Trojans-Fighting Irish: No. 6 USC Survives Notre Dame Comeback

The USC Trojans continued their dominance over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, extending their winning streak to eight in a nail-biting 34-27 victory at South Bend on Saturday afternoon.

In the 81st meeting between the historic rivals, Heisman hopeful Jimmy Clausen led a spirited comeback before falling at the final hurdle against a stifling Trojans defense.

In all honesty, the game looked like it was over in the third period, with the Trojans building up a 20-point lead which looked like it was going to be more than enough to see off the nation's top-rated quarterback who appeared to lack both ideas and protection early on.

But despite a sub-par first half, Clausen—turf toe and all—looked much better after the interval, showing the ability and self-belief that has seen him throw for a dozen touchdowns and more than 1,500 yards already this year.

The Notre Dame quarterback has led four fourth-quarter comeback victories, and in unlikely circumstances against the USC Trojans on Saturday, he was inches away from the fifth—and biggest—of his young career.

After 60 minutes of football, the game came down to one last play as officials put one second back on the clock.

Against the toughest defense Notre Dame will see this year, Kyle Rudolph fell agonizingly outside of the end zone with four seconds remaining, and a last gasp pass flew harmlessly through the back of the end zone as time expired to move the Trojans to 5-1.

The Trojans' defensive line—which entered the game ranked sixth in total defense and fourth in points allowed—held Clausen to 260 yards, despite limiting him to just 47 yards passing in the opening half.

Robby Parris also had a career-high nine catches for 92 yards, including a clutch play on 4th-and-10 in the dying minutes of the game, but the problem for the Fighting Irish was that USC looked just as impressive with the ball as they have been all year without it.

USC's freshman signal caller Matt Barkley threw for 380 yards on 19 of 29 passing and two touchdowns, Damian Willams had two TDs and 108 yards of offense on four receptions, and tight end Anthony McCoy added 153 more as the Trojans ran out worthy winners.

Pete Carrol’s defense kept Clausen and the Fighting Irish’s offensive unit largely in check, even when they only rushed four men; their special teams executed superbly and their O-line gave Barkley all the protection he could have wished for.   

If it wasn’t for timely penalties, maybe the game wouldn’t have been as nervy as it eventually was.

The Trojans took the lead on their second possession of the game, with Barkley finding Williams on a 20-yard slant play.

The drive was fluent and effortless, as Barkley made a trio of consecutive completions to march USC down field.

He connected on a 35-yard pass to 6’5” tight end McCoy, and then back-to-back receptions of 22 and 20 yards to Williams to give the Trojans an early 7-0 lead.

The Fighting Irish drew level with 1:04 left in the first quarter, but it would be the only time in the game where they were not behind.

Place holder Maust threw a 24-yard pass to Parris on a fake field goal on 4th-and-2 from the USC 26-yard line, and Hughes took a direct snap to the house on the following play to knot things up a 7-7.

A strong second quarter Notre Dame stand on their own six-yard line held the Trojans to a field goal after South Cal and Allen Bradford moved the ball effectively on the ground.

USC’s 11-play scoring drive saw them gain 63 of their 80 yards on the floor to regain the lead, 10-7.

The Fighting Irish caught a tough break mid-way through the period when a fumble recovery was overturned on review.

Bradford’s knee was ruled down before the ball popped free, bringing up a second down instead of a turnover.

The challenge proved important just two plays later as it led to a 37-yard Jordan Congdon field goal which extended the Trojans’ lead to 13-7 at the half.

Clausen and the Fighting Irish came out stronger in the third period but they came away empty from their opening drive after failing to convert both 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1 plays on the Trojans’ 27.

Clausen completed a trio of passes—including his seventh straight—and Armando Allen powered the ball into USC territory, but James Aldridge was stopped at the line of scrimmage as the Trojans produced a big stand.

Williams made them pay the penalty for passing up the field goal, catching a 41-yard touchdown pass from Barkley to give USC a 20-7 lead.

Barkley found Williams out on the left sideline and the wide receiver caught great blocking from his tight end McCoy before skipping past junior safety Harrison Smith in the secondary for the score.

Jimmy Clausen finally had something to shout about with 5:18 remaining in the third quarter when he found Golden Tate in double coverage on a 40-yard longball.

Tate ran a route down the left, catching the ball under pressure from Taylor Mays who appeared to have the receiver locked down in a Cover Two defensive scheme. 

Tate’s 16th career TD reception was the first passing score the Trojans have allowed this year, and it drew the Fighting Irish to within six points at 20-14.

The optimism was short-lived however, as USC responded to Notre Dame’s touchdown with one of their own to re-establish a 13-point cushion.

Barkley hit McCoy with a 60-yard completion on a short-yardage 3rd-and-1 play action call, to set up Bradford who rushed for the touchdown from two yards.

Left tackle Dennis Mahoney gave Bradford a decent block and he went in for six points despite taking a hard shot on the goal line from Smith.

Joe McKnight made it 34-14 90 seconds into the fourth quarter when he took a pitch into the end zone from the Notre Dame one-yard line on 3rd-and-goal.

Clausen topped off a 7-play, 68-yard drive with a three-yard keeper to reduce the arrears to 34-20, but the extra point was blocked to keep the deficit at 14.

Notre Dame’s Gary Gray intercepted a tipped Barkley pass with just under nine minutes remaining to give the Fighting Irish great field position at the 17-yard line.

Clausen hit Golden Tate on 3rd-and-12  for a 15-yard TD reception to move the hosts to within seven points at 34-27.

More importantly, it reignited the hopes of the masses inside Notre Dame Stadium.

Clausen found Parris for a 14-yard pickup on a clutch 4th-and-10 play with 42 ticks left on the clock, and back-to-back penalties moved the ball to the Trojans' two-yard line.

Randolph could not come down inside the end zone under double coverage and the final play of the game would see Clausen throwing behind Randolph to send the Trojans into a wild celebration for the second time in less than a minute.

They thought they had won it the first time. They definitely did the second.