Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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with decisiveness. Unfortunately, by the time he was a factor the Irish were already trailing 35-0. Of Notre Dame's first 16 plays, only two were runs, the first on the opening play for one yard out of an illegal formation and the second on a four-yard jet sweep by junior slot receiver C.J. Prosise. By the time the 17th Irish play in the first quarter was run they were down 21-0. It has not been in head coach Brian Kelly's make-up to establish a physical ground game to help protect what has become an overwhelmed defense. That is not who he is, which consequently resulted in a mea- ger 104-yard rushing output even with sophomore quarterback Malik Zaire more natural at operating the zone read. ADVANTAGE: USC NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. USC PASS DEFENSE It's rare in today's controlled passing games to have two quarterbacks complete less than 50 per- cent of their passes, but that happened with both senior Everett Golson (7 of 18 for 75 yards with one interception) and sophomore Malik Zaire (9 of 20 for 170 yards). Golson missed some open looks but also saw a ball go through the hands of sophomore wide receiver Corey Robinson that resulted in an interception. Zaire had a couple of well placed passes dropped to end drives. It didn't help that being down 21-0 after one quar- ter and 35-0 at one point in the second quarter allowed USC to pin its ears back with the pass rush, highlighted by senior outside linebacker J.R. Tavai constantly terrorizing off the edge with 3.5 sacks, adding another tackle for loss and forcing a Golson fumble to set up a Trojans touchdown. ADVANTAGE: USC SPECIAL TEAMS Other than senior kicker/punter Kyle Brindza's 44-yard field goal attempt near the end of the first half hitting the left upright to continue his slump, this area was relatively negligible for both teams, not providing an edge either way. ADVANTAGE: Even THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS USC finished 13 of 18 for a remarkable 72.2 per- cent compared to Notre Dame's 6 of 14 (42.9 per- cent). This allowed USC to stay on the field to run 93 plays and control the ball 37:39 compared to Notre Dame's 22:21. The Trojans' first touchdown came on a third-and- four, when Kessler complete a 48-yard rocket down the right sideline to Farmer for a score. On the next TD drive, Davis ran off tackle for 10 yards on third- and-10 from the Irish 36. It continued like that the balance of the game. ADVANTAGE: USC TURNOVERS USC won this department 2-0, with both Irish mis- cues setting up 51-yard touchdown drives. Notre Dame's turnovers occurred on back-to-back series after trailing 21-0. The first was an interception by USC safety Gerald Bowman on a pass that went through the hands of Robinson. Bowman returned the pick 24 yards. The second was on a rush that forced a fumble by quarter- back Golson just as he was about to release his pass. ADVANTAGE: USC SUMMARY A season's worth of setbacks, storms and heart- break at Notre Dame all had a single afternoon of confluence in which mental and physical fatigue seemed to overtake the team. The Trojans' up- tempo attack pretty much could have scored on every possession had it wanted to. Notre Dame has struggled against fast-paced attacks ever since the 50-43 win versus North Carolina Oct. 11. Zaire and Bryant provided sparks, but by then the outcome was in hand. In five meetings against USC, Kelly's offense has averaged only 17.4 points, and never tallied more than 22 points and two touchdowns. ✦ ON PAPER REVISITED BY LOU SOMOGYI