As the 2015 NCAA Football Regular Season moves on into Week 7 we have a interesting match-up on Saturday the 17th of October 2015 between the Trojans of USC 3-2 (Pac-12 South) playing at the No. 14 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame 5-1 (FBS Independents) with kick-off scheduled for 7:35 PM ET at the Notre Dame Stadium, and seen on NBC TV.
For those that Bet on College football the betting odds at SBG have the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame favored at -6 ½ -115 with the Over/Under at 60 ½ with the Money Line -260 while the underdog Trojans of USA are +6 ½ -105 and +220 on the Money Line.
The Trojans had another miscue in their season as they lost last Friday to the Huskies of Washington. The Trojans were a preseason pick to win the Pac 12, but with that loss it seems unlikely, as the Trojans are now 4th in the Pac-12 South at 3-2! Now they travel to play the No. 14 Irish who last week beat the Naval Academy 41-24.
For the fans of the 3-2 Trojans of USC your team had a great game in Week 5 when the team scored 5 TD and gained some 375 yards, then in Week 6 their QB Kessler had a poor performance, maybe the worst this season, as he only completed 16 of his 29 passes for 155 yards and was intercepted 2 times as they lost 17-12 to the Huskies.
Whatever the reason for that performance, he should do better against the Irish who have had only 3 interceptions to date, but the WR for USC will need to perform better, as sophomore WR J. Schuster who to date has 6 touchdowns and 620 yards receiving, but at Washington he only managed some 81 yards, and that was after he had 3 games with over 100 yards while 2 of the 3 were over 150 yards. In the game the Trojans running game did succeed as their RB T. Madden had 17 carries for 122 yards and RB R. Jones II had 8 carries for 66 yards.
In this Notre Dame game the duo if RB’s with Madden and Jones should be able to have gains against the Irish as they are allowing their opponents some 153 yards rushing in each game to date, and allowed 7 touchdowns in their 1st 5 games. Against the Navy, the Irish allowed 3 touchdowns and 319 yards in the Week 6 game. The Notre Dame defense to date has allowed in each of their games this season some 335 yards of total offense. USC in their ultimate 4 games played at the Notre Dame Stadium, they have won all 4 of those games.
The 5-1 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and their fans need to know that the offense with RB C. Prosise last week had 21 carries and gained some 130 yards and scored 3 touchdowns in the game, and that is his 3rd game with more than 1 TD, and his 4th 100 yard game in his 6 games this season. However, against the Trojans RB Prosise may struggle a bit since USC has allowed their opponents to date to only gain 4 yards or less on each carry.
The Irish QB D. Kizer had a decent game last week as he completed 22 of his 30 passing attempts for 282 yards, with 1 completion to W. Fuller for 30 yards, and in this game he will have more opportunities for long completions since the Trojans pass defense is ranked 82st in the nation. This season WR Fuller leads the Irish with 572 yards in receptions and has scored 7 touchdowns this season.
On defense the Irish are looking to force turnovers by the Trojans who have lost the ball at least 1 time in each game to date. Irish CB D. Butler and LB J. Smith in the Navy game each recovered 1 fumble that led to a Notre Dame TD. At home in 2015 in 4 games the Irish are with 4 wins and 0 losses.
The sports betting prediction for this game is that the Trojans on the comeback trail will score in a big way on the road and beat the Fighting Irish.