Joel Klatt picked Notre Dame to beat USC.

He was shocked to see how Notre Dame beat USC in Week 7.

“That was not what anybody expected,” Klatt said this week on his podcast. “I thought Notre Dame was going to win, but the way it looked, and the way it played out was wild. Wild.”

The Fighting Irish walloped the visiting Trojans, 48-20. That sent USC tumbling down the AP poll, put their College Football Playoff hopes in serious doubt, and made for a very tense week for coach Lincoln Riley.

USC had to hold off Colorado in regulation in Week 5 and then it barely survived Arizona in triple-overtime in Week 6. Now, after suffering its first loss of the season, it has to regroup and wrangle with a Utah team that beat it twice a year ago.

And it’ll have to figure out a way to address the offensive issues that have popped up of late.

“The defense wasn’t bad on Saturday,” Klatt said. “In fact, this game was about offensive ineptitude.”

Klatt highlighted “failures” at the line of scrimmage and poor decision-making under duress from quarterback Caleb Williams.

USC turned the football over five times and Notre Dame scored 28 points off those turnovers in a 28-point win. Notre Dame’s average starting field position was 3 yards shy of midfield. Three of Notre Dame’s four touchdown drives came from a turnover.

On the possessions where USC punted or kicked off to the Irish, Notre Dame ran 31 plays for 166 yards and 10 points.

That’s 16.6 yards per point. That’s not bad.

On all other drives, Notre Dame’s offense needed just 85 yards to score 24 points. That’s bad.

“This was an offensive failure for USC, and I don’t think any of us were ready for that,” Klatt said. “We weren’t ready for Caleb Williams to look like he did. We weren’t ready for a Lincoln Riley offense to look this stagnant. And, by the way, it has been to some extent.”

Klatt said the conversation everyone was having about USC’s issues in recent weeks was far too focused on the defense. He pointed out that USC has scored 48 offensive points in its last nine quarters of football — the fourth quarter against Colorado, regulation against Arizona, and then Notre Dame.

“The question is why?” Klatt said. “This is caused by the offensive line. The offensive line at USC was not up to standard. Not anywhere close up to standard.

“… This has been a problem over the last month or so. This offensive line is not putting them in a position where they can have a ton of success, or the success we would expect from them.”

Klatt then looked at the closing five-game stretch for the Trojans and issued a warning.

“If their offensive line doesn’t get it together, they’ll lose again,” he said. “They’ll lose again.”