Notre Dame Football

The No. 15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish fell to the No. 6 USC Trojans 38-27 on Saturday and fell to 8-4 on the season following an uninspired performance from the defense.

Notre Dame's defense failed to contain Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams and the USC offense through all four quarters of Saturday's game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Williams, a Heisman Trophy favorite, completed 18-of-22 passes for 232 yards and one touchdown, in addition to rushing for 35 yards and three scores on nine carries. Trojans running back Austin Jones also rushed for 154 yards on 25 carries.

USC put up at least one touchdown in each quarter and totaled 436 yards of offense against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish defense didn't force one turnover, and they allowed the Trojans to convert 8-of-12 third-down attempts.

Following the loss, college football Twitter ripped the Notre Dame defense for its performance:

Saturday's loss was a tough way for the Fighting Irish to end their 2022 season, but there's optimism they'll be better in 2023 with another full season of Marcus Freeman at the helm.

Jaiden Ausberry, a 4-star linebacker from University Lab High School in Baton Rouge, committed to Notre Dame in June. The question now is whether he'll make an instant impact for the Fighting Irish.

On the recruiting trail, Ausberry is considered the No. 150 prospect in the class of 2023, the No. 11 linebacker and the No. 7 player from the state of Louisiana, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

It's no shock that Ausberry was among the top recruits in the nation—his older brother, cornerback Austin Ausberry, was a 3-star prospect in the class of 2022 who committed to Auburn.

"It's all about respecting each other's game and pushing each other to be the best," Austin Ausberry told William Weathers of the Advocate in September 2021. "We want to represent our last names. We push each other to be the best we can be. When we were younger and played against each other, it was to ultimately to make both of us better."

Oh, and their father is former LSU inside linebacker Verge Ausberry. So, yes, Jaiden Ausberry comes from a football family.

"They're both hard workers and athletic," University Lab head coach Andy Martin told Weathers. "They're really good character kids. They're coachable. To me coachability is the biggest factor."

Raw talent certainly helps, however. And Ausberry has plenty of that, to go along with a football pedigree.

Cracking the Notre Dame roster as a freshman is no small task, however. Notre Dame has draft-eligible linebackers in Jack Kiser, JD Bertrand and Marist Liufau, so playing time will be available next season.

But alongside the players already on the roster, the Fighting Irish also have incoming 4-star linebacker Drayk Bowen and 3-star Preston Zinter, so Ausberry will have a fight on his hands.

Add in 5-star recruit Jaylen Sneed and 4-stars Josh Burnham, Niuafe Tuihalamaka and Nolan Ziegler from last year's class, and Ausberry's shot at making an immediate impact is slim.

A relentless rushing attack, a dominant defense and sensational special teams propelled unranked Notre Dame to a 35-14 win over No. 4 Clemson on Saturday evening.

The Fighting Irish rushed for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Logan Diggs (114 yards) and Audric Estimé (104) led the way for Notre Dame, who possessed the ball for 33 minutes thanks to their efforts.

The defense shut Clemson out for nearly 50 minutes before the Tigers scored the first of their two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Benjamin Morrison also registered two interceptions, including a 96-yard pick-six that gave Notre Dame a 27-0 lead.

And the Fighting Irish got the ball rolling thanks to a Jordan Botelho blocked punt, which Prince Kollie returned for a 17-yard touchdown.

Clemson didn't play particularly well in either of its last two games, a 34-28 win over Florida State and a 27-21 victory against Syracuse. This time around, the Fighting Irish put their foot on the gas early and never looked back as the Tigers struggled from start to finish.

The loss all but assures that Clemson will not be participating in the College Football Playoff this year, and Twitter gave credit to Notre Dame for its big win over a team that many believed should not have been top four.

Both teams will play Saturday. Clemson will host Louisville, while Notre Dame will welcome Navy to South Bend.

Notre Dame college football fell to 3-3 this season after losing at home to Stanford 16-14 on Saturday evening.

This defeat serves as the nadir of a bitterly disappointing season for Notre Dame.

The Cardinal had struggled mightily against FBS competition before traveling to South Bend, as Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic noted:

However, this season has simply been a disaster for Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman, who is in his first full year as the team's head coach after being promoted from the defensive coordinator role at the end of last season. The offense, in particular, has struggled (94th out of 131 FBS teams in points per game entering Saturday).

Notre Dame lost 21-10 to then-No. 2 Ohio State to start the season before falling to Marshall 26-21 at home. The Fighting Irish then struggled to beat Cal for its first win of the season.

The offense came to life in a 45-32 win over UNC and a 28-20 victory against then-No. 16 BYU, but it shut down against a Stanford team that allowed 154 points over its last four games, all losses.

Freeman is only seven games into his tenure (including last year's Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State), and he obviously deserves more time, especially after Brian Kelly abruptly left the team for LSU.

At the same time, Notre Dame entered this game with 10 or more victories in each of its past five years, including two College Football Playoff appearances. Notre Dame would have to win out (including a bowl game) just to get to 10 wins this year, but the schedule isn't going to get easier with three Top 25 teams (USC, Clemson and Syracuse) on the ledger.

For now, Freeman is under fire, and Twitter provided its postgame thoughts.

Notre Dame will look to bounce back when it hosts UNLV on Saturday.

The unranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish upset the No. 16 BYU Cougars 28-20 on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to improve to 3-2 on the season, and it was a particularly impressive evening for quarterback Drew Pyne and tight end Michael Mayer.

Pyne, who is starting in place of Tyler Buchner, who is expected to miss four months after undergoing shoulder surgery, completed 22-of-28 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns against one interception.

Mayer, one of the top tight ends in the nation, caught 11 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. He became Notre Dame's all-time catch leader for tight ends with 141 receptions.

The combination of Pyne and Mayer drew instant praise on Twitter during and after Notre Dame's big win:

If one thing is clear, it's that Pyne and Mayer will continue to have a significant impact for Notre Dame this season.

The Fighting Irish have now won three consecutive games and will hope to improve to 4-2 with a win over Stanford next weekend.

Head coach Marcus Freeman looks to have turned things around at Notre Dame after Saturday's 45-32 victory over North Carolina.

The Fighting Irish have now won back-to-back games following their 0-2 start. This was their best offensive performance so far, putting up season highs in points, total yards (576), passing yards (289) and rushing yards (287).

Quarterback Drew Pyne has looked good since getting chewed out by offensive coordinator Tommy Rees in the first quarter of last week's game against California. The sophomore went 24-of-34 and set career highs with 289 yards passing and three touchdowns.

After going scoreless and racking up 25 yards on their first two drives combined, Pyne led the Irish to scores on six consecutive possessions to open up a 38-14 lead early in the third quarter.

Pyne had four completions of at least 20 yards against the Tar Heels. He and Tyler Buchner combined for nine such completions in the first three games of the season.

It's been encouraging to see Notre Dame's offense rebound from a brutal stretch to begin the season. It started with a rough showing in a 21-10 loss against Ohio State that was on prime-time national television.

Things bottomed out one week later with a 26-21 loss to Marshall in the Fighting Irish's home opener. The defeat snapped the program's 42-game winning streak against opponents unranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

It made Freeman the first head coach in program history to lose his first three games. He served as interim head coach for Notre Dame's 37-35 loss to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Since the second quarter of last week's win over Cal, Notre Dame has put up 69 points in its last seven quarters of football. Beating North Carolina won't go down as a marquee moment for the Fighting Irish, but it could end up serving as a crucial turning point for the team.

Next up for Notre Dame is a matchup with No. 19 BYU on Oct. 8 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Marcus Freeman is finally in the win column as Notre Dame's head coach after the Fighting Irish earned a 24-17 victory over California on Saturday in South Bend, Indiana.

Drew Pyne hit Michael Mayer on a six-yard touchdown pass to put Notre Dame ahead 24-17 with 9:16 left in the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for Freeman, his team's performance won't help to get the skeptics off his back.

The logic behind promoting Freeman to the top job was sound. The 36-year-old was a high-level assistant on the rise and poised to get a head coaching opportunity somewhere in the near future. Given his age, he can lead a program for a decade or more and provide a lot of long-term stability as well.

But the extent of Freeman's learning curve was clearly underestimated.

Freeman's defensive influence was evident toward the end, though. Isaiah Foskey in particular wreaked havoc on the Cal offensive line in the fourth quarter.

Things don't get much easier for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish hit the road to play 3-0 North Carolina, which has had a week off to prepare. From there, they have a date with 12th-ranked BYU on Oct. 8 in Las Vegas.

Maybe Saturday represents a turning point. Freeman will certainly hope so.