By John Brice
Special Contributor
Notre Dame’s winning streak is over, and so is its hopes for a New Year’s Six bowl game.
Giving up too many rushing yards, as well as third-down conversions, the Fighting Irish saw their in-season five-game winning streak and in-rivalry four-game binge that spanned to 2016 halted by the potentially College Football Playoff-bound USC Trojans Saturday night inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The Trojans punted just once in the game’s first 50 minutes, and Notre Dame could not keep pace in a 38-27 defeat.
In the final regular-season installment, we bring you the 4-1-1 on the Fighting Irish’s first loss since mid-October.
FOUR ELEMENTS THAT DEFINED NOTRE DAME’S REGULAR-SEASON FINALE AT USC
15-for-15: Though it came in a losing effort, Irish quarterback Drew Pyne had the best opening stretch of accuracy for an Notre Dame quarterback in program history.
The third-year sophomore completed each of his first 15 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns before a late incompletion. Pyne completed tosses to seven different receivers during that stretch and also completed seven passes to All-America tight end Michael Mayer during that stretch, which helped push Mayer into third place in the Notre Dame career receptions chart.
299: As the Trojans gained command in this game behind star quarterback Caleb Williams, their opening four touchdown drives covered 299 yards. USC had scoring marches that covered 75, 75, 74 and 75 yards in pitting Notre Dame in a 31-14 hole in the second half.
Those four scoring marches elapsed a total of 35 offensive plays. USC had 137 yards on its other 26 offensive snaps.
438: Notre Dame’s formula for success against the Trojans had to be to keep the USC offense off the field and limit the Trojans’ production. Instead, USC gashed the Irish defense for 438 yards, possessed the ball for more than 34 minutes and also converted eight of their first 10 third-down conversions.
It was the type of performance, frankly, not seen all year against Freeman, Al Golden and the Irish defense. Notre Dame missed a number of key defensive backs, but the Trojans put up more yards than any other opponent this season.
14: There were myriad factors that worked against Notre Dame in this contest, but the Irish yielded two turnovers that resulted in 14 points for USC in the 11-point defeat.
Notre Dame had been elite during its winning streak in turnover-margin, but the Trojans committed no turnovers and also never had to use their punter; only quarterback Caleb Williams quick-kicked twice to end USC possessions.
ONE THING TO NOTE:
The Trojans are perhaps college football’s enduring image this season of the sport’s modern dynamics – with the merit of such being up for debate. Lincoln Riley’s first USC squad fielded a team with 19 transfer-players on its roster against the Irish, including Heisman Trophy candidate Caleb Williams – who first committed to and played for Riley last season at Oklahoma. The Trojans also had a starting wideout from Pittsburgh in former Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison, as well as a starting linebacker from Alabama among other roles.
ONE THING PIVOTING FORWARD:
Notre Dame, while its coaching staff works to finish out a highly regarded first full recruiting class under Marcus Freeman following next week’s NCAA-mandated dead period, is positioned for a solid postseason bowl berth despite this finale.
Freeman last week did not rule out sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner potentially getting extra work during bowl preparations as Buchner recovers from the shoulder injury suffered against Marshall in early September.
Moreover, the Irish have freshmen and sophomores playing in key slots on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball who can greatly benefit from the additional December practices and one final game, with bowls ranging from the Gator to Holiday to ReliaQuest (formerly Outback) all showing strong interest in the Irish in recent weeks.