Notre Dame Gets Its Mojo Back in Impressive Win over Valiant USC

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Brian Kelly had one question he wanted to answer about his Notre Dame football team this week in its prime-time matchup against USC on Saturday.

Mental toughness.

And as a 14-point first-half lead evaporated into a seven-point deficit, Kelly found his answers. The Irish responded by forcing a pair of turnovers and embarking on consecutive drives of 90 and 91 yards, respectively.

“It turned some question marks into exclamation points relative to their mental toughness today,” Kelly said of Notre Dame’s performance in the 41-31 win over its rival.

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Notre Dame sprinted out of the north end-zone tunnel amid flurries of smoke and bright green lights. The raucous environment began to crescendo as the Irish built an 11-point first-quarter lead off a blocked punt returned for a touchdown.

Notre Dame widened its lead to 24-10 on Justin Yoon’s second-quarter field goal, but the Irish—and Notre Dame Stadium—went quiet. The same defensive issues—eye discipline, secondary play and tackling—proved problematic.

Touchdowns of 75 and 83 yards helped pull USC even with Notre Dame, 24-24. Trojans quarterback Cody Kessler’s four-yard touchdown lob to tight end Taylor McNamara vaulted USC ahead.

“I just never sensed that our football team didn’t believe that they were going to win today,” Kelly said.

Senior linebacker and captain Joe Schmidt walked up and down the Irish sideline.

“This is our game,” he said. “We’re gonna win.”

With Notre Dame’s offense stalling, the Irish re-committed to the run. Running backs coach Autry Denson told C.J. Prosise to be ready.

“You’re gonna have to run it,” Denson told Prosise, who finished with 143 rushing yards and two touchdowns. “You’re gonna have to put the team on your shoulders.”

And the Irish responded.

Cornerback KeiVarae Russell had allowed a 37-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster on USC’s opening drive. On the sideline, Kelly told Russell to play the ball in the air. Three quarters later, Russell picked off Kessler down the same sideline to further swing the momentum toward the Irish.

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“I definitely needed one,” the loquacious and confident Russell said of his first interception of the season. “I couldn’t go the first half of the season without an interception.”

Russell’s first interception followed Corey Robinson’s first touchdown reception of the season. Notre Dame’s second-leading receiver in 2014, Robinson has, admittedly, endured some struggles in 2015. But the lanky wideout sprawled out in the corner of the end zone for a 10-yard grab to push Notre Dame ahead 38-31 in the fourth quarter.

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“I really appreciated all the support that my coaches and my teammates have given to me the past couple weeks,” Robinson said. “They needed me to make a play that one snap, and thank God I was able to.”

Max Redfield, who was relegated to the sideline while Matthias Farley started over him at free safety, helped seal the game in the fourth quarter with his own interception after Russell deflected the ball into the air.

The Irish closed the game with 17 unanswered points.

“There was too much confidence on our sideline,” Kelly said. “Our guys believed that they were going to win today. That’s how I felt.”

Kelly’s feelings were solidified by his team’s mental toughness.

“There were so many ups and downs in this game,” Schmidt said. “We looked each other in the eye, and we said, 'Alright, we haven’t been as good as we need to be up to this point. Now we gotta go out there and beat their offense and beat their defense. And it’s on us to win this football game.'”

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The Irish did, and they improved to 6-1 heading into the bye week. Notre Dame has needed similar mental toughness at other points this season. The rash of season-ending injuries. The deficit at Virginia. The turnovers at Clemson. Yet, in a rivalry game against a team littered with talent, Kelly found one answer to one question.

“You know, now we have to take that and be road warriors,” Kelly said, referring to Notre Dame’s remaining schedule, which includes just one true home game. “That’s the next question.”

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Mike Monaco is the lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.