Notre Dame Football: Grading the Irish's Game vs. USC

Disappointing. Shocking. Disgusting. Those three words, in a nutshell, describe Notre Dame's performance against the USC Trojans on Saturday night.

Because of the loss, any BCS aspirations the team once had have now officially flushed down the drain.

Shockingly enough, the Irish only played well in the single phase of the game that has been giving them fits all season: special teams.

There wasn't much else to be proud of what became an ignominious 60 minutes of play.

Unfortunately, report card grades must be handed out.

Follow along to see who played well and who didn't.

Quarterbacks

Grade: B

Tommy Rees was largely ineffective against Monte Kiffin's defense, going without a touchdown pass for the first time in his relatively short career under center for the Fighting Irish.

He finished the game 23-of-37 for 190 yards and one interception.

Far from inglorious, but that one turnover drilled the nail in the coffin on Notre Dam's hopes for a comeback, as USC would run the clock out after gaining possession.

Credit the Trojan pass rush, though. Rees simply did not have the kind of time in the pocket that he had become accustomed to through the season's first six games.

Thankfully Rees did not come away with a serious injury after being taken down hard and suffering a hyper-extended knee.

Dayne Crist replaced him for the remainder of the drive, and led the team to the goal line before he mishandled the snap, resulting in a  fumble that was returned for a Trojan touchdown.

Running Backs

Grade: B

The Irish rushing attack was limited to a season-low 41 yards on Saturday night. However, the Notre Dame backs can't bear the whole brunt of the blame.

A heaping portion of credit must be given to the USC defense and its excellent gameplan to take away the run from Irish coach Brian Kelly and Co.

Kiffin's defensive prowess (he has coached extensively in the NFL) was certainly on display Saturday night, as his charges came storming through every possible gap and crease Irish backs Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray had grown accustomed to busting through during the first half of the season.

One of a precious few positives to take away from the Irish run game was Jonas Gray's dazzling 25-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that brought the Irish to within seven points.

Receivers

Grade: B

While the Irish receivers might not have racked up big numbers, they came through in the clutch.

Tight end Tyler Eifert added to his potential All-American season by hauling in seven receptions for 66 yards.

Also playing a large role in the Notre Dame passing attack was shifty receiver Theo Riddick. The uber-athletic junior moved his way through the Trojan secondary on the way to five catches for 56 yards.

And if there are any positives the receiving corps can take away from this game, it's that dropped passes were essentially non-existent.

Offensive Line

Grade: C

Notre Dame's offensive line, one of the nation's best through the first six games of the season, had an uncharacteriscally bad game against the Trojans' excellent pass rush.

The group struggled with pass protections and failed to control the line of scrimmage, something the big guys had excelled at before Saturday.

What about those gaping holes the line had created for the running backs all season? The line simply couldn't create them against the stingy USC defensive line.

To put it simply, Notre Dame's offensive line was manhandled.

Defensive Line

Grade: C

The Notre Dame defensive front three went largely unnoticed on Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium.

Despite its precocious talent—the group is led by freshmen phenoms Stephon Tuitt and Aaron Lynch—it simply did not have any impact on USC's offense.

Not to sound like a broken record, but give credit to the Trojan offensive line. Their big boys up front gave heralded quarterback Matt Barkley all the time in the world to distribute the football.

Linebackers

Grade: D

To say the Irish linebackers had a bad day would be an understatement.

The unit's two main jobs—dropping back in pass coverage and attacking the run—simply weren't executed with the efficiency we've come to expect from this corps.

What will it take for the 'backers, aside from Manti Te'o, to realize that arm tackling is unacceptable? It's sad that no one seems to know the answer to that question.

Of the four starting linebackers, Carlo Calabrese had the roughest go of it. The junior failed to pick up his assignment in pass coverage, and gave up a touchdown pass to a wide open Robert Woods in the back of the endzone. If you're going to lose sight of any Trojans receiver, it simply cannot be Woods.

Calabrese was also flagged for a 15-yard personal foul penatly, much to the dismay of his head coach.

Secondary

Grade: D+

Before the start of Saturday's contest, the talking heads on pregame shows everywhere said that USC had a chance to exploit the Notre Dame secondary.

Boy, were they right.

Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley had his way with the Irish defensive backs, completing 24-of-35 pass attempts for 224 yards and three scores while making it look maddeningly easy.

Once again, Irish defensive coordinator Bob Diaco had his cornerbacks playing 10 to 15 yards off the line of scrimmage, which allowed for USC's receivers to have a field day, exploiting the space made available to them with abandon.

Special Teams

Grade: A

Who would've ever thought that Notre Dame's special teams would be the only unit to receive an "A" on the post game report card?

Well, that's the shocking reality.

Perhaps the most exciting sequence for the Irish came on George Atkinson's 96-yard kickoff return touchdown in the second quarter.

The freshman showcased his 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash on the way to his second touchdown return of the 2011 season.

But Atkinson wasn't the only one adding to the "special" day for the special teams unit.

David Ruffer connected on his lone field goal attempt of the day, a 25-yarder just before halftime. He also connected on both of his extra point attempts.

The punting game was also phenomenal, booting the ball four times for an average of 42 yards per punt.

Coaching

Grade: B

This grade may seem a bit surprising, but if you look at the game as a whole, Brian Kelly and his staff had the team very well prepared.

They put the players in a position to win.

The coaches had a tremendous gameplan, but the players failed to execute it—it's as simple as that.

Even Coach Kelly said that he would take the fall for his team nine out of 10 times, but this time he had no choice but to put the brunt of the blame on his players.

Intangibles

Grade: C

Maybe it was the late start or the playing of Ozzie Osbourne's Crazy Train on every USC third down. Perhaps it was the raucous crowd.

Either way, Notre Dame looked out of sorts from the start of the game.

The focus was not there during a game when it was needed more than ever. Neither was the mental toughness that was discussed so frequently as recently as a few weeks ago.

The mental discipline of this Notre Dame team has been questionable since day one of the Brian Kelly era.

In no way does the fault lie squarely with Kelly, however.

The attention to detail and focus during practice and games is up to the players themselves. The coaches can only do so much for them: after a certain point, they simply have to execute.

We'll see if anything changes in the ensuing weeks.