Notre Dame upsets No. 10-ranked Trojans 48-20

Published 9:34 am Monday, October 16, 2023

By Ryan Haines

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SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame responded to adversity by harassing Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams all night during a 48-20 drubbing of the USC Trojans Saturday.

The three weeks prior have not been the easiest for 37-year-old Coach Marcus Freeman and the No. 21-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. A last second home defeat to Ohio State followed by a narrow win at Duke and a dismal showing at Louisville stimulated doubt within the Irish faithful and all but knocked the Irish out of the College Football Playoff.

“It’s easy to say what happened, right?” Freeman said about how he challenged his coaching staff this week. “I challenged the coaches to figure out why it happened. It takes difficult conversations to figure out why a player did not do exactly what you want. Are we teaching them exactly what we want? We simplified so there was not any confusion. If we do that we got a chance to be successful, as you saw today.”

And successful the Fighting Irish (6-2) were, especially on the defensive end led by senior safety Xavier Watts.

Watts returned the ball to the Trojans’ 12-yard line after he picked off a Williams errant pass on the fourth play from scrimmage. Three plays later Sam Hartman finds Gi’Bran Payne on the left flank and the Irish are up 7-0 just 3:30 into the game.

“Obviously, coming off a loss from Louisville,” Watts said. “I got from that. It’s a big rivalry game. I just wanted to come out and dominate.”

With Notre Dame leading 10-3 and five minutes left in the half, Gabriel Rubio tipped a Williams’ pass, which fell into the hands of Watts, and he returned it to the USC 2-yard line. Audric Estime hit paydirt the next play, his first of two scores on the night.

On the next drive, Williams forced yet another pass, which pre-season All-American Benjamin Morrison intercepted.

“I made mistakes that I usually don’t make,” Williams said. “Nights like that happen. You have to get through it, you got to keep fighting, you have to be a leader.”

Williams threw three interceptions in a game for the first time in his three-year college career. He was also sacked six times as the USC offensive line collapsed under pressure. Notre Dame also had 11 tackles for loss totaling minus 58 yards.

“I couldn’t speak more highly of the performance of our defense and the way Coach Golden prepares,” Freeman said of his Defensive Coordinator. “Got a lot of respect for him. He’s been through a lot of ups and downs in his time of being a football coach. He’s unwavering. The way he prepares is unwavering.”

The No. 10 Trojans (6-1) were able to shrink the Irish lead to 11 midway through the third quarter on Brenden Rice 7-yard pass from Williams, but it didn’t last long as Jadarian Price took the ensuing kickoff 99 yards into the Notre Dame student section.

A 15-yard scoop-and-score by Watts late in the fourth quarter put the nail in the coffin, who then capped his night with a forced fumble just two plays later.

Notre Dame finished with 28 points off turnovers. Watts became the first player to record two interceptions, a forced fumble and defensive touchdown since Ohio State defensive end JT Tuimoloau did it against Penn State in 2022.

USC will host their first of four ranked Pac-12 teams to end the regular season when they welcome No. 16 Utah to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Notre Dame will take a much-needed week off before hosting Pittsburgh on Oct. 28. The Panther defeated Louisville 38-21 on Saturday evening.

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