Trojans look to notch huge rivalry win at Notre Dame

Strictly business · Sophomore Adoree’ Jackson and the Trojans hope to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the famous “Bush Push” with the program’s seventh victory in its last 10 games in South Bend. – Maya Dondonyan | Daily Trojan

In the first game since the firing of former head coach Steve Sarkisian, the Trojans will travel to South Bend, Indiana, to take on rival No. 14 Notre Dame. Interim head coach Clay Helton will lead the 3-2 Trojans for the second time on Saturday, having coached them to a win in the 2013 Las Vegas Bowl.

The Trojans are coming off a loss to an unranked team in the Washington Huskies, their second Pac-12 loss already this season. The Fighting Irish, however, have only lost one game this season, falling to Clemson on Oct. 3.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, I have been in this situation before. Once again very fortunate to have a group of first-class kids that are extremely talented and want to do something special here,” Helton said. “They still have a lot of things out here that we can obtain. We have a big game versus Notre Dame this week.”

Redshirt senior quarterback Cody Kessler will square off against a stout Notre Dame secondary. The quarterback is coming off a game in which he threw two interceptions and no touchdown passes. Though he is coming off one of his worst games in a year, Kessler threw for 372 yards and six touchdowns against the Irish last year in the Coliseum.

“We’ve been through a lot of adversity, and that’s what we do best is move on,” redshirt senior quarterback Cody Kessler said. “We have an opportunity to do something great this weekend. Notre Dame is a great football team and we’re excited to get out there. It’s going to be a crazy game out in South Bend and we’re excited. We can’t wait to get back out there and get ready to go play a game.”

Overall this season, Kessler has thrown 15 touchdown passes to just 3 interceptions. Kessler’s favorite target, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, has 619 yards and 6 touchdowns this season. Smith-Schuster is also coming off a game where he was held to only 82 yards on six receptions and no touchdowns.

Last time these teams met, the Trojans handed the Irish a 49-14 beatdown in the Coliseum. A lot has changed since the last time the two teams faced off, however. Not only has USC changed coaches, but the Irish have changed quarterbacks.

Former starting quarterback Malik Ziare went down in the second game of the season with a broken ankle, leaving DeShone Kizer as the playcaller for the Fighting Irish. Kizer has since thrown for 1143 yards and 8 touchdown passes with a 65.9 percent completion rate. Kizer, however, represents more of a threat on the ground than Ziare ever did, something the Trojan defense has struggled to stop all season.

In addition to being without Sarkisian, the Trojans will also have to play the remainder of the season without All-American center Max Tuerk, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Washington. Sophomore Toa Lobendahn will take over for Tuerk at center.

“You never want to have an injury, but thank goodness we put the investment in earlier in the season to prepare for this,” Helton said.

Though the offense was stalled against Washington, the run game seemed to be unstoppable.

Redshirt senior Tre Madden and freshman Ronald Jones combined for 185 rushing yards against the Huskies, and have provided the Trojans with over 600 combined yards and seven touchdowns so far this season.

The Trojans will need another performance like this to get by the Fighting Irish. Madden has been somewhat limited by injury all season but is expected to play on Saturday.

While the Trojans are underdogs coming into this week’s game, Helton believes that his team will overcome the challenges it has faced in the past week and come away with a big win in a rivalry game.

‘’Anytime you have a fresh start and new beginnings, it’s exciting for anybody,’’ Helton said. ‘’And plus, it’s rivalry week. It’s Notre Dame. That’s special.”

Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. in South Bend. It will air live on NBC.