Another season, another stressful USC game. Me and some close alum friends had very nostalgic moments in the text threads mulling about whether or not the Irish were going to pull off the big win or serve
us up another rivalry heartbreak. Fortunately, it ended well for the program and us personally.
Notre Dame finished off a rainy Saturday in South Bend with a 34-24 win over the USC Trojans. It seems like this might be the last time the two programs will line up against each other for a while and the team definitely gave us an entertaining win to boast about until the next time.
Now to the numbers.
Scoring Context
This was Notre Dame football’s closest win, with a +10 differential, so far in the 2025-26 season. The Irish’s 34 points scored isn’t far off from the season average of 39 points. The Trojans’ 24 points scored was a big change in the trend, though. Notre Dame hadn’t allowed a team to score more than 13 points since the Purdue game when the Boilermakers put up 30. The total points allowed in the USC game still falls below the season average of 21 points, though.
Total Offense
The Notre Dame offense has averaged 458 yards of production per game through Week 8. They were right around that mark with 442 yards of total offense against USC. The only games where they produced less were, in descending order, Texas A&M, Boise State and Miami (FL). It was one of the team’s most inefficient outings from an overall offense perspective, with 6.3 yards earned per play.
Passing Context
If you watched the game, it comes as no shock that this was Notre Dame’s worst passing performance of the season. CJ Carr completed 16 of his 26 attempts for a very respectable 61% completion rate. But it didn’t produce a lot and the squad hit a season low of 136 passing yards as well as only 5.4 yards per attempt. The second worst performance was 221 passing yards and 7.4 yards per attempt against Miami (FL) in the season opener. And it didn’t help that Carr got picked off once.
The Receivers
Jordan Faison led the receiving group with six catches for 60 yards and ten yards per catch. Dual-threat running back occupied the #2 slot with five catches for 37 yards and 7.4 yards per catch. Will Pauling pulled down two passes for 16 yards and the team’s sole passing touchdown against USC. It really wasn’t a great stats game for ND’s pass catchers but they all stepped up in some important ways to enable the team’s rushing attack.
Rushing Context
The Irish hit a season high of 44 rush attempts. And they got a hell of a lot for those efforts. When it was all said and done, Notre Dame tallied up 306 rushing yards, an average of seven yards per attempt and three touchdowns. The rushing collective has put up some really special numbers this season but Jeremiyah Love put on a great show for us all.
The Rushers
Love led the team with 24 carries for an outrageous 228 yards and 9.5 yards per carry. For some context, the previous season high rushing yards total for the team was 254 against Purdue with the runner-up being 210 against Arkansas.
The most recent time we’ve seen this kind of standout performance from a Notre Dame running back was 2023’s Stanford matchup. During that contest, the Irish logged 381 rushing yards against the Cardinal and Audric Estime accounted for 238 (62%) of that production. By comparison, Love’s 228 yards represented 74% of the total production on the ground against USC.
It wasn’t a modest day for Jadarian Price by any stretch either. He finished with 13 carries for 87 yards and one touchdown. CJ Carr’s detailed numbers weren’t great but he was the third part of the team’s rushing touchdown trifecta.
Defense (Passing Context)
The Trojans threw the most against the Irish so far in this season. They completed 22 of their 42 attempts for a 52% completion rate. The Irish defense definitely bent a few times, with USC tallying up 328 yards through the air, but they held things together when it mattered. And it helped a lot that the cornerback Christian Gray and safety Luke Talich each walked away with an interception.
Defense (Rushing Context)
Notre Dame’s rush defense has been flying below the radar, mostly because other areas have been more deserving of attention. But their stat trend is undeniable. The Irish defense held the Trojans to 68 yards on the ground and an average of 2.3 yards per carry. Arkansas is the only team that has averaged more than five yards per carry through Week 8.
Defense (Impactful)
Boubacar Traore continues to be a major contributor up front for the Notre Dame defense. He finished the game with one sack and one tackle for loss. Linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa finished with identical, impact stats. Adon Shuler and Christian Gray each finished the USC game with one tackle for loss and one pass deflection. Jaylen Sneed and Jared Dawson recorded one tackle for loss a-piece and Drayk Bowen and Dallas Golden each had one pass deflection.
Final Thoughts
This USC game was stressful to watch but I feel good that we can survive matchups with talented teams even if one part of our operation is having an off day. CJ Carr and the passing attack weren’t really clicking this week and that’s bound to happen from time to time. But the Love-Price duo seems to be not only unstoppable on the field but also super fun to watch at home. And if you remove the avoidable interception, field goal kicking issues and the sketchy 96-5 penalty yard split in favor of USC, this game probably doesn’t end up being so close anyway.
