Much rides on USC’s regular season finale Saturday as the Trojans teeter on the cusp of a playoff berth.

The rivalry matchup with No. 15-ranked Notre Dame (8-3) will either break those playoff hopes or boost them significantly, as No. 6 USC (10-1) heads into a second straight ranked rivalry showdown.

Earlier in the fall, it didn’t seem as though this matchup would carry as much intrigue, given Notre Dame’s difficult 3-3 start to the year in which the Fighting Irish dropped games to the likes of Stanford and Marshall. However, first-year head coach Marcus Freeman has turned the ship around for the Irish since, leading them to an upset of playoff contender Clemson during a five-game winning streak.

Now. both teams are poised to battle it out at the Coliseum on Saturday (4:30 p.m. PT on FOX), fighting for their desired postseason goals.

Let's take a closer look at the matchup and what USC's coaches said this week about Notre Dame.