No. 12 USC welcomes struggling Notre Dame for rivalry game

Jackson might have punctuated his three-year career at the Coliseum with one last virtuoso display of his talent, although he hasn’t decided yet. Yet somehow, through the course of the game, it slips up and allows teams back in. USC has put together a very strong season and flown under the radar.

With just under 90 seconds left in the first half, disaster struck for the Irish.

By the time Adoree Jackson effortlessly hurdled Notre Dame’s kicker and sprinted off to strike a Heisman pose in the end zone, every rain-soaked soul already knew they were seeing the culmination of something special for Southern California.

3 Teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, since the divisions were established in 1978, that still have never played a Football Champions Series opponent (formerly lower than Division 1-A): Notre Dame, USC and UCLA. The Irish scored only two touchdowns in those eight games, including the meaningless one versus the Trojans, while going 3-5.

Deep in the 2nd, Trojans with another touchdown.

A few players later, junior DeShone Kizer found his favorite target, sophomore Chris Finke, for a 14-yard touchdown strike.

With 13:29 remaining in the fourth quarter, Kizer fumbled the ball and USC’s Jack Jones recovered.

On the perimeter, Darnold has a pair of lethal wideouts in JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ronald Jones.

“When you’ve been in this business a long time, you think you’ve got a track record of what you’ve done, but you’re also at a high-profile institution like Notre Dame, where the expectations are really high”, Kelly said.

The Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, called it unprecedented to strip a school of wins “without serious underlying institutional misconduct”.

Adams averaged 10.6 yards per rush in the game and led the Irish offense with 180 on the afternoon. His 546 rushing yards are second on the team.

USC’s Jackson had nine touches for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Love finished the game with nine tackles, including seven solo tackles. Further complicating matters for Notre Dame is that only last December did they finish paying former coach Charlie Weis for his buyout, including compensation of over $18.9 million, even though he was sacked back in 2009. Buffalo is last in the league in passing.

On the flip side, Notre Dame has been able to start fast, outscoring opponents 106-44 in the first quarter. Their fate is now in the hands of Colorado as they will either play for a Pac-12 Championship, or a bowl game, the next time they take the field.

But we’re not here to cry for the Fighting Irish. But anytime that your athletic director has to come out and say that, as a head coach you’re disappointed that any kind of comments like that have to be made. After a blowout loss to Alabama, a heartbreaker last-minute loss at Utah and a blow against rival Stanford, the team that jubilantly crushed Notre Dame seems completely transformed.