A defensive tour-de-force for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish helped bring about a 48-20 pounding of the Southern Cal Trojans on Saturday night. The Irish defenders constantly delivered the big plays that had been lacking in the team’s first seven games and helped hand the first loss of the season to the tenth-ranked Trojans.
The win was an important one for Notre Dame, which effectively shut down a Southern Cal squad that had averaged nearly 52 points in their first six games. Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked six times and the Irish collected five turnovers, the latter two fumbles late in the fourth quarter that cemented the win.