LOS ANGELES — In the fourth quarter, as the game tightened and the lead dwindled, it seemed as if all of Notre Dame’s national following was holding its collective breath. Those clad in green and gold turned blue. Every second that ticked off the game clock felt like a minute. Every minute felt like an hour.
At stake: only a berth in the national championship game and the first undefeated regular season for Notre Dame since 1988. Only the best season for the Fighting Irish in more than two decades, the best campaign since the days of Lou Holtz, back when Notre Dame symbolized on-field dominance, not off-field television contracts and 6-5 seasons.
As happened often Saturday, the Fighting Irish turned to their kicker, Kyle Brindza, he of the steel nerves and golden right leg who had written “composed” on his left hand. His fifth field goal silenced the capacity crowd at Memorial Coliseum, gave him more points in the game than Southern California’s offense and led to Notre Dame’s 22-13 victory.
Funny how it worked out. When the season started, before all the upsets, before this topsy-turvy November, many pundits tabbed Southern California as the top team. Instead, Notre Dame (12-0) came here undefeated, and left that way, too, en route to the national championship game in Miami in January.
In the locker room after the game, Brindza described the scene as crazy: “Everyone jumping up and down. Random cheers. It was like winning the Super Bowl, pretty much.”The finish was not without its anxious moments. After field goal No. 5 for Notre Dame, U.S.C. (7-5) went right back down the field, went right up to the 1, further proof that perfection would not come easily for Notre Dame.
Yet in a stand indicative of this season, behind its stout defensive front, the Fighting Irish forced a turnover on downs. Southern California ran three times into the teeth of that Notre Dame defense. Each time, the Trojans were turned back. On fourth down, a pass fell incomplete.
The Notre Dame offense took over with 2 minutes 33 seconds left on the clock, a mere formality, the Bowl Championship Series title game now more than a hope; it is now a reality for Notre Dame in Coach Brian Kelly’s third season at the helm.
While U.S.C. helped ruin potential Notre Dame championship seasons in years like 1938 and 1964 and 1980, and while U.S.C. won 9 of the previous 10 games in this matchup, Notre Dame assumed control Saturday. There would be no upset, only the visiting team celebrating on the field.
Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said he told Kelly in the summer that this team was special.
“It’s all the pieces; It’s not just one thing,” Swarbrick said. “He could see it, too.”Before kickoff, the crowd showered each U.S.C. senior with applause. It saved its loudest screams for Matt Barkley, the injured quarterback who passed on N.F.L. riches to return for this final season, once filled with promise, now empty promises. Barkley hugged Coach Lane Kiffin with tears in his eyes. He would watch his final home game from the sideline.
The rest of Saturday’s schedule held true to form. Alabama won big. So did Georgia and Florida and Oregon, the teams that resided behind the Fighting Irish. Perhaps that added to the pressure on Notre Dame, even if it changed little in the grand scheme. Win and get in. That was Notre Dame’s directive.
The Fighting Irish offense, the team’s presumed weakest unit, moved the ball in the first half, moved it swiftly and easily, at least until it reached the red zone. Quarterback Everett Golson completed 14 passes for 181 yards. The speedster Theo Riddick added 69 rushing yards and a score. Brindza made three field goals, including a 52-yarder at the end of the first half.
If Notre Dame’s offense looked better than expected, its defense, a celebrated unit that had allowed only eight touchdowns in its first 11 games, looked worse. And it was facing a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first start.
The quarterback’s name is Max Wittek, and for what he lacked in experience, he made up for in hubris. His gargantuan task: replace Barkley, a probable first-round N.F.L. draft pick, in perhaps the single most important game of this college football season so far, on national television, at a packed Coliseum, against a defense as feared as any in the nation.
The Trojans handed off four times before they let Wittek show off his right arm, which displayed some cannonlike tendencies, even though his first three attempts fell incomplete. He threw a second-quarter interception. His star receiver, Marqise Lee, dropped a sure touchdown pass that he appeared to lose track of under the lights.
All in all, though, Wittek turned in a solid first half, despite circumstances best described as difficult. His 11-yard strike to Robert Woods cut Notre Dame’s lead to 10-7 on the first play of the second quarter.
The script flipped when the second half started, when Notre Dame’s defense looked like Notre Dame’s defense, when linebacker Manti Te’o stepped in front of a pass Wittek never should have thrown and secured another interception. Should Te’o become the rare defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy, that play would seem like a good candidate to be his signature moment.
At least until the Fighting Irish squandered the ensuing field position. The offense stalled. Brindza shanked a 34-yard attempt.
Notre Dame’s defense dominated the third quarter in more typical fashion. No team scored more than 20 points on the Fighting Irish all season in regulation. Not with Te’o and those big boys up front.
The question, then, was: Could Notre Dame score again? Could it put this final game out of reach and start dreaming about South Beach? Brindza atoned for his third-quarter miss with his fourth field goal, this time from 33 yards out.
That marked the fifth Notre Dame drive that stalled down near the end zone, a disconcerting trend for sure, but less so with that formidable defense.
That defense held on late. The offense did enough. U.S.C. slunk away, bowl eligible but not much more. Notre Dame, meanwhile, capped a stunning run with a stunning night.
At stake: only a berth in the national championship game and the first undefeated regular season for Notre Dame since 1988. Only the best season for the Fighting Irish in more than two decades, the best campaign since the days of Lou Holtz, back when Notre Dame symbolized on-field dominance, not off-field television contracts and 6-5 seasons.
As happened often Saturday, the Fighting Irish turned to their kicker, Kyle Brindza, he of the steel nerves and golden right leg who had written “composed” on his left hand. His fifth field goal silenced the capacity crowd at Memorial Coliseum, gave him more points in the game than Southern California’s offense and led to Notre Dame’s 22-13 victory.
Funny how it worked out. When the season started, before all the upsets, before this topsy-turvy November, many pundits tabbed Southern California as the top team. Instead, Notre Dame (12-0) came here undefeated, and left that way, too, en route to the national championship game in Miami in January.
In the locker room after the game, Brindza described the scene as crazy: “Everyone jumping up and down. Random cheers. It was like winning the Super Bowl, pretty much.”The finish was not without its anxious moments. After field goal No. 5 for Notre Dame, U.S.C. (7-5) went right back down the field, went right up to the 1, further proof that perfection would not come easily for Notre Dame.
Yet in a stand indicative of this season, behind its stout defensive front, the Fighting Irish forced a turnover on downs. Southern California ran three times into the teeth of that Notre Dame defense. Each time, the Trojans were turned back. On fourth down, a pass fell incomplete.
The Notre Dame offense took over with 2 minutes 33 seconds left on the clock, a mere formality, the Bowl Championship Series title game now more than a hope; it is now a reality for Notre Dame in Coach Brian Kelly’s third season at the helm.
While U.S.C. helped ruin potential Notre Dame championship seasons in years like 1938 and 1964 and 1980, and while U.S.C. won 9 of the previous 10 games in this matchup, Notre Dame assumed control Saturday. There would be no upset, only the visiting team celebrating on the field.
Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said he told Kelly in the summer that this team was special.
“It’s all the pieces; It’s not just one thing,” Swarbrick said. “He could see it, too.”Before kickoff, the crowd showered each U.S.C. senior with applause. It saved its loudest screams for Matt Barkley, the injured quarterback who passed on N.F.L. riches to return for this final season, once filled with promise, now empty promises. Barkley hugged Coach Lane Kiffin with tears in his eyes. He would watch his final home game from the sideline.
The rest of Saturday’s schedule held true to form. Alabama won big. So did Georgia and Florida and Oregon, the teams that resided behind the Fighting Irish. Perhaps that added to the pressure on Notre Dame, even if it changed little in the grand scheme. Win and get in. That was Notre Dame’s directive.
The Fighting Irish offense, the team’s presumed weakest unit, moved the ball in the first half, moved it swiftly and easily, at least until it reached the red zone. Quarterback Everett Golson completed 14 passes for 181 yards. The speedster Theo Riddick added 69 rushing yards and a score. Brindza made three field goals, including a 52-yarder at the end of the first half.
If Notre Dame’s offense looked better than expected, its defense, a celebrated unit that had allowed only eight touchdowns in its first 11 games, looked worse. And it was facing a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first start.
The quarterback’s name is Max Wittek, and for what he lacked in experience, he made up for in hubris. His gargantuan task: replace Barkley, a probable first-round N.F.L. draft pick, in perhaps the single most important game of this college football season so far, on national television, at a packed Coliseum, against a defense as feared as any in the nation.
The Trojans handed off four times before they let Wittek show off his right arm, which displayed some cannonlike tendencies, even though his first three attempts fell incomplete. He threw a second-quarter interception. His star receiver, Marqise Lee, dropped a sure touchdown pass that he appeared to lose track of under the lights.
All in all, though, Wittek turned in a solid first half, despite circumstances best described as difficult. His 11-yard strike to Robert Woods cut Notre Dame’s lead to 10-7 on the first play of the second quarter.
The script flipped when the second half started, when Notre Dame’s defense looked like Notre Dame’s defense, when linebacker Manti Te’o stepped in front of a pass Wittek never should have thrown and secured another interception. Should Te’o become the rare defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy, that play would seem like a good candidate to be his signature moment.
At least until the Fighting Irish squandered the ensuing field position. The offense stalled. Brindza shanked a 34-yard attempt.
Notre Dame’s defense dominated the third quarter in more typical fashion. No team scored more than 20 points on the Fighting Irish all season in regulation. Not with Te’o and those big boys up front.
The question, then, was: Could Notre Dame score again? Could it put this final game out of reach and start dreaming about South Beach? Brindza atoned for his third-quarter miss with his fourth field goal, this time from 33 yards out.
That marked the fifth Notre Dame drive that stalled down near the end zone, a disconcerting trend for sure, but less so with that formidable defense.
That defense held on late. The offense did enough. U.S.C. slunk away, bowl eligible but not much more. Notre Dame, meanwhile, capped a stunning run with a stunning night.