The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the USC Trojans meet Saturday in college football action from LA Memorial Coliseum. Notre Dame is fresh off a matchup versus Boston College. In that game the Irish won in blowout fashion. As for USC, they played UCLA last weekend. The Trojans powered out a three-point win there. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.
Notre Dame struggled at the beginning of the year with a 3-2 record over their first five games. After a loss to Stanford, the Irish hit their stride with wins over UNLV, Syracuse, Clemson and Navy in the next four.
In the Boston College matchup, the Irish had very few issues. Notre Dame got off to a 37-0 lead in the first half and cruised to the 44-0 shutout win. QB Drew Pyne managed 156 yards and a TD. Logan Diggs added 122 points with one touchdown on 15 carries.
Over on the USC side, they won their first six versus Rice, Stanford, Fresno State, Oregon State, Arizona State and Washington State. The Trojans lost to Utah then beat Arizona, California and Colorado in the next trio.
Matched up against UCLA last weekend, USC was within one point going into the second half. The Trojans scored 28 more points on the way to a 48-45 victory. QB Caleb Williams finished with 470 yards, two scores and a pick, while Austin Jones added 120 rush yards and two TDs.
The Irish are 6-1 ATS in their last seven on grass and 4-1 ATS versus a team with a winning record. Notre Dame is 15-5-1 ATS in their last 21 in November.
Meanwhile, the Trojans are 5-1 ATS versus a team with a winning record and 5-2 ATS in their last seven at home. USC is 7-3 ATS in the last 10 on grass.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on the Irish. Notre Dame put on a defensive clinic versus Boston College in their last game, holding the Eagles to 173 total yards, 11 first downs and five turnovers. Matching up with USC is obviously going to be a much tougher test, however the Irish are on a nice run with 35 or more points in each of their last five games.
As for USC, they had a pretty great day against UCLA in their last game, notching 649 total yards with 30 first downs. The Trojans were sketchy on third-down tries (4-of-10) and gave up 513 yards on the other side but it was a nice win. I like this one to be a shootout as well. Should be fun.