Friday’s big news–which came in between the Trojans’ morning practice and their afternoon walk-through at Notre Dame Stadium–was the announcement that Mark Sanchez would start at quarterback for the second straight week. What might be even better news for USC–and Desmond Reed–is that the grass at the stadium was in much better condition (and significantly shorter) than it was two years ago, when Reed suffered a major knee injury on the extra-long turf. Some other notes heading into gameday:

• OT Sam Baker will almost certainly be held out of Saturday’s game, although Pete Carroll indicated that Chilo Rachal could play.
• LB Brian Cushing practiced with the first-team defense on Friday, although he hasn’t officially been named the starter for Saturday.
• Notre Dame will be wearing green jerseys that are replicas of those worn by the 1977 Fighting Irish team in their victory over USC.
• The bad weather that caused problems with the Trojans’ charter flight Thursday night is clearing out, and sunshine is expected at game time.

Stats for both teams, and additional articles: TrojanUpdate’s Game Preview: USC-Notre Dame
Notre Dame’s field in better shape this time (LA Times)
Trojans pushing their luck (LA Times)
Sanchez to lead USC (OC Register)
Bad grass again an issue for USC in South Bend (OC Register)
No. 13 USC vs. Notre Dame (Press-Enterprise)
Key Match Up: USC vs Notre Dame (Scout)
Revenge? Not so much vs. this USC (Chicago Tribune)
Stanford upset gives Irish hope of same (Chicago Sun-Times)
Sharpley comes into focus (South Bend Tribune)
Backups have had an impact in series (South Bend Tribune)
ND-USC matchups (South Bend Tribune)