Notre Dame Football: Game-by-game predicitions for 2018

In the battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh, USC and Notre Dame meet for the 90h time in 2018. The home team has won the last five games in this series. However the last time that Notre Dame was in the top-five and traveled to Los Angeles, in 2012, they beat the Trojans, and that was the last road win in the series. So something has to give if they’re in the top-five and battling for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

With a lot of roster turnover, especially at quarterback, don’t expect the Trojans to be in the race for the College Football Playoff, and since this has no bearing on the Pac-12 South title, it would only be about keeping a rival out, and that motivation is enough for the USC players.

Prediction

This will be a hard-fought close game. However, in the end, the Trojans won’t be able to overcome their losses from 2017. The very slight talent edge that Notre Dame has will be the difference in this game. Notre Dame will pull this game out late in the fourth quarter, when the talent edge finally takes its toll on USC.

Notre Dame 35
USC 31