Kirk Herbstreit Amplifies Stakes of USC vs. Notre Dame on ESPN's College GameDay

The No. 20 USC Trojans are squaring off with the No. 13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in prime time, and the crew of ESPN's College GameDay highlighted the rivalry matchup as a "playoff" game. Both teams are fighting to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive.

In the first hour of ESPN's College GameDay, the popular morning show explained what's at stake in South Bend on Saturday.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish USC Trojans Marcus Freeman college football playoff Lincoln Riley College GameDay Kirk Herbstreit — Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates after the defense scored a safety in the second half of a NCAA football game against NC State at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"Right now, Lincoln Riley is keeping their hopes alive. Marcus Freeman has a team that I think is being able to show that they can rebound after a slow start, those first two games. They're gonna have to stop one of the hottest quarterbacks in the country. Jayden Maiava right now doing a great job," Herbstreit said.

"But this defense from Notre Dame. Early kind of finding it with Chris Ash, now playing a lot better," Herbstreit continued. "CJ Carr, you could argue is the best first-year starting quarterback in all of college football. SC's gotta find a way to slow him and that powerful (running back) tandem down for Notre Dame."

Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava has the offense humming under USC coach Lincoln Riley, averaging 45.5 points per game and 8.2 yards per play. Through six games in 2025, Maiava has 1,852 passing yards, 13 touchdowns with two interceptions.

The Trojans are the only ranked opponent remaing on Notre Dame's schedule, only increasing the stakes for the Fighting Irish after losing to No. 2 Miami and No. 4 Texas A&M to start the season. As Herbstreit mentioned, Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr has turned heads as a freshman and is a contender for the Heisman Trophy alongside Maiava.

Carr has thrown for 1,622 yards, 13 touchdowns, with the ninth-best quarterback rating in the country at 83.6.

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USC vs. Notre Dame A 'Playoff' Game?

On ESPN's College GameDay, both Pat McAfee and Desmond Howard called the matchup between USC and Notre Dame as a playoff game.

"You look at Notre Dame, really good team. Two losses, two quality losses. One to Miami, who lost last night to Louisville, and the other to Texas A&M. A combined four points, they lost those two games. So at this point, Notre Dame has, no zero margin for error moving forward. They cannot lose to USC. Why? Notre Dame's independent. They don't have a conference game to try to boost their resume with the CFP, so they have to beat USC," said Howard.

"And look at the Trojans guys. If they come to South Bend off of a quality win at home against Michigan, but they're able to travel up to South Bend and knock off the Fighting Irish. We're starting to look at them a little bit differently too, so a lot at stake for USC versus Notre Dame," Howard continued.

According to DraftKings, the Fighting Irish are favored by 10.5 points over the Trojans.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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