Notre Dame has struggled after facing triple option offenses under Brian Kelly, and hasn't faced a team as athletic as USC after taking on a service academy or Georgia Tech. But Kelly sees a few things working in his team's favor when it welcomes the Trojans to South Bend Saturday night.
The Irish are 5-4 in games after playing a team that runs the antiquated-yet-effective offense. It's a record that includes some of Kelly's worst losses (2010 vs. Tulsa, 2013 vs. Pitt, 2014 vs. Arizona State) and a handful of narrow wins (like 2010 vs. USC and 2012 vs. Purdue). The only comfortable win out of those nine games earlier this year, when Notre Dame blew out UMass, 62-27, after beating Georgia Tech.
But Kelly believes he and his coaching staff have figured out a sustainable formula not only for beating triple option teams, but for avoiding the annual post-option issues. It helps, too, that Notre Dame has a week off after the USC game to get away from football/class and rest up a bit.
"There will be no excuses," Kelly said. "The Navy effect will have nothing to do with what happens on the field on Saturday."
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Still, the transition from facing Navy's triple option to USC's pro-style offense compete with elite athletes like running back Tre Madden and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is a difficult one. The closest team in terms of athleticism was last year's Arizona State side, which blew out the Irish 55-31 in Tempe.
"People do not give Navy enough credit to the kind of game they play for four quarters," Kelly said. "They bang the heck out of you for four quarters. It's a physical game. ... To the very last play, you are playing physical football. So you're just coming off a very physical game, that's all. We'll bounce back fine.
"We've got a week off next week, so our guys have a totally different mindset with the bye week. We've tried to construct it moving forward that we get that because, obviously, USC, a bye week, that changes the dynamics quite a bit. Not having them play at noon time in the 85-degree weather in Arizona is a big difference than playing here at home this weekend too."