USC opponent preview: Five things to know about Notre Dame

This may well be the last chance for USC to get its fan base engaged on the remainder of this season, as no matter what has transpired leading up to it, the rivalry showdown with Notre Dame is always highly-anticipated.

The Trojans (3-3) visit the No. 13-ranked Fighting Irish (5-1) in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday night (4:30 p.m. PT on NBC), with both teams coming off a bye week.

It will be the first taste of the rivalry for many of the players on the field, as the teams didn't meet last season for the first time since World War II, due to the pandemic and USC being limited to a shortened Pac-12 exclusive schedule.

"Notre Dame is one of those games, the reason why you come to play football at USC," interim head coach Donte Williams said. "It's one thing to play in the Pac-12 Conference, but to know every year that you have an out-of-conference game against a big-time national opponent is something that some of these guys they grow up dreaming about. And we're looking forward to the opportunity. It's a major, major opportunity. They have a great football team and we expect the atmosphere to be electric."

The atmosphere is also expected to be cold -- very, very cold -- with temperatures forecasted in the upper 40s by kickoff.

For USC's veterans who were around for the last trip to South Bend in 2019 -- a 30-27 loss for the Trojans -- the message to the younger players has been simple.

"It's obviously a big game, it's Notre Dame, it's a rivalry -- it's our biggest rival and we obviously haven't won there in a while," quarterback Kedon Slovis said. "But I think the biggest thing is, I remember as a freshman we go out there and at halftime I think [we were down] 20-3 and you can't start off a game like that and expect to win. I know a lot of those guys, probably myself included and I remember Drake [London] kind of saying, 'Man, that was a big environment -- I kind of got caught up in the lights.' You can't let that happen. ...

"It's not the same team or same defense, but I think just the confidence of knowing you can go in there and have success, obviously I'm excited to play there. ... We just have to bring what we bring here in practice onto the game field."

Meanwhile, here's a closer look at the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame has played three quarterbacks this season and relied on multiple QBs over the last few games.

Senior Jack Coan, a transfer from Wisconsin in his first year with the program, has been the most productive of the bunch, passing for 1,208 yards, 10 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Freshman Tyler Buchner (from Helix HS in San Diego) has passed for 191 yards, 2 TDs and 3 INTs and rushed for 167 yards and a TD over parts of four games. And redshirt freshman Drew Pyne has passed for 224 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INT.

In the Fighting Irish's last game, it was a near even split as Buchner completed 6 of 14 passes for 113 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs and rushed 12 times for 67 yards and a score, while Coan completed 9 of 12 passes for 108 yards and a TD.

“I think from a quarterback standpoint, Jack Coan continues to be the guy that we feel like gives us the best chance to win. A mixture of him with Tyler Buchner, I think both of them," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said this week. “Drew has done some really good things for us. If we feel like we're in a situation where we need to call on him, we would. But I think right now as we look at it, it's probably in my mind ... that Jack would start and we'll continue to get Tyler more playing time.”

USC has been preparing to see multiple QBs from the Fighting Irish, so however the reps are divided won't come as a major surprise to the Trojans.

"A couple of them are similar and they have a runner, so you have to prepare for both of them. We expect to see that. It's kind of sprayed in multiple," defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said. "I think Coach Kelly would probably like to put his hand on one of them and say, hey, this is the guy that we're going to go with, but we've prepared for all three of them expecting to see different things out of them."

The biggest surprise for Notre Dame this season has been the middling production of the rushing attack, as the Fighting Irish rank just 118th nationally at 97.33 rushing yards per game.

Ironically, that's the same number USC finished at last season.

The stats are skewed somewhat by the Irish's 41-13 win over Wisconsin, in which they finished with just 3 net rushing yards on 32 attempts while getting special teams and defensive touchdowns. But overall, this has not been a consistent rushing attack, as Florida State held the Irish to 65 rushing yards on 35 attempts and Cincinnati held them to 84 yards on 28 attempts.

Notre Dame is coming off its best rushing performance after totaling 173 yards and 2 TDs on the ground vs. Virginia Tech, but even in that game the offense averaged a pedestrian 4.0 yards per carry.

Redshirt sophomore Kyren Williams leads the backfield with 363 rushing yards and 4 TDs while averaging just 3.8 yards per carry. Just a year ago, he averaged 5.3 YPC while rushing for 1,125 yards and 13 TDs.

The difference is up front where the Irish have a young offensive line featuring new starters at left tackle (freshman Joe Alt), left guard (redshirt sophomore Andrew Kristofic) and right guard (grad transfer Cain Madden).

"Well, their tailbacks are super dynamic. Statistically, I don’t get into that part of it. I just look at the actual athletes and the players themselves," Orlando said. "If they get in the open field, when they get some room, they’re really hard to bring down. And their quarterbacks can distribute the football because they’ve got veterans on the outside. They lost a whole bunch of experienced offensive linemen. Everybody knows that. But their skill guys are all guys who were in the Playoff. They know what it takes. They’re dynamic guys, and they’re all really, really good athletes. Their running backs especially. They don’t get enough credit for, when they get in space, they know what to do with the football."

Notre Dame is tied for fifth in the country with 10 interceptions so far, with seven different players contributing to the cause.

Junior safety Kyle Hamilton is the star of the unit and leads the way with 3 interceptions, along with 4 pass breakups, 32 tackles and 2 tackles for loss. He's regarded as one of the top players in the country.

"He's a really good player. You see that on tape, he's a really good player, he's projected to go top-10, probably one of the better if not the best guys," USC QB Kedon Slovis said. "Just the way he gets around for his size is pretty impressive. I think he's like 6-3 but you wouldn't know. Usually bigger guys are probably a little stiffer, don't move as well. He moves really well for his size."

Redshirt sophomore cornerback Cam Hart has 2 interceptions.

Even still, Notre Dame is allowing 237 passing yards per game, which ranks just 86th nationally.

The Fighting Irish have been much better against the run, allowing 123.83 rushing yards per game to rank 36th nationally.

Redshirt sophomore Isaiah Foskey has keyed Notre Dame's pass rush and has a sack in five of the six games so far.

Overall, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound edge rusher has 6 sacks in 6 games, ranking tied for eighth nationally in sacks per game.

Given USC's vulnerability in pass protection with redshirt freshmen left tackle Courtland Ford and right tackle Jonah Monheim, Foskey could be a key factor Saturday night.

Another key to the Notre Dame defense is linebacker JD Bertrand, who has 58 tackles, which is the most for a Fighting Irish player through six games since Manti Te'o in 2010.

Notre Dame has won 36 straight games against unranked opponents, which is the category that USC falls into heading into this matchup. That's the longest active streak in the FBS.

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Brian Kelly became Notre Dame's career leader in coaching wins -- now up to 107 -- surpassing the legend Knute Rockne. He also ranks second among all active coaches in total games coached at 377, second only to North Carolina's Mack Brown.

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Notre Dame leads the all-time series with USC, 49-37-5, and the Irish are 7-3 against the Trojans under Kelly, including three straight wins. They've also won the last four meetings in South Bend, Ind.