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✦ NEWS & NOTES distinct possibility of ND being #1! I just have one com‑ ment, who's irrelevant now!" — Former Notre Dame Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown via Twitter THEY SAID IT "Wow, for the first time in 2 decades I awake with the gant to stay its course. Notre Dame is delusional, nothing but a fight song, some old movies and a deal with NBC it didn't deserve. Well, Notre Dame is 11‑0 and ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings heading into Thanksgiving weekend, 60 minutes from a spot in the title game, the very defini‑ tion of competing for a national title. Not possible? Try not beaten." — Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports "Notre Dame is irrelevant, they said. Notre Dame is arro‑ Notre Dame, which fans have always loved to hate the most, or root for continued SEC dominance. … How's this for strange bedfellows? SEC fans, who a week ago feared their league would be left out of the BCS championship game for the first time in seven years, will be rooting for USC coach Lane Kiffin to upset the Fighting Irish on Saturday." — Mark Schlabach, ESPN.com "Here's the dilemma many are facing: Cheer for old for him to say next week. Haden has so far expressed support for Lane Kiffin in the aftermath of USC's loss to crosstown rival UCLA, but if USC loses to Notre Dame on Saturday, sooner or later he's going to have to say: 'Lane, you're fired.'" — Arash Markazi, ESPN.com "There's nothing for USC athletic director Pat Haden to say right now. There may be nothing liked an Irish team that I can recall. They are overachieving in ways that seem highly emotional and empirically immeasurable. … But I have spent this season quietly pulling for Oregon to reach the national championship game, because what Chip Kelly is trying to achieve feels very much, I imagine, like what Charley Dorais and Knute Rockne accomplished a century earlier." — Michael Weinreb, Grantland.com "I like this Irish team more than any I can recall, which isn't saying much, since I have never some good personal success there, but as a team we didn't do what we were supposed to do. I wish we had. If you win there, it's like you're a god. People never forget." — Former Notre Dame defensive end Justin Tuck "Winning seasons aren't what it's about at Notre Dame. You go there to win titles. I had regular season, it's one of those things that's not right. He'll come back even better." — USC head coach Lane Kiffin on Matt Barkley not playing against Notre Dame "I'm very disappointed. It's even hard to come to the exact words. For it to end like that, his Donald, who returned for his senior season for a chance to win the national title (Long Beach Press Telegram) "It's not the way I expected it, but I won't sit here and say I regret it." — USC safety T.J. Mc- ✦ PAGE 15 For dozens of great gift ideas, CLICK HERE >> I L L U S T R A T E D With their national title aspirations a distant memory, senior safety T.J. McDonald and the Trojans will try to play spoiler against Notre Dame. PHOTO COURTESY USC Gift Guide Holiday 2012