First of all, ND loses this game because ACAMP cursed the team right before the Clemson game. It is all his fault.
Second, I can see how ND wins this game. USC comes out and makes mistakes that ND capitalizes on... ND gets up a couple TDs and USC quits in the cold.
With that being said, the Sark firing (plus the extra prep time to deal with it) was a worst case scenario for ND. There is no way USC is worse off now than with a hypothetically hammered buffoon of a coach roaming the sideline. If you have been following the goings on this week, not only was there the USC 30-for-30 but there was the circling the proverbial wagons from everyone even tangentially involved with the program. From the school president to the students to old ass USC alums that turned out in droves to give speeches to players at today's practice. There is a 100% chance that USC will be the most focused and dialed in that they have been all year when they step on the field Saturday night. And if they get any early momentum, they are going to ride it as long as they can... likely to a W.
I expect DeShone Kizer's late passes to get picked off by their DBs, Will Fuller to drop passes in the cold, and us to lose the battle up front running the ball with Martin/Nelson banged up. USC isn't good at defense but they do have athletes... athletes that will cause serious issues for stare-down-the-receiver-the-entire-play style passing attacks, and slow developing running plays.
On defense, it all comes down to the corners. Our coverage game plan is just terrible for this type of offense. Off-man coverage -- in general -- I just hate relative to the alternatives, and it's especially bad against guys like Juju and Adoree. So if we don't get pressure, expect UVA level bad x100... on top of that, their running game is very solid so we can't just sell-out against the pass.
All things considered I think USC starts fast and takes the crowd out of the game. After getting down 17-0, ND shows some life and enter halftime trailing something like 17-7. USC puts up two more TDs after half and the rout is on... media talks about them banding together and how "inspiring" it is. Final score something like 38-17. DeShone Kizer turns it over 3 times and looks utterly dreadful, and a QB controversy starts brewing heading into the Temple game.