Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from blowout win over USC in Week 8

To keep both teams alive in the College Football Playoff race, either Notre Dame or the USC Trojans would need a win in this game.

No. 13 Notre Dame football was one part of a huge night of convincing victories for the biggest matchups of the weekend. In Week 8, there were two big games featuring the Michigan Wolverines taking on the Penn State Nittany Lions. The other was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish battling the USC Trojans.

Notre Dame capped its matchup with USC with a dominating 49-14 victory. The Irish were slight favorites entering the game but showed why it should have been respected more on a national basis.

The matchup for Notre Dame against the Georgia Bulldogs is now the one they wish they had back. That Notre Dame-Georgia game could have gone either way. Although, Georgia walked away with the one point victory there.

USC needed a win to stay alive in the race for the College Football Playoff. After the Trojans loss to the No. 15 ranked Washington State Cougars a few weeks ago, they could not afford to lose another game and stay in the Playoff picture.

Not only was this a well-known rivalry game, it had direct National Championship implications for both squads. One would stay alive and one would essentially be erased from contention. Notre Dame emerged as that team that everyone should be taking more seriously.

Possibly the most impressive part of this Notre Dame effort was the run defense. The Irish held USC to 76 rushing yards on 31 attempts. USC has a very deep backfield featuring guys like Ronald Jones II as well.

Now, let’s take a look at three takeaways from Notre Dame’s victory over USC in Week 8.