Trojans host Fighting Irish in regular season finale

The Trojans wrap up their regular season when longtime, nonconference rival Notre Dame visits the Coliseum on Saturday.

The Trojans (8-3) have won seven straight games — all of which against Pac-12 opponents — while the Fighting Irish (4-7) are coming off a 34-31 loss to Virginia Tech last week. The Irish have not won consecutive games all year.

After a decisive 36-14 win over crosstown rival UCLA at the Rose Bowl last Saturday, the Trojans have had to refocus on their current opponent and give the next game their full attention.

“After every single game that we win, we sing our song, do our thing and move on,” redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold said. “We’ve just got to take that mindset every single week. If we keep doing that, we’ll find ourselves in a good position in the end.”

USC is looking for a final win to cap what has been a tale of two seasons. After three losses in their first four games, the Men of Troy have rattled off seven in a row, with the pinnacle of their turnaround coming two weeks ago when the Trojans traveled to Washington and defeated the then-No. 4 Huskies.

“It feels good,” senior wide receiver Darreus Rogers said. “It feels regular to us right about now. You’ve got to stay humble.”

The offensive prowess of the Trojans has been praised, specifically the play of Darnold. He has averaged 220.7 yards per game while completing 68.3 percent of his passes and connecting for 24 touchdowns. However, Darnold has also thrown eight interceptions this year, with two of those coming last week against UCLA.

Darnold’s Irish counterpart is junior DeShone Kizer, who is completing 59.3 percent of his passes and averaging 245.9 yards per game. He has thrown 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions this season. Kizer is a threat with both his arm and his feet, setting the Notre Dame record last season for single-season rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 10. This year Kizer leads the team in rushing touchdowns with seven.

“Elite arm, but has the ability to create in the run game,” head coach Clay Helton said. “You’re talking about a quarterback that already has over 500 yards rushing and then you see him spread the ball around to several different receivers. He’s a very talented kid; a kid that will end up playing on Sundays.”

The Trojan defense has excelled during the seven-game win streak, holding six opponents to their season low in scoring up to that point.

“It’s setting up third down situations and we’ve been really good on third down the past several weeks and it’s made for a good defensive output,” Helton said.

There hasn’t been one specific player on the defensive unit that has been dominating opponents. However, Helton has specifically praised redshirt senior defensive lineman Stevie Tu’ikolovatu and sophomore defensive lineman Rasheem Green for their presence inside and stopping the run game.

Though Notre Dame has struggled this season, Helton said his team is prepping as though this is a playoff game — the same mentality the team has maintained the whole year.

“Now we have to go do our job again against a rivalry team that has great personnel,” Helton said. “Their record is not the same as their personnel. Their personnel is very talented and they’ve lost some close games over and over this year but I know they’re going to come here charged up, especially with it being a rivalry game.”

This will be the 88th meeting of the two rivals. USC has defeated Notre Dame in 10 of the last 14 games, but all four losses have been since 2010, including last year’s 41-31 loss in South Bend. This year the game kicks off at 12:30 p.m. and is being televised nationally on ABC.