What ESPN College GameDay said about USC Trojans upsetting Notre Dame Irish

The USC Trojans host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday afternoon. The Trojans enter the game as a home deficit.

Did ESPN’s College GameDay crew pick USC to pull the upset over its rivals?

GameDay favors Notre Dame to beat USC

ESPN’s College Gameday crew was in College Station, Texas for Saturday night’s rivalry game between the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies. The winner earns a spot in the SEC Championship game against the Georgia Bulldogs.

The GameDay team all picked Notre Dame to beat the Trojans. However, host Rece Davis predicted that USC would win the game.

Davis doesn’t typically pick games, but after watching the entire panel take on Notre Dame, it was clear he wanted to get out in front of the whole show and pick one team.

USC plays spoiler

The USC Trojans had their Big Ten and College Football Playoff hopes dashed weeks ago. In their last game, USC clinched a bowl game berth in their 19-13 win over the rival UCLA Bruins. The Trojans face another rival Saturday in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame has a 10-1 record, and Saturday’s game at USC will be the final game before the final College Football Playoff rankings are released. The Fighting Irish do not play in a conference, so there is no conference championship game for them to play next week.

The Fighting Irish are currently ranked no. 5 in the country and will secure a playoff spot with a win. A loss would put it in grave danger.

This is the first season with a 12-team playoff. 5 of the 12 bids are automatic bids awarded to the 5 highest ranked conference winners. Notre Dame cannot receive one of these automatic bids. They must be one of the next seven highest ranked teams. For now they are in a great place.

However, if Notre Dame were to lose, they would sweat out of the selection show at 10-2. The Trojans would love to do more than put their longtime rival in the ringer.