USC takeaways: Offensive line miscues helped fuel ugly loss

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Justin Dedich wandered alone in the aftermath, cameras capturing the moment as Irish fans flooded the field and USC’s sixth-year senior center weaved his way between them toward the tunnel one last time. Dedich had come to Notre Dame Stadium three times now in his USC tenure, and each successive trip to South Bend had left the Trojans devastated and defeated.

This final trip had maybe been the most disappointing of them all, a 48-20 drubbing by Notre Dame that spoiled USC’s undefeated — yet undeniably flawed — 6-0 start. This time, USC had come into South Bend with the nation’s top offense at its disposal, only to squander that scoring power amid a full-on assault of the pocket, its star quarterback forced to run for his life.

When it was over Saturday night, Caleb Williams had been sacked six times, his most this season, and thrown three interceptions, his most since playing college football. But even those dismal numbers didn’t tell the whole story of how USC’s offense unraveled.

“We kind of just took our turns making mistakes, and that’s what it looks like,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “A couple of times in pass pro again, we got beat in one-on-one situations that we have to win and so, I mean, listen, everyone takes ownership in it. And that’s just part of it. There wasn’t one positive group offensively that was good enough tonight.”

The play of USC’s offensive front was particularly troubling given what it was up against. Notre Dame’s pass rush entered the game as one of its most glaring weaknesses. The Irish ranked 110th in sacks per game coming into Saturday, a piddling average of 1.57 sacks per game. Their six sacks against USC were more than Notre Dame’s combined total from the previous three games.

Each of those six seemed to suck the momentum straight out of USC’s offense. When the Trojans finally got rolling late in the third quarter, inching closer to making it a game, Notre Dame linebacker Marist Liufau burst past right guard Jarrett Kingston and into the backfield, reaching Williams untouched for a sack. On the next play, left guard Emmanuel Pregnon was thrown down with ease by a Notre Dame defender, and Williams was mobbed again.

Offensive line coach Josh Henson acknowledged this week that USC’s front was “a work in progress.” But it was hard to see much progress Saturday amid the constant waves of Irish pressure.

The last wave came late in the fourth quarter, with only pride left for USC to save. It was fourth and nine with less than five minutes remaining. As soon as Williams snapped the ball, chaos broke out in the backfield. He barely had a chance to scan the field before he was wrapped up. As whistles blew, Williams halfheartedly threw the ball to the ground.

Dedich, in the center of it all, did all he could do at that point. He put his hands on his hips and headed for the sideline.

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A defense of USC’s defense

Notre Dame running back Audric Estime dives into the end zone

While the box score will tell you that USC allowed a season-high 48 points, this time it’s not actually the defense’s fault. More often than not, it was mistakes made by the offense that left USC’s defense backed into a corner.

When Williams threw his first of three interceptions Saturday, Notre Dame had just 12 yards to cover for its first score. When he was picked off a second time, the Irish had even less ground to cover. They needed just one play and three seconds to cover two yards for a touchdown. A third interception led to a third touchdown drive and a 24-3 Irish lead before halftime.

But without the benefit of short fields, Notre Dame actually struggled to move the ball on USC’s defense. USC held Irish quarterback Sam Hartman to just 126 passing yards, a season low. Notre Dame’s offense tallied just 251 yards total, the fewest — by far — of any team to face the Trojans this season.

“Our defense played good enough to win the football game,” Riley said. “Thought we stepped up and did a lot of great things there, but we put our defense in so many terrible positions. And, so, yeah, obviously we’re really disappointed at this point.”

Where USC’s defense fell short, however, Notre Dame took advantage Saturday. The Trojans’ usually strong pass rush didn’t manage a single sack, while the Irish had six. USC also didn’t force a single turnover, while Notre Dame forced five. The two numbers made a major difference.

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A boost from Branch

USC receiver and return specialist Zachariah Branch evades Notre Dame safety Ramon Henderson during a punt return

USC was in desperate need of a spark, still within striking distance at the start of the fourth quarter, when Zachariah Branch trotted out to field a punt.

The electric freshman had sat out the previous two games with an undisclosed injury, and while the offense missed his playmaking ability, USC’s punt returns had been hapless without him, yielding eight yards in his absence.

There was plenty of space in front of him when Branch caught the punt on the run. But suddenly, he decided to reverse course, first right, then left, dodging one defender, then another, before spotting a lane. That’s when he turned on the jets, speeding ahead for 61 yards before he was tackled.

It was an exciting reminder of what USC had been missing with Branch on the mend. Though it was just a brief glimpse. Branch was less active on offense, where he had four touches for 34 yards.