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Caleb Williams and USC hit a wall in blowout loss to Notre Dame

October 15, 2023

Head coach Marcus Freeman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates a fumble with Xavier Watts against the USC Trojans during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans is sacked by Jaylen Sneed of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Head coach Marcus Freeman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates with Jaylen Sneed against the USC Trojans during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Sam Hartman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish throws a pass against the USC Trojans during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans runs with the ball against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Lake McRee of the USC Trojans is tackled by DJ Brown and Xavier Watts of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Sam Hartman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish high fives head coach Marcus Freeman against the USC Trojans during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans looks on against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Sam Pendleton of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after defeating the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans leaves the field after losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans throws a touchdown pass to Brenden Rice (not pictured) against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Sam Hartman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates a touchdown with Chris Tyree against the USC Trojans during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans scrambles away from Rylie Mills of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Jaylen Sneed of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates with fans who stormed the field after defeating the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans looks on against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans reacts against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Clarence Lewis and Benjamin Morrison of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish tackle Brenden Rice of the USC Trojans during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Gi’Bran Payne of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish scores a touchdown past Christian Roland-Wallace of the USC Trojans during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Former USC Trojan and NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson looks on during the first half between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans warms up against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Audric Estime of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates a rushing touchdown against the USC Trojans during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Head coach Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans look on against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans celebrate after defeating the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

USC quarterback Caleb Williams hands off to running back Austin Jones during the first half an NCAA college football game against Notre Dame, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Caterina)

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SOUTH BEND, INDIANA — In the deep heart of the Midwest, the magic from Caleb Williams’ fingertips turned to dust.

A year ago, when the Fighting Irish marched into the Coliseum and USC marched them right out, was Williams’ crowning moment, a four-touchdown dazzler that all but tied up his Heisman in a neat little bow. And heading into South Bend Saturday night, these Trojans needed the same sort of Atlas-level performance from their junior quarterback, shouldering the weight of a much-maligned defense that had given up 40 points in back-to-back games.

But in front of a packed-out Notre Dame Stadium booming with vengeance and Irish-green pom-poms, against a defense that gave not a few inches of breathing room to blanketed receivers, the rabbit-from-a-hat plays that have made Williams “Caleb freakin’ Williams” went shockingly and irreparably wrong in a blowout 48-20 loss.

He carried the worst game of his collegiate career in the lines of his face postgame, eyes glassy and furrowing his lips to keep obvious emotion at bay, standing tall with chin high after reclining casually at the postgame podium in USC’s previous wins. Three interceptions, all in the first half, most in his collegiate career. And after points of clear frustration with media through the start of the season, USC’s leader stood square and assumed responsibility for a night Lincoln Riley called “incredibly disappointing.”

“I made mistakes that I usually don’t make,” Williams said, when asked if he felt he’d forced a couple throws. “Been in college for three years now — I don’t think I’ve ever had a season or a game or anything like that.”

“You got to be a leader, it starts at the head of the snake,” Williams continued, later in his response. “And I’ll be better.”

Blame, though, falls across the locker room, most notably up front. The offensive line was a dying star on Saturday night, pocket collapsing upon Williams repeatedly, a third-quarter push for momentum quashed on back-to-back sacks where USC’s quarterback had little chance to think before multiple Fighting Irish blitzers torpedoed at him.

A Notre Dame team that entered 108th out of 130 FBS teams in sacks per game, at 1.57, finished with six against the Trojans’ O-line, Williams on the ground in the middle of a dogpile too many times for comfort.

“They’re a good defense,” Riley said, postgame. “We knew that coming in. We put ourselves in too many bad positions. That’s what happens.”

But USC’s first-half whole was dug, in large part, by Williams, in a true bizarro-world of a sentence rarely written in his time at USC. His three picks all lead directly to Notre Dame scores, far and away the worst stretch of play in not only his tenure at USC but his collegiate life.

The first shocker came just two minutes in, when Williams – who’s bona-fide missed, in total, a handful of throws all season – lofted a seam ball to Lake McCree simply too high and into the cradle of Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts.

“A couple of throws I always make, didn’t make,” Williams said. “The one to Lake, went over his head. How often do you see that?”

How often do you see, too, what happened next?

Down 10-3 with a few minutes left in the first half, Williams stepped up in the pocket to evade a rapidly charging Benjamin Morrison, firing on the move with his momentum carrying forward – the kind of impervious-to-pressure toss that always seems to end in a first down over the middle.

Except his pass got tipped at the line of scrimmage, and a floating duck fell right into the arms of Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts for his second pick.

Down 17-3 just a few seconds later, Williams escaped another detonated pocket, rolling to his left, setting his feet with a defender charging and firing against his body – the kind of devil-may-care back-foot throw that always seems to end in a receiver plucking a laser out of thin air.

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Except there was little mustard on a desperation heave, and one of the worst in-moment decisions Williams has made in his USC career ended in his third pick of the half.

In a cruel stroke of irony, after weeks of constant chatter over USC’s defense that grew so loud Riley went on a two-minute-long defense in media availability Tuesday, they played “good enough to win the football game,” as Riley put it postgame. They delivered when afforded the length of the field, Christian Roland-Wallace submitting an excellent game in pass coverage and linebackers wrapping up admirably in open-field situations.

But Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman finally popped the lid off the Trojans’ defense with a 46-yard touchdown bomb to extend the lead to 31-13 in the third quarter, and after an electric return by the returning Zachariah Branch set up a USC fourth-quarter answer, Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price took a kickoff 99 yards to the house himself. Untouched. Ballgame, for all intents and purposes.

There can be no hiding, after Saturday night. The thin sheen of an undefeated record, and quarterback’s consistent brilliance, were both ripped away brutally by the Fighting Irish, wounds unveiled raw and ugly.

“Still very much believe in this football team, 1000%,” Riley said postgame, frequently speaking with a pained smile. “The good from this football team is good enough to beat anybody. But we obviously know we got to put it together quickly.”

Utah awaits. Oregon looms. Washington licks their chops. Optimism is no longer enough.

“We have to coach and play better,” Riley said. “But is it in our power? Is it something we’re capable of? I believe it, to my core, and we’re going to go fight our ass off to get it done.”

Orange County Register

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Caleb Williams and USC hit a wall in blowout loss to Notre Dame

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