Heisman Trophy winner USC Football was defeated by the No. 21 Notre Dame destroying their unbeaten streak and handling them their first loss.
Xavier Watts intercepted Caleb Williams twice and returned a fumble for a touchdown in a 48-20 victory on Saturday night.
Note Dame has lost two of their last three games so, this was a big win against one of their biggest rivals.
Watts had two of Notre Dame’s three first-half picks against Williams and then a 15-yard scoop-and-score with 3:27 left to add an exclamation point.
“Obviously, we were coming off a loss to Louisville,” Watts said. “I was kind of angry from that. This was a big rivalry game. I just wanted to come out and dominate.”
Benjamin Morrison had Notre Dame’s other interception of the half, leading to Audric Estime’s 1-yard plunge that put Notre Dame ahead 24-3.
Williams had only been intercepted once, but he was sacked four times by the Fighting Irish and finished with 199 yards passing and a TD.
“I made mistakes that I usually don’t make,” Williams said. “Nights like that happen. You have to get through it, you got to keep fighting, you have to be a leader.”
Averaging 51.8 points per game, USC ended up with five turnovers and was restricted to 92 yards rushing.
“I couldn’t speak more highly of the performance of our defense,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said.
“I don’t know if there’s a perfect answer to stopping Caleb Williams. He is one of the best college football players that I’ve ever seen. All I kept telling our guys was, we have a plan, and on this play, you have to attack. You cannot play passive. You cannot play a three-man rush and let him go out there and be the Heisman Trophy winner he is.”
USC lost for the fifth consecutive time at Notre Dame Stadium.
“Disappointed, certainly not defeated, not demoralized,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “We’ve obviously got a lot in front of us. This game means a lot. We know it means it a lot to our fan base, it means a lot to college football.”
