When the USC Trojans walked onto the field in South Bend on Saturday night to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, they were one of two undefeated teams left in the Pac-12. But after 60 minutes of play, they walked out of Notre Dame Stadium a beaten and battered team that looked both unprepared and overmatched in their first contest against a ranked opponent this season. The USC football team suffered their first loss of the season because they were outplayed across the board, but the finger of blame will be pointed at their Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Caleb Williams, who played arguably the worst game of his illustrious career.

“I made mistakes tonight that I usually don't make. I've been in college for three years now and don't think I've ever had a season or game or anything like that,” Caleb Williams told reporters after the game. He's not wrong. During his 2022 Heisman-winning season, Williams through only five interceptions in 14 games. Against Notre Dame alone, he threw three.

Caleb Williams, Lincoln Riley confident USC will get past loss 

Despite the struggle, both Caleb Williams and USC football Head Coach Lincoln Riley appeared composed and confident that the Trojans would be able to turn things around this season.

“You got to get through it. You got to keep fighting, you got to be a leader. It starts with the head of the snake, and I'll be better,” Caleb Williams explained. Lincoln Riley expressed a similar sentiment, saying, “The good that you see from this football team is good enough to beat anybody. But we obviously know we've got to put it together and put it together quickly. We got to let [go of] the disappointment of not playing very good tonight. We got to get past it. We got to move on” (h/t Paolo Uggetti of ESPN.com).

It's not likely that one single poor performance from Caleb Williams could jeopardize his status as the consensus best player in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft class. However, this one single poor performance from the entire USC football team may prove that the Trojans still have a ways to go before they are truly back to full-fledged national prominence and championship contender status.