Trojans Shut Down Fighting Irish in Prime Time
The stage was set for a marquee game between the long-time rivals. The game was moved to a 7:40 p.m. start time, making it the first Notre Dame home night game since 1990, and more than 80,000 people packed into a sold out Notre Dame Stadium.
And it turned out it was a huge game…for the Trojans.
“Very pleased with the way our players played,” USC football coach Lane Kiffin said after the game. “I thought they played really smart with decision-making, and I thought they played very physical in all aspects of the game.”
Thanks to an empowered running game and a fired-up defense, USC went out to an early 17-0 lead and never trailed in the game, coming out with a 31-17 victory.
Running back Curtis McNeal led the team on the ground with 118 rushing yards, while a banged-up Marc Tyler ended up with 67 yards, despite questions all week that he might not play due to a shoulder injury.
“To come in here, the only way to win this game was to find a way to run the ball versus a very physical defense that fought all the way to the end,” said Kiffin.
“Their linebackers weren’t as physical as we thought they were gonna be, and we ran over them all night,” said Tyler.
The two teams were nearly deadlocked in passing yards, with the Trojans and Fighting Irish recording 224 and 226, respectively. But USC’s offense recorded a total of 443 yards, far exceeding Notre Dame’s 267. The Trojans was able to completely shut down the Notre Dame run game, holding backs Jonas Gray and Cierre Wood to just 43 rushing yards collectively.
And the Trojans didn’t just contain the Fighting Irish on the ground. Notre Dame standout wide receiver Michael Floyd was held to just 28 receiving yards, largely due to the play of cornerback Nickell Robey.
“I was physical. I came out there with a mindset that I gotta come out here and protect the team. I gotta come out here and play my best game,” Robey told reporters after the game.
Big strides on defense helped seal the win for the Trojans. Early in the second half, with the Trojans up 17-10, Notre Dame marched down the field all the way to the Trojans’ one-yard line. Just as it looked like the Irish were going to tie the game, USC safety Jawanza Starling recovered a fumble and took it all the way back for a touchdown, giving USC a 24-10 lead.
“At first, I didn’t even know the ball was fumbled until I saw everybody scrambling around,” said Starling. “And then, I didn’t even realize or know if anybody was behind me, but I was like, ‘I gotta run. I can’t get caught.’”
The play certainly shifted the momentum in USC’s favor, yet still wasn’t enough to silence a very loud and passionate crowd.
“I thought the crowd was awesome tonight. They were electric,” said Kiffin. “I think that’s even more pleasing to come in here with all that stuff going on and still have players play really well. It was really good to see.”
Despite the national attention on Saturday night’s game, USC strived to minimize the hype.
“You get the sense this was their Super Bowl here,” said Kiffin. “It wasn’t the Super Bowl for us. We've got a lot of big games.”
“With all the hype in games like this, it can be easy to kind of to stray away from who we are as a team, and I think our guys on offense and defense did a great job of just focusing on us,” said USC quarterback Matt Barkley.
And even if the Trojans tried to downplay the significance of the rivalry in their game plan, some lingering hostility seemed apparent during some comments after the game.
“They just quit. And that’s what Notre Dame football is about. They’re not anything like USC,” said linebacker Chris Galippo when discussing how the Irish opted not to call their timeouts in the closing minutes of the game. USC held the ball for the final 6:43 of the game.
“That’s what happens when you beat them down. We wore them out. They didn’t want to play no more,” Tyler added to the timeout discussion.
USC has now won nine of the last 10 meetings in this rivalry, with the sole loss coming last year at the Coliseum.
