Matchup breakdown: Trojans get final top-5 test against Notre Dame

One of the wildest statistics you’ll see associated with this USC football season is that the Trojans are one of six teams nationally that have led in the fourth quarter of every game this season.

USC turned that into a 6-5 record, and fans don’t need to worry about how that happened at this point.

Meanwhile, the other five teams on the list entered the week with a combined five losses. One of them is Notre Dame (10-1), which is ranked No. 5 and suffered its only loss in early September on a late field goal in the final minute by Northern Illinois that resulted in a 16-14 upset.

On Saturday, the Trojans close out the regular season at the Coliseum against the Fighting Irish, looking to cap off a three-game winning streak and pull off a top-five upset against their longtime rivals.

Let’s take a closer look at the teams’ performance and our Notre Dame scouting report.

RELATED: Opposing opinion: Notre Dame insider Tyler James gives his perspective on the other side of the rivalry showdown

Who | No. 5 Notre Dame (10-1) vs. USC (6-5)

Where | LA Memorial Coliseum

When | 12:30 p.m. PT Saturday

Television | CBS with Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and Jenny Dell

Radio | ESPNLA 710 PM with Pete Arbogast, Shaun Cody, Cody Kessler, Su’a Cravens, Jordan Moore and Jason Schwartz starting at 10:30 a.m

Series history | Notre Dame leads 51-37-5 (not counting a lost USC win)

Betting line | Notre Dame -7.5 (Over/Under is 52.5)

Notre Dame is a late field goal from Northern Illinois, which is currently undefeated.

The Fighting Irish’s only loss was a surprising 16-14 loss to the Huskies on September 7, when they allowed the game-winning field goal in the final minute. Nonetheless, the Irish are in position to secure a spot in the College Football Playoff if they can get a win over the Trojans on Saturday. That would be the program’s third CFP berth since the format was introduced in 2015. There is a path for the Irish to make the playoffs even if they lose on Saturday, but that wouldn’t be a sure thing.

Head coach Marcus Freeman is in his third season since being named the top job and has made steady progress, going from 9-4 in his first year to 10-3 and now 10-1.

Not only did the Irish bounce back from the early setback against Northern Illinois, they dominated. Notre Dame has an incredible +301 point differential this season – as it ranks 6th nationally in scoring defense with 39 points per game and 2nd in scoring defense with 11.6 PPG allowed.

Notre Dame is No. 4 in total defense (273.1 YPG), No. 1 in pass defense (139.5 YPG) and has won each of its last six games by 21 or more points. Aside from the loss to Northern Illinois, Louisville was the only other team to even come close to the Irish with a 31-24 loss in late September.

This certainly appears to be the toughest test USC has faced all season.

It’s safe to say this is the best offense USC has faced all season – in fact, Trojans defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn made that argument himself this week.

“They are very talented. Their offensive line is probably the best offensive line we’ve played all year, and their two defensemen are very good defenders. They’ve got big tight ends, they’ve got speed on the outside, so I think that’s what it’s going to be for the most part.” “Best offense we’ve played,” Lynn said.

And that’s not even mentioning the quarterback Riley Leonardwhich Lynn had been talking about before this quote.

Leonard, a transfer from Duke, passed for 1,937 yards, 14 touchdowns and 4 interceptions and rushed for 671 yards and 13 scores as a dynamic dual-threat QB. Two of his interceptions came in the loss to Northern Illinois, so he’s been pretty locked in since then. The Irish will have a number of runs coming for him as he had double-digit rushing attempts in 8 of 11 games.

“He’s very, very fast and he’s so tall and long that he doesn’t look that fast on the video, but he comes back a long way, so just keeping him in check is going to be crucial, especially on third downs,” Lynn said. “We’ve played quarterbacks who scramble around and extend plays, but we haven’t played quarterbacks who also have that many design runs, especially when they get into the red zone. It’s really all about him, so it’s going to be a little different, but our guys are excited for the challenge.”

As Lynn noted, Leonard plays behind a strong offensive line. True freshman left tackle Antony Knapp has given up a team-high 4 sacks and 21 pressures, but he hasn’t allowed a sack in the last five games. Notre Dame’s other starting players are redshirt freshman LG Sam PendletonRedshirt Junior C Pat CooganRedshirt junior RG Rocco Spindler and redshirt sophomore RT Aamil WagnerCombined, they gave up just one sack all season.

They also helped clear the path for the second-year running back Jeremiyah lovewho passed for 850 yards and 14 touchdowns on 7.0 yards per carry. But even with him out, the Irish have been just as productive as a redshirt sophomore Jadarian Prize also averaged 7.0 YPC (540 rushing yards and 6 total touchdowns).

As usual, Notre Dame has a solid tight end in the 6-foot-2, 260-pound senior Mitchell Evans (24 catches for 213 yards and 2 TDs), while the veteran Clemson transfer and St. John Bosco HS former standout Beau Collins (34-427-2) and sophomore Jaden Bighouse (25-339-1) lead the receivers.

How dominant was Notre Dame’s pass defense? The Irish have held four of their last six opponents to under 100 yards, including Stanford (87) and Florida State (88), as well as ground-heavy teams like Navy and Army. The only teams to pass for over 200 yards against Notre Dame this season were Louisville (264) and Georgia Tech (269).

Security Xavier Watts Leads the secondary with 40 tackles, 4 interceptions, 8 pass breakups and a forced fumble. USC fans will remember that Watts had 2 INTS and a fumble recovery for a touchdown against the Trojans last season in South Bend. For sure Adon Schuler has 3 picks.

Notre Dame lost its top cornerback Benjamin Morrison He suffered a season-ending hip injury in mid-October but was a redshirt senior Jordan Clark (1 INT, 3 PBUs, just 13 receptions given up on 26 targets for 82 yards all season and as a freshman Leonard Moore (2 INTs, 3 PBUs, 2 FF, 15 catches on 26 targets for 202 yards) were very solid.

Redshirt senior Jack Kiser leads the linebacker unit with 56 tackles and a forced fumble as a sophomore Drayk Bowen (51 tackles, 2 FF) and redshirt freshman Jaiden Ausberry (43 tackles) were also the mainstays in the middle.

Veteran nose tackle Howard Cross III was sidelined with an ankle sprain he suffered earlier this month but could return to action on Saturday. But the redshirt senior Rylie Mills (team-high 6.5 sacks, 18 pressures) was one of the best defensive tackles in college football this year.

Overall, Notre Dame has forced the most turnovers in the country with 26 to 15 interceptions and 11 fumbles.

Notre Dame has made just 8 of 17 field goals with the veteran this season Mitch Jeter (6 out of 11) handles most of them.

player James Rendell He is averaging 41.4 yards per attempt and has put 16 of 35 punts inside the 20-yard line with 0 touchbacks.

Notre Dame has not had a kick return of more than 34 yards or a punt return of more than 15 yards this season.

It clearly starts with quarterback Jayden Maiava not turning the ball over against an opportunistic defense that leads the country in takeaways.

The Trojans should be talented enough to compete in this game – as they have in every game this season – but they don’t have much room for error and costly turnovers might be too much to overcome.

Logic would say that USC would lean heavily on its very productive rushing attack and Woody Marks to battle the top-ranked pass defense in the country, but that’s exactly what was the case against Washington when Lincoln Riley opted to do that 51 times instead to fit.

Relying on the ground game would be smart and would take pressure off Maiava and reduce his chances of making dangerous passes.

Defensive: Contain, contain, contain. The Trojans can’t rely on Riley Leonard’s rushing ability in this game, plus they need to tackle well and limit the overall explosiveness of the ground game.

Field position is an area where USC can try to gain an advantage in this one, between Makai Lemon’s kick return skills and punter Eddie Czaplicki’s incredible field flip skills. That will be as important as anything else on Saturday (apart from the turnovers).