Notre Dame Moves into AP Top Ten After Big Win Over USC

USC and Notre Dame played football for the 89th time on October 21st in one of those traditional college football rivalries. This year’s game was in South Bend. Both teams were ranked in the AP Top 25, with USC at #11 and Notre Dame at #13. Both teams came into the game with one loss; a second loss would essentially eliminate them from consideration for the college football playoff.

The Fighting Irish made a statement that they are still in the conversation. Notre Dame get off to a fast start and led 28-0 at halftime and rolled on to a 49-14 thrashing of USC. Running back Josh Adams rushed 19 times for 191 yards and three touchdowns. Notre Dame had 497 total yards and forced three turnovers in the dominating win. Notre Dame leads the all time series 47-37-5.

The Irish moved up four places to #9 in the AP poll. The road isn’t too easy for Notre Dame the rest of the way. The Irish will host #14 North Carolina State on October 28th and unranked Wake Forest on November 4th (Notre Dame has a North Carolina thing going this year; they beat UNC earlier this month). Notre Dame plays at #8 Miami on November 11th, followed by a home game against Navy (unranked now but 5-2 this season) on November 18th. They close the regular season at #20 Stanford on November 25th.