Jackson Dazzles As USC Drops Notre Dame

Coach Lou Holtz was in his first season. Tillery did earn a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct this time.

“I’d been looking to get a kickoff return all along”, he said.

I can tell that a lot of Notre Dame football fans have checked out this season (the page views numbers have sent your message to me loud and clear), and it’s quite clear that this might be the one of the lowest rated USC-ND games of all time. It has lost the seven contests by an average of 4.6 points.

USC is coming off a 36-14 win at UCLA last week to move to 8-3 on the season. No. 9 Colorado game on Saturday night to determine their fate.

Notre Dame QB DeShone Kizer does not anticipate any issue with his guys getting up for this final game. This wasn’t a scuffle in a rivalry game. The drive was capped off by a 51-yard touchdown run from Ronald Jones II.

But Jones will have to split the carries with senior Justin Davis and fellow sophomore Aca’Cedric Ware, the latter finally showing why he was so highly regarded coming out of high school. He had 132 yards in four games.

The biggest news regarding this year’s Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh may be that Notre Dame will enter the game with the prospect of having to vacate wins from two seasons. Kelly’s name has been mentioned in connection to National Football League jobs over the last few years, so that may be a viable option as well, and could be the direction in which his reps have been directed to explore.

“I was in my feelings a little bit”, Jackson said. A Notre Dame side with nothing to play for besides pride was almost matching the Trojans shot-for-shot on both sides of the ball. Adams continues to supply big plays for the offense, as his 74-yard run in the first quarter is his fifth career run of 60-plus yards.

But here is what Cowherd said after the Trojans started 1-3: “Clay Helton’s just not ready”. Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer has played well this season despite his team’s struggles and very well may be playing his last game in an Irish uniform before declaring for the NFL Draft.

USC offensive tackle Chad Wheeler, who confronted Tillery after the incident, said, “I just saw an injured, vulnerable player”. “I really didn’t think he’d throw the ball where he did”. “And of course, he’s got a great supporting cast”. If you are keeping score at home the Trojans’ defensive back had more touchdowns than Notre Dame’s quarterback at this point in the game. And when Jackson picked up a bouncing punt and sprinted to the end zone, he turned a field goal-game into a 10-pointer. Kizer, who completed just 3 of 15 passes for 36 yards in the second half against the Hokies, said he had done the same thing past year as well.

“Definitely a kid that’s going to play on Sundays”, Helton said this week. Kizer was 17-for-31 for 220 yards with touchdowns and an interception. The Irish have 93 points in the second quarter, two more than opponents, and 79 points in the third quarter, 12 more than opponents. But teams have been able to pressure Kizer. Then, with Notre Dame refusing to roll over, he took a kickoff 97 yards to the house for good measure to give USC a 38-21 lead. This presents an ideal chance for USC to get the Whataburger-loving Jones going early.

Of the Trojans’ 25 sacks this season, 12 have come in November. “To stick with us throughout this whole season and the prior season, just showing love and support, it’s just awesome”. Over my 21 years (in coaching), I’ll always remember this. Brown catching a 15-yard scoring pass with 1:02 left in the game.