Can Notre Dame Crush USC?

During this bye week I have been examining the possible outcomes of this game. I do not foresee a close game, such as the one played in 2005. Before I state my reasons, I will look at why Notre Dame will be the one crushed on Oct. 17th. First, the defense has had difficulty in stopping the run. The Notre Dame defense has had issues stopping the pass and have demonstrated horrid tackling techniques during this season. In addition, Coach Weis has this strange affection for running gimmick plays and has an unfortunate ability to choose just the wrong time for such plays. USC does have a strong running game and they do have the athletes to make an opponent pay dearly for errors. None of these tendencies bode well for Notre Dame.

Now lets look at the positives. First, I would not say that Notre Dame has played poor defense, rather inconsistent defense. This is the same defense that shut down their opponents for periods this season. This defense also has had several goal line stands. The game will show if Notre Dame has the ability to learn and adjust from past errors. I believe that they have such ability. Also, we need to remember that few teams can pass the football as well as Notre Dame. The USC defense has not seen anything like what Notre Dame has been doing this year. Also, this is the same USC offense which scored all of 13 points against Washington and 17 points against Ohio State. These teams, by the way, are the only opponents which USC has played which are not bottom dwellers or division III schools. In the Ohio State game, the USC offense has 2 successful drives. I do not feel that this USC team is as near as talented as earlier versions of this decade.

What I project is that Notre Dame will force some turnovers and throw for several touchdowns. While it is entirely possible that Notre Dame will go into the same mental meltdown that Cal is currently experiencing, I believe that the players of Notre Dame will rise to the challenge this year. Quite simply, Notre Dame should be able to impose their will on USC on both sides of the ball. Now we have to wait and see if the Notre Dame Coaches can keep them focused enough to do that.