Keys for Notre Dame to avoid an upset to USC at home in the potential final rivalry game

Notre Dame will face the USCTrojanslater tonight, in what could the last game of the Jeweled Shillelagh Trophy rivalry game.

There is an option to play next fall, but it remains to be seen if the two teams can come to an agreement on when the game should happen. Regardless of that fact, the Irish and Trojans will play an extremely high-stakes game, on that many view as a College Football Playoff elimination game.

Notre Dame lost any chance to have some leeway with its two early losses, and the Trojans haven’t really been viewed as a contender, bouncing in-and-out of the polls. For the Irish to keep their four-game win streak alive and avoid an upset to USC, in my eyes, they’ll have to accomplish these three keys.

Notre Dame center Joe Otting doesn’t miss a beat with Ashton Craig out

There is plenty of confidence that Otting can get the job done, but USC has a few lineman that have given opponents problems. Defensive tackle Devan Thompkins has three sacks on the year, and he’s a big body in the middle of the Trojan defense. Anthony Lucas, Kameryn Crawford and Braylan Shelby all have at least two sacks this fall. For Notre Dame to win this game, they’ll have to control the line of scrimmage, especially on offense.

Rattle USC quarterback Jayden Maiava

The junior has had a huge season so far, and while he isn’t getting much national love, he’s near the top in multiple passing categories nationally. Maiava has completed 71.9% of his attempts for 1,852-yards and 13 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions. Not only that, he’s only taken three sacks this fall, so there haven’t been many negative plays from him. The Irish secondary has been coming together very nicely the last two weeks, with seven picks, this group is dangerous. The Notre Dame defensive line has to get to him, and it could cause him to think too much instead of reacting. Maiava will be the toughest test of the fall, and the Irish need to win this battle.

Notre Dame’s offense takes advantage of USC’s bad passing defense

As noted above, the Trojans have a very good defensive line, but what the backend of their defense isn’t nearly as good. They’re near the bottom of all of college football in passing yards allowed, and CJ Carr can take advantage of that. Over the last few weeks, he’s had one constant, tight end Eli Raridon, and has made solid connections with a variety of wide receivers. This Irish passing offense has the potential to exploit USC below-average pass defense.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Three keys for Notre Dame to avoid an upset to USC