What ESPN College GameDay Said About USC Trojans Upsetting Notre Dame Irish

The USC Trojans host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday. Who did ESPN's College GameDay pick to win the game?

ESPN College GameDay set was live inside Ohio Stadium prior to the football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Indiana Hoosiers in Columbus on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. / Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The USC Trojans host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday afternoon. The Trojans come into the game as home underdogs. 

Did ESPN’s College GameDay crew pick USC to pull the upset over its rivals? 

GameDay Favors Notre Dame to Beat USC

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish players huddle in gold helmets against the Southern California Trojans at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

ESPN’s College Gameday crew was in College Station, Texas for Saturday night’s rivalry game between the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies. The winner will earn a spot in the SEC championship game against the Georgias Bulldogs. 

The GameDay crew all picked Notre Dame to beat the Trojans. However, host Rece Davis predicted that USC would win the game. 

Davis typically doesn’t pick games but after seeing the whole panel take Notre Dame, clearly he wanted to get out ahead of the jinx of the whole show picking one team. 

USC Playing Spoiler 

Nov 23, 2024; Pasadena, California, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley during the fourth quarter against the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

The USC Trojans had their Big Ten and College Football Playoff hopes dashed weeks ago. In their last game, USC clinched a bowl game berth in their 19-13 win over the rival UCLA Bruins. The Trojans face another rival Saturday in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame has a record of 10-1 and Saturday’s game at USC will be the’r last game before the final College Football Playoffs Rankings are released. The Fighting Irish don’t play in a conference so there is no conferences championship game for them to play in next week. 

The Fighting Irish are currently ranked No. 5 team in the country and will secure a playoff berth with a win. A loss would out that in serious jeopardy. 

This is the first season with the 12-team playoff. 5 of the 12 bids are auto-bids given to the 5 highest ranked conference winners. Notre Dame can’t receive one of those auto-bids. They must be one of the next seven highest ranked teams. For now, they are in a great spot.

However, if Notre Dame were to lose, they would be sweating out the selection show at 10-2. The Trojans would love to do nothing more than put their long time rival in the ringer.

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