Caleb Williams throws 3 interceptions as Notre Dame DOMINATES USC | Game Recap | CBS Sports

A final from South Bend, and it turned out to be a laugher for the Fighting Irish, 48-20. We saw something in this game that we have never seen before from Caleb Williams. Three interceptions, and for USC, the hits keep on coming, for their defense at least. That is now seven, excuse me, six straight games, where they have allowed a bunch of points. In terms of... A bunch. Yeah, they have allowed 40 points in four straight games, 40 or more in four straight games. I'll have to check my math a little bit later, but you get the point. They've given up 40 points quite a few times here in the last couple weeks. Last week, they went to triple overtime against Arizona to beat them, and now they get shellacked by Notre Dame, 48-20. 48-20. So check that. Three weeks in a row, they've given up 40 points. Three weeks. Still not good. Still, it's not good. It's not good. All right, back here in studio with Brian McFadden. Yes, sir. Caleb Williams, three interceptions, first time in his career he's thrown three interceptions in a game. Your reaction? He looked rattled. He looked uncomfortable. He never got into rhythm. Hats off to Notre Dame. The defensive front, they did a phenomenal job in collapsing the pocket, making life miserable for Caleb Williams, and we've seen how impactful Caleb can be. We know the superstar player that he is at the quarterback position, but tonight he was below average in every phase of his ball game. He wasn't seeing the football field well. He wasn't utilizing proper pocket presence, and he was just careless with the football. And when he's careless with the football, clearly their offense, they're not at their best, and we know how bad their defense has been, and let's keep it real. They've been kind of, they've been on borrowed time for quite some time now. They barely got through against Arizona at home last week, as you mentioned, and because of how vulnerable their defense has been, there's been more pressure put on Caleb Williams and their offense to score every possession that they get because their defense can't get timely stops. But in tonight's matchup, this was the first legit defensive test for USC, specifically speaking for Caleb Williams, and they failed. He had not seen a defense like this all season. This ferocious Notre Dame defense, but when you talk about what the storyline coming out of this game is going to be, did Caleb Williams lose the Heisman on this night? I think so. I think so, and the reason why is because this was a legit test against a stout defensive front defensive team in the Fighting Irish on a national stage, and it's one thing to lose the ball game. Like, let's look at Oregon versus Washington earlier today. Bo Nix, they lost the ball game, but they were competitive. He was competitive. From start to finish in tonight's matchup, Caleb did not make one play. Untimely interceptions, heck, Hakeem, correct me if I'm wrong, he had three interceptions in the first half. Yep. In the first half alone. That's not winning football. That's not Heisman-like football. There's still a lot of football left to be played, but the reason, the main reason why I'm saying that he lost the Heisman tonight, when you look at his peers that are competing for the Heisman Award, their level of impactful play and being able to sustain that clearly has been a little bit more consistent than what we've seen from Caleb. And how many more Heisman-like moments will he get in regards to a national stage, playing against the type of defense that he faced tonight, and being able to jumpstart his offense to get right back in that conversation? I'm not saying he's not in the conversation. He is. Sure. But in regards to being the favorite, based on what happened tonight, no sir. Not anymore. He's a stinker for his standards, a three interception game. And he'll get a chance. Not even 200 yards passing. No. Again, this Notre Dame defense is really good. Look what they did to Ohio State a few weeks ago. And also, too, you know, the voters, it's hard, based on how we've seen, we've witnessed the Heisman Award and the winner, voters don't necessarily like voting for the same guy twice. No, they don't. You're right. And if you can go around, you gotta be better than your first go around. You're right. And he had his Heisman moment in this game last year against Notre Dame, but they played it much later in the season. Here we are, mid-October, and he has a really tough game against Notre Dame. He'll get another chance, because we're sitting here right now today, and saying Michael Pettis Jr. is the guy. He's the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, had a great day for Washington as they knock off Oregon. They're gonna match up first Saturday in November. That's when I think it could come down to the voting, is that matchup. Based on how competitive the Pac-12 has been so far, there's still some noteworthy gains for SC and Caleb Williams to be able to, most importantly, win, to get back into that playoff conversation. But individually speaking, for him to have Heisman-like moments, but tonight was just a stinker, as you just mentioned. It's like, and with voter fatigue, with voters voting for you all over again, when you just won it a year ago, you gotta really outplay your numbers from what you did a year ago when you won the award. So tonight, man, it was just a hard pill to swallow for SC, and when you talk about just rooting and cheering for a guy like Caleb Williams to be able to get right back to New York once again to win that award, he did not help himself tonight. Well, and it says a lot about the quality of the Pac-12, right? Because coming into the day, Michael Penix Jr., Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, all from the Pac-12. And that says a lot. What this game also says a lot about is the defense that's essentially indefensible. USC has given up 40 points in three straight games. Alex Grinch is the defensive coordinator. Right now, all over social media, people are calling for his job. We're not doing that here. We don't call for people's jobs. But we will second guess, because that's what we're supposed to do here. If you're going to be a national championship contender, you can't have a defense like this. You gotta find a way to get stops. You gotta figure, this isn't the Grinch who stole Christmas, this is the Grinch who stole defensive play. Thank you for the courtesy laugh. Listen, it's not just about what he's doing or what he's not doing at SC, Hakeem. This goes back to Boomer's sooner days, when he was with Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma. Those defenses were vulnerable. They had holes on all three levels. His offense, his Lincoln Riley offense, had to outscore guys, week in and week out. For some reason, when he decided to depart and leave Oklahoma, he decided to bring Alex Grinch with him. I understand loyalty is a thing. You know, being able to give your guys an opportunity to do what they love to do is a thing. But at some point in time, when they're not doing what they're supposed to do, you have to find a way to either jumpstart their efforts or look elsewhere. And that has been the Achilles heel for SC. When you talk about having Lincoln Riley on your sideline, you don't question if you're going to score points. You don't question if you're going to be in positions to win big-time ballgames. The thing you question is, can they get stops? Can they get timely stops? And that's why I felt like before today's game against Notre Dame, in the Pac-12 alone, I did not like SC because their defense is inconsistent. Their defense is bad. As you mentioned, Hakeem, the last three ballgames, they've allowed at least 40 points in all three matchups. Unfortunately, for them, they lost. But the other two ballgames, they won. And they still allowed 40 points. So when you factor in some of the other powerhouses in the Pac-12, defensively, heck, clearly you take Oregon's defense over SC. Clearly you take Washington's defense over SC. You take Oregon State's defense over SC. Washington State's defense over SC. Utah, for sure, right? You got to have SC in the bottom, bottom, bottom barrel of the Pac-12 and when it comes to defensive production. And that's not good when you have a guy like Caleb Williams, when you have an offense like Lincoln Riley's offense. So it showed up once again, and they played against a team that can really do damage on both sides of the football. And it was too much for SC. And then next week, they play Utah. The challenges continue. That Pac-12, I told you, that Pac-12 is probably the most competitive conference in college football right now. Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with you. I'm not. I'm not going to disagree with you at all. The Pac-12 has been fantastic, phenomenal this season. I know that we've been talking about the Washington-USC matchup in a couple weeks in November. They might have. But that's going to be, that's basically the de facto semi-final Pac-12 championship semi-final. We think it should be, but we don't know what's going to happen with SC next week. That's the thing. We don't know. By the time they, when they play Washington, you said November 4th, first Saturday of November. A lot could happen between now and the 4th. Of November. Three weeks away. When you look at the gauntlet just in the Pac-12 alone, we don't know what will take place with SC. For one, I don't, I'm not concerned about Caleb Williams. He's not going to have another ball game like this. His offense will not struggle like they did tonight. But I'm still concerned about their defense. I mean, Arizona, the Wildcats last week put up 40. And they were right there, maybe a play or two away from coming up with a huge upset on the roll in the Coliseum. So that's the concern for me. Their defense. That's why I don't consider SC to be a playoff caliber team, because their defense is not good. You think that they're going to make a change with the defensive coordinator? After this year? After this week? No. You don't? I don't see it happening in season. I think they're going to try to weather the storm. Granted, the personnel won't change. I don't think the play caller will change. I think he's been riding with Alex Grinch for quite some time, and he's going to ride with him once again. Sometimes loyalty is a good thing. Yeah. It's a very good thing. Sometimes it can cost you a lot. No question. And defensively right now, USC can't stop anything. And I'll tell you this much, it would be a big-time disappointment to have a quarterback to the caliber of Caleb Williams, and you don't get to the playoffs with him. Yep. That's absolutely right. That would be a huge, disappointing, huge thing to endure, knowing that you have a generational talent. We're talking about him going number one next year. People felt like he would go number one a year ago if he was eligible. So you have that type of talent at the quarterback position, not to mention everything that's surrounding him, because it's not like they're lacking talent at the pass-catcher position or running backs or anything like that. But it would be a disappointing thing to endure if you don't get to the playoffs with a guy like Caleb Williams as your quarterback. You know what that's like? That's like having Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on your team. You don't make the playoffs. That's what you're doing. Well, is that like that what it is? That's like that. It is. That's the same thing. It is, but I think Essie has a little more than what the Angels don't have. That's fair. I'm just saying, you're talking about the best players in your sport not getting to the playoffs. And also, too, before this season, it wasn't like the Pac-12 was extremely sticky and competitive like play from top to bottom. You know what I'm saying. I understand what you're saying. I like what you're doing. If you have one of the best players. Can you allow the Angel fans just to sleep at ease? No, because they're not either. I'm not doing it. They're already feeling it. They already feel the pain of having two of the best players in baseball history not making the playoffs. And USC fans got Caleb Williams, won a Heisman, didn't get to the playoff last year. They came up short in the Pac-12 championship game. Might not get there again this year. They might not get there again this year because they go on the road to South Bend and they lose again. Look at this. They've won six home games against USC. Oh my goodness. The Fighting Irish are 6-0. Long story short. They've won six straight home games against USC. The last loss was 2011. The last time they lost. Take Notre Dame at home against SC. You win a lot of money. Look at all the times that they put up 40 points. Three times there they put up more than 40 points. There's something about that USC defense. They need to shore it up real quick.