There’s no other way to describe what happened in South Bend, Indiana, Saturday night between USC and Notre Dame other than a good old-fashioned beatdown.

The Fighting Irish faithfuls serenaded USC (6-1, 4-0 Pac-12) with boos from the first snap and never relented while the Trojans tried to find their footing. Notre Dame’s (6-2) pre-game prayers from the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes were answered almost instantly.

On just the fourth play of the game, the Fighting Irish blew up a third down play by pressuring junior quarterback Caleb Williams and forcing an overthrow of his receiver, landing right into the hands of Notre Dame redshirt junior safety Xavier Watts. This same pattern would epitomize the rest of the game for USC.

Notre Dame’s defensive line was able to do whatever it wanted against the Trojans’ offensive line, constantly putting Williams under duress. The Fighting Irish finished with six sacks but seemed to bother Williams in some way almost every play. Williams didn’t help the case much either, having the same amount of interceptions Saturday as he’s thrown in his previous nine games alone.

“I made mistakes that I usually don’t make,” Williams said in a post-game press conference. “There were a couple you could call forced … but games like this happen. You’ve got to get through it, you’ve got to keep fighting, you’ve got to be a leader. It starts at the head of the snake and I’ll be better.”

Considering the pressure, Williams wasn’t put in a good position, and his receivers were not getting open quick enough. But his throws were errant at times, and the offense, in general, never really had a groove going.

All season long, USC’s main chagrin has been their defense, and when looking at the final score of 48-20 at first glance, first assumptions might think the weaker unit struck again. But the Trojan defense put up arguably its best game all season and, regarding yards, one of their best in the past 10 seasons.

The defense gave up 251 total yards to Notre Dame. In only four of USC’s past 117 games has the Trojans defense allowed fewer total yards. Notre Dame constantly had short fields because of the vast turnover margin and scored 31 of its 48 points off turnovers. When the defense finally put up a solid performance, the offense was nowhere to be found.

“We took our turns making mistakes and that’s what it looked like,” said Head Coach Lincoln Riley. “We had a couple of bad calls by me … we dropped a few balls, had a couple errors by receivers, missed a few things up front. We just made a couple of runs that we thought we blocked out very well but we didn’t make the correct cut … just didn’t play well enough to win the game.”

There were a few questionable play calls from Riley throughout the game. One was right at the end of the first half. The Trojans were down 24-3 and looking for any ounce of momentum to take into the half. After just three plays, they started the drive well and called a timeout at the Notre Dame 43-yard line with 29 seconds left in the half.

With one timeout remaining and at least 15 yards from a makeable field goal, what does Riley do? Run a draw right up the middle, of course, gaining just four yards. This forced USC to use their final timeout and almost cost them not to get any points altogether.

The one bright spot in the game for the Trojans was the return of freshman wide receiver Zachariah Branch. After missing the last two games with an undisclosed injury, Branch was a spark plug for the Trojans.

Branch was used in a Deebo Samuel-esque role, lining up in the backfield for multiple plays. He was seldom used, but he made a mark when he was. He ignited one of USC’s touchdown drives in the second half with a 66-yard punt return.

But at the end of the day, nothing would go right for USC. Right after the Trojans put together a promising six-play 57-yard drive to cut it to an 11-point game, Notre Dame came right back with a 46-yard passing touchdown.

This happened later in the game, as well. Williams hit senior wide receiver Brenden Rice for a beautiful throw and catch. The Fighting Irish returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to the endzone, once again immediately destroying any little hope USC had for a comeback.

USC dropped eight places in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings after the loss, with four Pac-12 teams ranked ahead of it. Four of the Trojans’ final five opponents are ranked in a crowded Pac-12, but even with the lopsided loss, USC is still in first place.

“There’s a lot of errors that we made that were totally on us and a lot of opportunities that were there that I know we can make,” Riley said after the loss. “We got to go make the corrections … we’ve got to coach and play better, but is it in our power, is [getting to the Pac-12 championship] something we’re capable of? I believe it to my core, and we’re gonna go fight our ass off to get it done.”

USC will face its next test when they host No. 14 Utah (5-1, 2-1) Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.