USC 44 Notre Dame 24

[Hearsay]

Final.

[Hearsay]

I was extremely impressed by USC's defense in this one. Really, really physical, beating the ND receivers up on the line of scrimmage, getting pressure with only 3-man rush, etc. Lot of really nice secondary plays in the open field. Did it seem to anyone else that ND had to really struggle for every yard and point they got tonight?

 

Assuming they beat UCLA, I think USC proved they deserve a shot at the title in this one. I don't think they match up real well with Ohio St., but they deserve the shot. They have played a real tough schedule with an extremely young team (started 15 true freshman at different times this year) and have come through battle-tested.

[strike-3]

Dropped passes killed a couple of first half drives. Quinn played well and should have had better numbers if not for the drops. John Carlson being out was huge, IMO. USC won the game on 3rd down, Irish couldn't get the D off of the field and had poor % on O.

 

Weis has got to better players on D. LB's and secondary is poor. Arguably their best LB is a 1st year D player coverted from RB.

 

Irish have 2 high rated corners that are Frosh in McNeil and Walls, might want to get them some game experience, couldn't be any worse than Richardson and Wooden. Also have commitments from 5-star Gary Gray and 4-star Greg Little, who could be WR or S. In the final 2 with UTenn for 5-star LB Chris Donald but don't seem to have a chance at any other LB help.

 

Weis still has some work to do, obviously USC has much better athletes all over the field than does ND.

[letabrotherspeak]

Notre Dame=Fraud

[SLINK]

Great job Trojans!! One more to go and get another shot at a National Championship. Take care of business against UCLA. It will be tough. It is a rivalry game.

[NEERFAN]

No suprise, ND much better on paper then on the actual field. I agree, fraud.

[MJK3490]

Dang.

[Original Rookie]

Before tonight I thought OSU was a lock to win it all... not so sure anymore. I was very impressed by this USC team.

[Original Rookie]

Also... Jarrett has a legit argument for best receiver in the college game.

[ochenta siete]

Also... Jarrett has a legit argument for best receiver in the college game.

No doubt, it was either him or Johnson from GT. Or the man Jarrett went up against tonight.

[letabrotherspeak]

USC played a stretch of games earlier this year without some players due to injury. I think Jarrett missed a couple games.

Everyone is saying that OUS will walk to the title.

Its a one game deal.

Not many thought OSU would beat Miami a few years back.

[mcpapa]

Notre Dame ranked 6th coming into the USC game was a joke. When all was said and done this year, the Irish played two very good teams and got crushed by both of them. They played two mediocre teams (Michigan State and UCLA) and were extremely lucky to win them. The rest of the schedule was cupcake city.

 

Put Notre Dame - this year, at least, in a power conference; and they would be fortunate to lose only three conference games on the season. It's easy to understand why they choose to remain independent; pollsters will always rank them at least a handful of spots above where they should be; thereby qualifying for a BCS bowl (assuming they only lose to the powers on their schedule and no one else.

 

All that being said, who besides me would like to watch the offensive fireworks in a Notre Dame - Louisville matchup?

[RockPride]

No suprise, ND much better on paper then on the actual field. I agree, fraud.

Notre Dame's secondary is the worst in a major program that I have EVER seen, plain and simple...their offense is great but got bogged down in the red zone...they will do fine in their bowl if they play against a running team.

[cvillecat]

Before tonight I thought OSU was a lock to win it all... not so sure anymore. I was very impressed by this USC team.

If USC is looking ahead to the battle with OSU they may get thumped by UCLA. The OSU/USC game would have the makings to be a dandy!!

[cvillecat]

Great game by the USC defense. The receivers of ND had to many dropped passes but I think it was due to a little intimidation from the USC corners laying the helmet on them play after play. Very physical play by the USC defense. I was also impressed with the hard running of the USC RB's.