[Tuck4Bama]

Week 7 - Saturday 10/17


Notre Dame Stadium, IN NBC 3:30 PM ET

[Quack Attack]

The USC Trojans are coming off of a bye week and in their last action blew the California Golden Bears off of their own Berkely field. The Irish also are coming off of a bye week where in their last action beat the Huskies in OT that totally outplayed them. The Luck of the Irish was with them in that game. There will no be luck that will help the Irish in this game but miracles do happen and the Irish will need plenty of them in this game.

The Irish have had a lot of close games this season up to this point and won most of them. Now they are actually playing a highly ranked team and the King of the PAC 10 conference. Irish are playing at home which is always an advantage for any team. However, the Irish still do not have the players yet to compete with the Trojans and expect the Trojans to totally shut down the Irish offense. I give the Irish a shot if they can find a way also to shut down the Trojan offense which has been suspect all year.

My Prediction: I think the Irish will keep this game close for awhile but the wheels will fall out from underneath them near the end:

Trojans 35 Irish 10

Hey, anything can happen in college football and usually does. Anybody else have a prediction here or any input on this game?

[tntitans21399]

That might be a bold prediction because last I looked USC lost to Washington and we beat Washington, so it's not the USC of old.

[Quack Attack]

Originally Posted by tntitans21399

That might be a bold prediction because last I looked USC lost to Washington and we beat Washington, so it's not the USC of old.

Sure, I hear you tntitans and thanks for your comment.

USC was without their starting QB against the Huskies and just came off of an tough physical battle against Ohio St the previous week on the road. Trojans seem to slip once a year and against the Huskies they sure did. Trojans historically play great in huge games.

I give the Irish a shot but they would have to have a lot of things go their way. I just don't see it though.

[tntitans21399]

They didn't have much hope when they almost beat USC if it wasn't for the Bush push.

[Full Cougar]

I've been pumped for this game since week 1. Not even sure who to root for, just college rivalry at its best. Such a good week for college football! I love it!

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by tntitans21399

That might be a bold prediction because last I looked USC lost to Washington and we beat Washington, so it's not the USC of old.

There are several factors to consider in this....Notre Dame played the Huskies at Notre Dame..USC played them in Seattle. USC also played without their starting QB. Washington's new head coach used to be USC's QB's as well as assistant head coach and he brought USC's passing coordinator as his offensive coordinator.....meaning they know more about USC's personnel and schemes than any other team in the nation. Washington will certainly be a team to watch in the next few years because they are now very well coached.

Notre Dame will struggle to move the ball against USC's defense. USC has won the last 7 meetings between the teams, meaning this game hasn't been much of a rivalry in recent years like in years past. I doubt this game is close.....USC 24 Notre Dame 10 is my prediction.

[tntitans21399]

If you go with that idea, then Notre Dame didn't have their best WR Floyd in so their offense wasn't 100% either. If they were the QB's coach & offensive coordinator then they should know how to stop any passing attack then, but Jimmy had over 400 yards passing and Tate had 244 yards receiving, so anyone in their right mind would see that Tate would be the go to guy if Floyd is out. That proves that can't game plan, rather it be USC or Notre Dame. Notre Dame's defense did come up big with a couple of goal line stands, but Washington also held Notre Dame out of the endzone numerous times, so if they get a couple of those in and then it changes the game. USC was a highly ranked team and lost and Notre wasn't ranked. If Tebow didn't play against LSU that doesn't mean LSU runs all over Florida or Florida lays over.

The biggest factor that you haven't looked at is teams play harder and bring their A game when they play Notre Dame. Michigan and USC is the main rivals, but Michigan State, Purdue, Stanford, & Navy all want to beat us and the other teams want to beat us because we are Notre Dame. It's like being a rival every week, so even the lower teams that are great will try to be that one game, especailly when they come to South Bend.

Just remember it the Fighting Irish for a reason.

Originally Posted by desertrat

There are several factors to consider in this....Notre Dame played the Huskies at Notre Dame..USC played them in Seattle. USC also played without their starting QB. Washington's new head coach used to be USC's QB's as well as assistant head coach and he brought USC's passing coordinator as his offensive coordinator.....meaning they know more about USC's personnel and schemes than any other team in the nation. Washington will certainly be a team to watch in the next few years because they are now very well coached.

Notre Dame will struggle to move the ball against USC's defense. USC has won the last 7 meetings between the teams, meaning this game hasn't been much of a rivalry in recent years like in years past. I doubt this game is close.....USC 24 Notre Dame 10 is my prediction.

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by tntitans21399

If you go with that idea, then Notre Dame didn't have their best WR Floyd in so their offense wasn't 100% either. If they were the QB's coach & offensive coordinator then they should know how to stop any passing attack then, but Jimmy had over 400 yards passing and Tate had 244 yards receiving, so anyone in their right mind would see that Tate would be the go to guy if Floyd is out. That proves that can't game plan, rather it be USC or Notre Dame. Notre Dame's defense did come up big with a couple of goal line stands, but Washington also held Notre Dame out of the endzone numerous times, so if they get a couple of those in and then it changes the game. USC was a highly ranked team and lost and Notre wasn't ranked. If Tebow didn't play against LSU that doesn't mean LSU runs all over Florida or Florida lays over.

The biggest factor that you haven't looked at is teams play harder and bring their A game when they play Notre Dame. Michigan and USC is the main rivals, but Michigan State, Purdue, Stanford, & Navy all want to beat us and the other teams want to beat us because we are Notre Dame. It's like being a rival every week, so even the lower teams that are great will try to be that one game, especailly when they come to South Bend.

Just remember it the Fighting Irish for a reason.

You completely overlooked home field advantage? How about the Washington TD that the refs failed to call for Washington? It should have never even gone to OT at Notre Dame. Also, I'm not sure you got my point about Washington's coaching staff knowing all of USC's schemes as well as knowing the USC players more intimately than any other team since they not only coached them, they also recruited them. Do you honestly think that missing a WR is on a par with missing you starting QB? What would have happened to Notre Dame without Claussen the day Washington came in and dominated most of the game? One last thing....do you really think every team plays their best game against Notre Dame? And they don't bring their A game when they play USC? Seriously?

USC will stomp on Notre Dame and push the streak to 8 years in a row.

[tntitans21399]

We can agree to disagree because maybe the Notre Dame players were over looking Purdue and Washington and that's why they had close games with them. Their starting QB isn't great. It isn't like they were missing a Heisman QB type. Yes they might know they individual players, but each teams changes a little each season. Cal and UCLA and all the other Pac-10 teams knows USC and how to beat them but sometimes even knowing what they are doing isn't enough. But then also with those coaches that came from USC means they wanted to beat Notre Dame just the same from their USC rivalry.

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by tntitans21399

We can agree to disagree because maybe the Notre Dame players were over looking Purdue and Washington and that's why they had close games with them. Their starting QB isn't great. It isn't like they were missing a Heisman QB type. Yes they might know they individual players, but each teams changes a little each season. Cal and UCLA and all the other Pac-10 teams knows USC and how to beat them but sometimes even knowing what they are doing isn't enough. But then also with those coaches that came from USC means they wanted to beat Notre Dame just the same from their USC rivalry.

You don't think these former USC assistants were more interested in beating USC than anyone else? As for how great Matt Barkley is...we'll see who wins tomorrow. I am going with USC who not only is the better team, they are also much better coached.

[Quack Attack]

Great comments here guys. USC hung on to win this game today after having a 3 touchdown lead and thought the officiating was horrible. Some of those personal foul penalties against the Trojans were not! The officials gave the Irish way more chances than they deserved and kept alive a lot of Irish drives especially at the end. I know how the Huskies felt the week before getting a touchdown taken of the board that actually should have been the winning touchdown.

The Irish team this year is better than I have seen the last 4 years. This Trojan team shows potential but very beatable as their defense really looked horrible at times. I just think if any team had aspriations about knocking off the Trojans, this is the year. The next 2 years? Forget it.

Exciting finish and really good game. I think the officiating was bad but shouldn't take away the exciting finish.

[tntitans21399]

Now why didn't the refs flag the USC coaches, because last I looked the coaches are only allowed in a certain area and aren't really supoose to be on the field and all of the USC coaches were almost to the half field and could have been a 12man on the field at times.

[tntitans21399]

Purdue beat Ohio State and OU lossing, and with both of our losses being so close, maybe we will still stay in the top 25.

[desertrat]

Am I the only one that noticed true freshman Matt Barkley had way better numbers than alleged Heisman candidate Jimmy Claussen?