Notre Dame opens as road underdog in likely top-15 matchup vs. USC
Notre Dame’s streak of four straight years as a favorite over USC looks like it will come to an end. The No. 18 Irish (8-3) opened as 6-point underdogs for their Nov. 26 game against the No. 7 Trojans (10-1, 8-1 Pac-12) in Los Angeles, per Circa Sports’ Week 13 opening lines.
This is the fourth time in 2022 Notre Dame is an underdog. The Irish were 3.5-point underdogs vs. Clemson at kickoff Nov. 5, per Oddsshark. North Carolina was a 2.5-point favorite over them Sept. 24, and Ohio State a 17-point favorite Sept. 3.
Notre Dame is 3-0 against the spread as an underdog this year, with two outright wins. It beat Clemson 35-14 and North Carolina 45-32, but lost to Ohio State 21-10.
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USC and Notre Dame bring lengthy winning streaks into this week’s matchup. The Irish have won five straight, most recently a 44-0 dusting of Boston College at home. The Trojans have four straight victories since losing at Utah 43-42 and beat No. 16 UCLA 48-45 Saturday.
Notre Dame and USC will meet as ranked teams for the first time since 2017. The last three matchups pitted a top-15 Irish outfit against unranked USC. The Irish covered a 7.5-point spread in last year’s 31-16 home win, did not cover as 10.5-point favorites in a 30-27 home victory in 2019 failed to cover as 14-point favorites in a 24-17 road in win 2018. They were favored by 3.5 points in 2017, when they hosted the then-No. 11 Trojans. They covered in a 49-14 blowout.
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USC’s last win over Notre Dame was a 45-27 victory at home to close the 2016 season. The Irish are looking for their fifth straight win in the series.
Notre Dame moved up in both voter-based polls Sunday. It climbed from No. 18 to No. 13 in the Associated Press Top 25 and jumped four spots to No. 15 in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll. The College Football Playoff rankings will likely bump the Irish up when they refresh Tuesday.
USC is one of four Notre Dame opponents currently ranked in the CFP top 25. No. 2 Ohio State (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) beat Maryland 36-30 Saturday, No. 7 Clemson (10-1, 8-0 ACC) beat Miami 40-10 and No. 13 North Carolina (9-2, 6-1 ACC) lost at home to Georgia Tech 21-17.
