Summary

Notre Dame’s offense strung together a pretty solid game, from a drive perspective. They had ten substantive drives against USC and found the end zone on half of them. There were some duds, unfortunately. A 2-play, 22-yard drive ended with a fumble. A 13-play, 66-yard drive ended with yet another missed field goal. A 2-play, 16-yard drive ended in an interception.

To be honest, I’m so high on this team and its odds going into the postseason that those three drives don’t really matter to me. Did want to insert some level of objectivity into this article, though.

Offensive Benchmarking

The Irish tallied up 432 yards of total offense against the Trojans and the identity of the unit over the last several weeks remained the same. Passing production was 179 yards and rushing production was 260 yards. Riley Leonard played the entire game and hit a season high completion rate of 78% on 23 attempts. It wasn’t the team’s most efficient rushing performance of the season but they still finished at 7 yards per carry.

Rushing Details

Notre Dame’s three main rushing weapons finished the game with a touchdown a-piece. Jeremiyah Love had 13 carries for 99 yards and Leonard finished with 12 carries for 50 yards. Jadarian Price had the strongest stat day and ended the USC matchup with 111 yards on 12 rushing attempts.

Receiving Details

The tight ends in South Bend have had a weird season but they definitely finished strong. Senior Mitchell Evans led the team with five receptions for 59 yards and one touchdown. Junior Eli Raridon had two catches, 16 yards and one touchdown by game’s end. Running back Jeremiyah Love had the 2^nd most prolific receiving day, recording 38 yards on three catches. Kris Mitchell and Jayden Harrison were the best performing wide receivers in the game.

Defensive Summary

It didn’t come as much of a surprise that the Trojans put the Irish secondary to the test. And given the talent they were facing, Notre Dame’s 2^nd level and the collective unit delivered as usual.

Safeties Jordan Clark and Xavier Watts, along with cornerback Christian Gray led the team in solo tackles. Watts and Gray had 6 a-piece while Clark finished with five.

Senior linebacker Jack Kiser led the team with eight total tackles. Freshmen Leonard Moore (cornerback) and Jaiden Ausberry (linebacker) both finished the game with 5 total tackles.

The unit recorded one sack, four tackles for loss and a very notable nine pass deflections. And the freshman Moore was responsible for five of those nine pass deflections.

But the biggest defensive story coming out of the USC game was how they slammed the door shut on the Trojan’s 4^th quarter comeback attempt. USC threw a passing touchdown with 8:43 left in the 4^th quarter to bring the score to 35-28. I started having some very familiar, Notre Dame-induced heart palpitations then the Irish responding with a 5-play drive that produced only three yards and a punt.

Christian Gray came through in the most dramatic fashion and not only picked off the Trojans on the Irish’s 21 but returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. And before I could even get my sort back together, Xavier Watts took another interception back for and 100-yard touchdown. Sure, the Trojans scored on their final drive but it was already over by then.

Final Thoughts

It’s unfortunately been a few years since I’ve made the pilgrimage to South Bend for a home game. But the USC win has me contemplating some truly irresponsible financial and life decisions (mostly choosing to be in tundra of northwest Indiana post-Thanksgiving) to see what the Irish do with what should undoubtedly be a home Playoff game.

The way this team is playing, put together with what we’re seeing from potential opponents, is definitely cause for a lot of excitement and I daresay, high (attainable) expectations.

Cheers and Go Irish!!