Marcus Freeman shares what concerns him most about USC offense

Notre Dame has faced some pretty talented offenses this season. But perhaps no other team on the Fighting Irish’s schedule presents as difficult a defensive challenge as Lincoln Riley and his USC team. With stars in the booth, under center and split out side, the Trojans are eviscerating seemingly every foe they face on the offensive end. However, have they seen as strong a defense as the one ND puts on the field every Saturday? We’ll find out Saturday.

Ahead of the game, Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame head coach, was not brash in evaluating the challenge the Trojans present. When asked what scares him most about the USC offense, he simply responded, “everything,” before explaining how excellent they are in every phase of offense, but most notably, quarterback.

“I mean, it all starts with the quarterback. Every offense, I believe, starts with a quarterback. It starts with the quarterback in the decision-making, in his ability to extend plays and put the ball where it needs to go.”

Freeman also credits Riley for rolling with the punches at running back and finding effective guys down the depth chart once the starter went out.

“But even with the running back, Travis Dye, being out, who was extremely talented — as you watch back through their season, they got a stable of running backs. The one guy that was from Stanford, Austin Jones. He was at Stanford and we faced him last year. And, you know, they got a freshman running back, Raleek Brown, that’s fast. And they use him at returner and do some different things with him, and he’s talented.”

Also very talented are the offensive line and wide receiver groups, even if several of them were new to the team this season.

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“Their offensive line is a veteran group. It’s probably one of the most veteran, experienced groups we’ll face. You can just go down a list from Jordan Addison to uh to Brenden Rice to Mario Williams, who transferred from Oklahoma. Then, Tahj Washington from Memphis. I mean, you can just go down the line of talented wide receivers that find a way to get their hands on the ball. So every position on their offense will present a big challenge for us.”

Marcus Freeman was a career defensive coordinator ahead of becoming head coach last offseason. So he knows a thing or two about how to stop and offense. If you can’t tell, game planning to stop this one is a scary proposition, even for a defensive mind like the young Freeman.