Key Takeaways From Notre Dame's Victory Over USC

What we learned from Notre Dame's 30-27 victory over USC

Quinn Harris, USA TODAY Sports

Notre Dame earned a hard-fought 30-27 victory over USC in a game where both teams played physical football. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was the grind-it-out win that can serve as a spring board for the Irish in a number of areas.

There will be plenty of film for the Irish coaches to show their players in an attempt to get better, but Notre Dame came out of this game better than it was going in. It took USC’s best shot and still controlled the game, leading by at least 10 points for over half the game.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from Notre Dame’s victory:

Offensive Line/Ground Game Is Hitting Its Stride

The play of the offensive line and the inconsistency of the ground game was one of my biggest frustrations during the first three games of the season. Notre Dame’s line struggled against a poor New Mexico defense and the Irish all but abandoned any attempt to run the ball against Georgia.

Its last three games have been much, much better, and the best performance of the season was last night against USC. Notre Dame racked up 308 yards on the ground, and running back Tony Jones Jr. had his third-straight 100-yard rushing performance. It marks just the third time in the last decade that an Irish back topped 100 yards for three straight games. The last two were Josh Adams in 2017 and CJ Prosise in 2015.

It was a season-best performance by the Irish line, Jones and the ground game as a whole. Over the last three games the Notre Dame ground game has averaged 239.7 yards per game and 6.1 yards per attempt. Notre Dame also allowed just one sack, which was a season-low for the Trojans.

Coming Out Party For Braden Lenzy

Notre Dame needed to add more juice to its lineup, and sophomore Braden Lenzy was expected to do just that, but injuries during camp slowed down his progress. Lenzy’s first career catch went for 52 yards against New Mexico, but he missed the Georgia game and caught just one pass for eight yards against Bowling Green.

Lenzy played snaps with the first-team offense for the first time against the Falcons, and it set up last night’s opportunity. With Notre Dame leading 7-3 but scuffling on offense, offensive coordinator Chip Long dialed up Lenzy, and the sophomore speedster made arguably the biggest play of the game.

BRADEN LENZY GOT WHEELS 💨 pic.twitter.com/sYYgYds90E

— Notre Dame on NBC (@NDonNBC) October 13, 2019

This was Lenzy’s first chance to make a big play in a situation that mattered, and he changed the game. Long needs to make the young burner a bigger part of the offense moving forward, and Lenzy needs to keep doing what he did last night when he gets those opportunities.

Vertical Passing Game Remains A Concern

On the opening drive, quarterback Ian Book took advantage of a one-on-one by hitting Chase Claypool for a 26-yard gain. He looked for Claypool on a post later in the drive, but a pressure by the USC front forced Book to move and go away from the post.

Notre Dame only took two more downfield shots against USC, and its inability to stretch the field remains a problem. Notre Dame attempted just seven passes that traveled more than 10 yards down the field and it hit just three of them.

A herculean effort from the line and the run game got it done last night, but Notre Dame cannot rely on that week after week, and the more the run game thrives the more emphasis teams will put on stopping it. If Notre Dame can’t figure out a way to attack down the field it will eventually cost them.

Run Defense is Still A Work In Progress

Defending the run was a major problem for Notre Dame in its first two games, with the Irish giving up a combined 461 yards in wins over Louisville and New Mexico. Its next three games showed dramatic improvement, but last night showed the rush defense still isn’t quite where it needs to be.

USC’s three running backs combined for 172 yards on 27 carries, which was good for 6.4 yards per carry. The run defense was good early, but USC made adjustments to Notre Dame’s three-man fronts and used its ground attack to exploit that look.

Part of that was by design, or so it seemed. Notre Dame's game plan seemed designed to bait USC into running the ball, which meant it threw fewer balls to its dynamic pass catchers. But the design wasn't to allow USC to average over six yards per carry.

Notre Dame had too many gap mistakes, and missed tackles continue to plague the defense. According to Pro Football Focus, the Irish missed 12 tackles last night, which is a well below average number.

Special Teams Appear To Be Legit

Notre Dame played good special teams in the first three games of the season, but they were a disaster in the win over Virginia. It brought up fears of a return to the 2018 level of play, which would not be a good thing. Notre Dame bounced back with a strong performance against Bowling Green, and last night the units were excellent.

Junior placekicker Jonathan Doerer was money in the win, hitting all three of his field goal attempts. He hit kicks from 43, 45 and 52 yards, and that was during a night in which the wind made things challenging for kickers … or at least it should have.

Notre Dame’s coverage units were good all night, and if not for Michael Young dropping the ball on the opening kickoff of the third quarter, he would have gone for six.

It was yet another strong performance from the unit.

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