More Bad News for Notre Dame Ahead of USC Showdown

Another key piece on Notre Dame's interior won't be available against USC

Sep 27, 2025; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman during the fourth quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Notre Dame won 56-13. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Notre Dame is two days away from its showdown with USC, which will almost certainly be its biggest test the rest of the season.

The stakes of the game are obvious. Win and a second consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff begins to appear likely. Lose and instead its postseason date to the Pop-Tarts Bowl or something of the sort instead.

It's been a while since Notre Dame and USC met with both having realistic national championship hopes, but that's finally the case again this weekend. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, it comes at a time where injuries are really starting to pile up.

Gabriel Rubio Ruled Out for Notre Dame vs USC:

After being injured against NC State last weekend, we knew things didn't look good for Notre Dame center Ashton Craig. On Monday we found out he will be out for the year, which obviously means he won't be available on Saturday when USC comes to town. What we didn't know was that perhaps the most key piece of Notre Dame's defensive interior was also battling something.

Gabriel Rubio, who has arguably been Notre Dame's second-best defender this year (behind only star cornerback Leonard Moore), has been ruled out for Saturday's contest. Notre Dame's communications team released the news on Thursday.

Marcus Freeman joined the Notre Dame beat writers on a conference call like he does every Thursday of game week, and shared the following on Rubio.

“We’ve had a committee at defensive tackle,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “Obviously, you don’t want to lose Gabe, just from experience, from production, from a veteran guy.”

USC enters the game averaging an impressive 6.38 yards per carry, good for the fourth best in the nation. Obviously, losing one of your best run stoppers up the middle is not a good thing for Notre Dame, as Rubio has really taken a a big step in the last month.

More Notre Dame Injury News - Special Teams Ace:

If you watch Notre Dame regularly you know that its special teams units are as impressive as almost any, nationally. However, on Saturday the Irish will be without special teams ace Loghan Thomas, as he recovers from a concussion.

On their own, these injuries aren't big enough to think they'll turn the tide in Notre Dame's showdown against USC. However, when you add them all up, they become that much more significant, as the margin for error Saturday, only shrinks.

The good news for Notre Dame is that Marcus Freeman has been here before, leading an incredibly beat up team to last year's National Championship game.