Reporter Roundtable: Perspective and predictions for USC-Notre Dame

One of college football's great rivalry series resumes Saturday night after the pandemic forced USC and Notre Dame to skip their annual showdown last season for the first time since World War II.

Coming off a bye week, the 3-3 Trojans will look to set a different tone for the second half of the season while visiting No. 13-ranked Notre Dame (5-1) in South Bend, Ind. (4:30 p.m. PT on NBC).

To put it mildly, USC has not fared well against its best competition this season, losing by 14 points to Stanford, 18 points to Oregon State and 16 points to Utah (and trailing by more in each of those games). For what it's worth, the Trojans are 2-0 on the road with equally lopsided wins at Washington State and Colorado, though nobody is mistaking those teams as top Pac-12 competition.

Notre Dame, which took its only loss to Cincinnati three weeks ago at home, is also coming off a bye week and enters this game as a 7-point favorite.

The Fighting Irish haven't exactly been dominant this season, needing overtime to beat Florida State by 3 points and also posting narrow 3-points wins over unranked Toledo and Virginia Tech teams (while winning more comfortably against Purdue and Wisconsin).

Notre Dame also ranks just 118th nationally in rushing -- 25 spots below USC -- at 97.33 yards per game and has shuffled between three quarterbacks to this point, with senior Wisconsin transfer Jack Coan (1,208 yards, 10 TDs, 3 INTs) the most productive of the group and expected to get the start Saturday night.

Overall, the Fighting Irish rank 87th in total offense (367.8 yards per game) and 55th in total defense (360.8), which on paper isn't any better than USC, which ranks 30th offensively (448.2) and 71st defensively (382.0).

But numbers are numbers and records are records, and the Trojans have earned their mediocrity to this point, simply unable to sustain consistency offensively or manage any success defensively in their toughest games so far.

And on paper, Notre Dame should be the best team they've faced yet.

So what should be expected Saturday in South Bend? We debate and discuss in the weekly staff roundtable ...

1. Donte Williams has been overly coy about Jaxson Dart's status and role the rest of the season. What do you expect for his availability Saturday and how he'll be used the rest of the way if at all?

Ryan Young: "I could see him being available against Notre Dame based on how he looked this week and that he took all the second-team reps late in Tuesday's practice -- the one day media get to watch the full session. But I'd be surprised if he plays at all. For one, I'm not part of the camp that believes USC is going to bench third-year starting QB Kedon Slovis at any point, unless he truly struggles down the stretch. I also don't see the upside in rushing Dart back from minor knee surgery in the midst of a lost season. If the medical staff truly determines his knee is at full strength and at no greater risk for a setback, I could see Dart potentially getting 2-3 series a game down the stretch. All of that said, if he has been cleared -- Williams said he wasn't as of Thursday morning, for what it's worth -- and Slovis is forced out of the game Saturday for any reason, then USC has a hard decision to make."

Tajwar Khandaker: "I’m still skeptical of Dart’s availability against Notre Dame, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s held out of this one entirely again. It seems like next week is the soonest that Dart would be a full-go, though I don’t expect that to mean he sees the field very much. Unless Kedon Slovis gets injured or plays particularly poorly, this is going to continue to be his show. I’m sure Dart will see limited action in goal-line or short-yardage situations, but for the most part I expect his role to be limited."

2. It's a bit of a reset for USC coming off the bye week. What, if anything, gives you hope that this team can play better football over the final six games?

Khandaker: "After getting kicked in the teeth against Utah, the coaching staff was open about the need to get younger players more reps in the face of struggling veterans across the roster. If that sentiment is followed through on, I think there’s significant room for this team to improve rapidly, particularly on defense. Young DBs like Calen Bullock and Jaylin Smith offer the potential for upgrades in the secondary, Raesjon Davis might be able to make a difference at linebacker, and Korey Foreman seems to be nearing the verge of his breakout. Whether or not the coaching staff actually commits to getting young talent on the field remains to be seen, but I don’t really see what other course of action there remains to improve this team. We know very well exactly what players like Greg Johnson, Chase Williams and Ralen Goforth bring to the table, and it hasn’t been enough. Getting net-negative players off the field and replacing them with potential at least offers some modicum of hope."