Trojans Sneak Past Determined Irish
by John Vannie

Notre Dame and USC waged war on the gridiron Saturday in one of the most hard-fought and emotionally draining games in recent college football history. Like a pair of seasoned heavyweight fighters, the teams traded haymakers for four hours and the underdog Fighting Irish stood toe-to-toe with the two-time defending National champions.

The game itself exceeded its lofty expectations and considerable hype. It just ended badly.

The 34-31 win by the Trojans is not a disaster for Notre Dame football program. It is because this victory would have been so sweet that the pain of defeat will remain with Irish players and fans alike for the rest of their lives. USC’s offense conjured one more big play than Notre Dame could afford to surrender, and there is regrettably no consolation prize for such a marvelous effort.

After Brady Quinn led an 87-yard march to give Notre Dame a 31-28 lead with 2:04 left, USC’s Matt Leinart hit Dwayne Jarrett on fourth and nine pass from his own 26 to the Irish 13. Jarrett barely beat tight coverage by Ambrose Wooden on the play, and rambled downfield after the catch until Wooden could drag him to the turf.

The play occurred right in front of the USC sideline and yours truly in the stands. If Wooden had turned a split second sooner, he would have been able to break up the slightly under thrown ball. Perhaps if the play had occurred in front of the Irish sideline, Wooden’s teammates and coaches would have called out “Ball” to alert him that the play was coming his way. In any event, the completion was the last and biggest of several game-changing moments in this see-saw contest.

Leinart capped the winning drive with only three seconds left with a twisting, churning effort on a QB sneak over the stunned Notre Dame defense. In typical ND-USC fashion, the final moments featured a bit of controversy involving the clock, the referees and a fumble by Leinart.

With no time-outs left and seconds ticking away, Leinart elected to keep the ball from the Notre Dame two-yard line and raced to the left corner of the end zone. As he dove for the pylon, Irish linebacker Corey Mays flew in to meet Leinart in a mid-air collision that sent the ball sailing out of bounds.

For a few surreal moments, the referees made no call and the scoreboard clock ran to 0:00. Notre Dame players and students charged onto the field in celebration, but the PAC-10 officials (thanks again, Kevin) finally regained control and ruled that seven seconds of time should be restored. When Reggie Bush pushed the struggling Leinart into the end-zone, the day’s emotional roller-coaster ended for the Irish in gut-wrenching disappointment.

It was ironic that the contest came down to its final seconds, since coach Charlie Weis’ plan was to control the clock and keep the ball away from the potent Trojan offense. Weis and Notre Dame nearly pulled out the victory by winning the time of possession battle by 38:40 to 21:20.

Unfortunately for the Irish, however, USC did not need much time to score its points. The Trojans opened the scoring with a two-play, 50-yard drive in 34 seconds after LB Keith Rivers intercepted a tipped pass from Quinn in the first quarter. Bush broke through the right side of the Irish defense and raced 36 yards for the touchdown.

After Notre Dame answered to tie the game, the Trojans needed only three plays and 1:04 to retake the lead. Len Dale White scored from three yards out to give USC a 14-7 lead at the end of the first period.

Quinn directed Notre Dame on a 72-yard drive minutes later, as Jeff Samardzija hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass while battling Trojan defenders in the right corner of the end zone. Notre Dame took its first lead only two minutes later when Tom Zbikowski returned a punt 60 yards for a score. Zbikowski appeared to will himself across the goal line by running like a crazed madman through several would-be tacklers.

USC could not answer before halftime, and Notre Dame took 21-14 lead into the locker room. The Trojans and Bush broke through early in the third quarter when Bush romped for 45 yards on the same off tackle play he had scored on in the opening period. The second half USC blitz that Irish fans feared did not materialize, though.

Notre Dame ended the third quarter on the move, but failed to convert a third down and two on the opening play of the final stanza when Samardzija caught Quinn’s deep pass just over the back line of the end zone. The Irish settled for a 32-yard field goal by D.J. Fitzpatrick and a 24-21 lead.

Notre Dame missed a golden opportunity moments later after its defense stopped the Trojans. Quinn overthrew a wide-open Asaph Schwapp in the flat on a third down pass from the USC 17. Fitzpatrick came on to attempt a 35-yarder, but the kick sailed right with 7:28 remaining.

The Trojans seized the opportunity by driving 80 yards to go ahead by 28-24 with 5:09 left. Quinn and the Irish did not quit, however, as the junior showed his mettle on a pressure-packed drive against Pete Carroll’s vaunted defense that was vintage Weis.

As the Irish moved down the field, emotions in the stands quickly went from “How are we going to drive 87 yards?” to “Slow down and milk the clock, Charlie.” Seven more seconds would have been nice.

Nevertheless, Quinn lunged sent the crowd of 80,795 into a delirious frenzy when he lunged across the goal line at the 2:04 mark. The high decibel level that was sustained throughout the day reached a crescendo just before Leinart and Jarrett combined to escape defeat and drive a dagger into the heart of ND Nation.

Notre Dame fans can take comfort in that the Reggie Bush era at USC will likely come to a close in January. The almost certain Heisman winner will probably join Leinart in the NFL, and Trojan opponents will heave a sign of relief just as Irish foes celebrated the departure of Rocket Ismail after the 1990 season.

Even Pete Carroll seemed to acknowledge the oncoming train of success at Notre Dame in his post-game comments. Before one concludes that Carroll was actually being gracious, note that the USC coach also remarked "I love the fact that our streak is longer than New England’s”, when discussing his team’s 28-game run.

The Notre Dame faithful have little doubt that the Irish will rebound and win their remaining games, which will in all likelihood be sufficient to secure a BCS bowl bid. The magnitude of this turnaround in South Bend after eight rudderless seasons cannot be overstated and was not lost in the disappointment of the afternoon.

Meanwhile, no one will feel sorry for USC next season. The Trojans will reload with a powerful offensive line, a quality group of quarterbacks and skill position players, fast and disruptive defensive linemen, and tall, rangy linebackers and safeties. The Trojans are also well-coached, but they had the second best staff in the stadium on Saturday.

Regardless of the challenge that this rival will present, you can be sure that Charlie Weis and the Irish have already marked the date of November 27, 2006 on their calendar. It probably took them less than seven seconds to do so.

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