We were told (or were telling) that Notre Dame VS USC was going to be a wet and wild night, but the wait throughout the day and into the storming hours of the afternoon put a little bit more tension in the air
for a game that was as high stakes as you’ll find during the regular season.
In the end, it was Notre Dame’s ability to run the ball with Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price for over 300 yards that won the game for the Irish, 34-24. Conversely, USC couldn’t provide the same effort to match — despite throwing for over 300 yards.
You could kind of tell that the weather was going to affect this game from the start. It wasn’t the play on the field exactly, but the way it unfolded in the first half. USC looked like it urgently wanted to get as many points on the board as possible with the 2nd half rain predicted to be unrelenting.
The Trojans took their first drive 75 yards down the field for the first touchdown of the game — almost exclusively by air as the Irish defensive backs struggled early with the tempo offense from USC. The Irish answered quickly as they also go 75 yards for a touchdown — which was entirely via the legs of Jeremiyah Love and some incredible blocking up front.
It looked like this was going to be a first half shootout as USC passed with ease on their second drive, but some decent pressure on Jayden Maiava eventually forced a few bad throws and the Trojans settled for a long field goal to take a 10-7 lead.
The shootout vibe slowly melted away as both teams were forced to punt the ball, and this started to look like a real Big 10 game. But then Notre Dame did the 4 play 75 yard drive thing again and this time it was Jadarian Price scoring from 16 yards out to make the game 14-10.
After forcing a turnover on downs, the Irish drove the field again and got inside the Trojan 5 yard line. Short yardage problems are still a thing for Notre Dame and after two Jeremiyah Love runs that went nowhere, CJ Carr scrambled on third down and threw a terrible pass that was intercepted by USC and returned 19 yards. USC then went 71 yards just to end it with a field goal to make it 14-13 going into halftime.
The rain did start to come down harder in the third quarter. The Irish, however, didn’t seem to mind as they used 13 plays to go 75 yards for a 6 yard CJ Carr touchdown pass to Will Pauling. USC answered the Irish touchdown with a 5 play drive that was added by multiple flags — but it still ended in just a field goal. After Notre Dame went three and out on its next possession, USC took the lead on ANOTHER multiple flag aided drive. This time, Maiava found an open Ja’Kobi Lane for a touchdown and then converted a two point conversion to make the game 24-21.
Lightning finally struck inside Notre Dame Stadium when on the ensuing kickoff, Jadarian Price returned it 100 yards for the touchdown — his second of the season. Noah Burnette missed the point after kick, and the score stood at 27-24.
Christina Gray pulled down an interception on the next Trojan drive, but the Notre Dame offense stalled out just inside the 20 and brought Burnette out for a field goal attempt which was no good. USC began driving the ball again on its next drive and Maiava connected with a receiver for a long 42 yard play on third down. The Trojans then got cute with it and tried running a WR reverse pass with Makai Lemmon — but it was snuffed out and Adon Shuler popped the ball out for Kygnstonn Viliamu-Asa to recover. 7 plays later, CJ Carr bulldozes in for the Irish touchdown to make it 34-24.
At this point in the game, Jeremiyah Love had racked up 228 yards on 24 carries.
The rain started to come down even harder for USC’s next drive, which went almost nowhere and the Irish stuffed them on 4th down to get the ball in Trojan territory. Notre Dame couldn’t put the ultimate nail in the coffin and turned the ball over on downs deep in Trojan territory with about three and a half minutes left in the game.
USC slowly but surely moved down the field, but the pressure Notre Dame’s front put on Maiava was too much for him to handle, and ultimately he threw an interception to Luke Talich to essentially end the game.
More to come on OFD.
