LOS ANGELES-It was bound to happen. Say what you will about the luck of the Irish-good or bad-the men in the Green and Gold uniforms will be playing for a national championship-deserved or undeserved. The job head coach Brian Kelly has done with the football program at Notre Dame is nothing short of remarkable.
Kelly must be all of that and a bag of chips by turning an irrelevant, fading college power once again into a program to be reckoned with. Lane Kiffin and his USC Trojans found that out the hard way as the Trojans suffered its fifth loss of the season at the hands of a rejuvenated Notre Dame team. For the greater part of the nearly the last two decades, the Notre Dame football program had become more glamour than substance.
It looked the part of a champion, but resembled a team more worthy of second and third-tier status. There hasn’t been anything remarkable about Notre Dame football during this time span until now. Notre Dame had become a laughing stock around the country. Not anymore. People aren’t laughing now. They’re applauding.
While Notre Dame and its alumni have reason to celebrate the program’s restoration to elite status, USC and their fans are probably in deep reflection. After losing to city rival UCLA, the Trojans had a chance to redeem themselves. Coming into the much-anticipated contest-many football experts expected a hard-fought battle between the two longtime foes, some even going as far as predicting a USC upset.
Eventually the USC and Notre Dame football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Stadium was going to come down to some sort of defensive stand by the Irish. It was just a matter of time. You knew it was coming, but when it would come was a different story.
Notre Dame put the finishing touches on an undefeated 12-0 record and No. 1 ranking with a 22-13 win over the Trojans in front of a raucous sellout crowd.
The signature point of the game came late in the fourth quarter with USC standing at Notre Dame’s goal-line, six inches standing in the way of a sure touchdown.USC had four shots at piercing through the seemly impenetrable armor of Notre Dame’s defense. Notre Dame’s vaunted defense rebuked the Trojans on four consecutive plays, effectively dismissing any lingering doubts about the heart of the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame would likely move on to play in the BCS national championship game, while USC scrambles to earn a bowl bid and self-respectability. The climax ending for USC is a far different view that fell unceremoniously to earth since quarterback Matt Barkley was picked as the nation’s Heisman Trophy frontrunner, and the Trojans was ranked No.1 in just about every poll during the summer. So much for predictions, and so much for USC’s dream season.
This is the first that Notre Dame has reached the top of the college football world in 19 years.
Notre Dame, which has put teams as Oklahoma, Michigan and Michigan State on their backs enroute to its undefeated season, laid it all on the line with a redshirt freshman in Everett Golson and a tough-as-nails defense, led by hard-hitting linebacker Manti Te’o. Te’o said Notre Dame’s defensive unit wasn’t too worried about that last series mounted by USC. They knew they had to stop the Trojans-and they did.
“It doesn’t matter,” Te’o said. I kept telling my guys it doesn’t matter. When they were on the one-yard line it doesn’t matter. As long they don’t cross that white line, it doesn’t matter. Our guys folded up, and they just came out fought for every inch. I’m just proud of the way my guys came out and played.”
Te’o said the Trojans weren’t able to punch in the touchdown because the Fighting Irish’s defense prides itself on getting stops with a big physical presence.
“We’re physical,” Te’o said. “We don’t like being scored on. Although it happened, we come back and we bounce back to insure that it doesn’t happen again. We demonstrated that tonight.”
What was also on display was the strong arm of Golson, who threw for 217 yards, and led Notre Dame on scoring drives on the Fighting Irish’s first three possessions of the game. Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick kept the Trojans off-balanced all night, rushing for 146 yards and a touchdown.
On the flip side of the ball, USC, without the services of the injured Barkley, could muster any real sustained drives and challenge the Irish. Kiffin went with Max Wittek at quarterback for the game. Wittek threw for 186 yards and two interceptions. The drop-off for the Trojans was the usually, come-to-expect spectacular game by Heisman Trophy contender Marqise Lee.
Although he caught five passes for 75 yards, Lee couldn’t really shake free from Notre Dame defenders to have a big night, which the Trojans badly needed him to do if they had any chance of upsetting their visitors.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.