Notre Dame Football: Irish Have More to Be Concerned About Than USC Trash-Talk

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team has a lot more to worry about than the USC Trojans claiming they "quit" in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s game.

A number of high-profile USC players, including potential first-round pick QB Matt Barkley, were telling members of the media after the game that they felt the Irish gave up in the final minutes.

“It seemed from our sideline and our perspective that they did give up,’’ Barkley said.

Irish coach Brian Kelly doesn’t seem too concerned with what kids from other schools have to say from his team. It appears he would rather get his house in order and deal with it internally rather than lashing back out.

He also said his clock management and play calling weren’t indicative of him giving up on his team.

"

I think we were in a number of second and shorts, and where the ball was—I don't know, intuitively, instinctively, I didn't pull the trigger on a timeout. It had nothing to do with, "Hey, we quit," or "We give up."

"

Notre Dame was on the cusp of returning to the rankings for the first time since starting 0-2 and falling to unranked South Florida and Michigan. The Irish had momentum going into a bye week and had more than ample time to prepare to face the Trojans.

Unfortunately they imploded and ended up losing, 31-17.

Notre Dame has a tough but winnable schedule against Navy, Wake Forest, Maryland and Boston College before it closes the season at No. 6 Stanford.

If the Irish can navigate through this portion of their schedule unscathed, they still have a chance to head to a pretty solid bowl game.

Beating each of these teams soundly and one game at a time needs to be the only concern for Kelly and his Irish.

Let someone else worry about what a team they already played has to say.