Oct. 19, 2013

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery

• USC won the toss and elected to defer. USC defended the south goal to open the game.
• Official kickoff was at 7:43 p.m. (ET) with a temperature of 48 degrees. The weather was partly cloudy with winds from the west at eight mph. The game officially ended at 10:59 p.m. (ET).
• With the Irish’s 14-10 lead over USC was the first time Notre Dame has led the Trojans at half in a home game since 2005.
• The second Irish scoring drive covered 91 yards. It was the second longest scoring drive of the season for the Irish and the third scoring drive of at least 90 yards on the year.
• The Irish played stout third quarter defense to hold onto the four-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. USC had one first down, seven yards rushing on seven attempts and 32 yards total offense on 13 plays. The 32 yards total offense was the fewest yards allowed by Notre Dame in any quarter this season. Notre Dame held USC to 121 yards of total offense in the second half.
• Notre Dame defeated USC at Notre Dame Stadium for the first time since 2001.

A VICTORY OVER USC

• Improves Notre Dame’s record to 5-2 on the season.
• Gives Notre Dame back-to-back victories over the Trojans for the first time since 2000-01.
• Snaps the Trojans’ five-game winning streak in the series at Notre Dame Stadium.
• Gives Notre Dame its first victory over the Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium since 2001.
• Improves Notre Dame’s record to 25-6 over its last 31 games overall and 25-4 over its last 29 regular season contests.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 870-303-42 (.733).
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time home record to 470-119-13 (.792).
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time Notre Dame Stadium record to 323-107-5 (.748).
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record in night games to 72-38-2 (.652).
• mproves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 45-35-5 (.559) against the Trojans.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time home record against the Trojans to 24-14-1 (.628).
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 412-107-8 (.789) against unranked opponents.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time home record to 217-46-1 (.824) against unranked opponents.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 18-9-2 (.655) against unranked USC.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time home record to 12-3-0 (.800) against unranked USC.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record when unranked to 8-3-0 (.727) against unranked USC.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time home record when unranked to 5-2-0 (.714) against unranked USC.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 73-44-5 (.619) against teams from the state of California.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 91-49-6 (.644) against Pac-12 opponents.
• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time home record to 50-18-1 (.732) against Pac-12 opponents.
• Improves Brian Kelly’s all-time record to 204-70-2 (.743).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s all-time record at Notre Dame to 33-13 (.717).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s all-time record in FBS games to 86-35 (.711).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s record since 2006 to 77-23 (.770).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s record since 2001 to 128-37 (.776).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s record against the Trojans to 3-1-0 (.750).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s home record against the Trojans to 1-1-0 (.500).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s all-time record to 8-3 (.727) against Pac-12 opponents.
• Improves Brian Kelly’s all-time home record to 4-2 (.667) against Pac-12 opponents.
• Improves Brian Kelly’s record coming off a regular-season bye week to 14-2 (.875).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s all-time October record to 73-21-2 (.771).
• Improves Brian Kelly’s record to 12-3 (.800) in the month of October as Notre Dame head coach.

Tommy Rees

• With his touchdown pass to end the first quarter, Tommy Rees became the fifth Irish quarterback to pass for 6,000 yards in his career. The seven-yard pass to Troy Niklas was his 48th career touchdown pass. Earlier in the drive, Rees passed Rick Mirer for fifth all-time on the Irish career passing yards list.
• Rees added an 11-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Jones on an Irish second quarter drive. It was Rees’ sixth multi-touchdown game of the season and 15th of this career.
• Rees attempted 21 passes on the evening, which moved him into fourth all-time in school history.

Troy Niklas

• Junior Troy Niklas was responsible for the first Irish score of the evening with his seven-yard touchdown reception from Tommy Rees to end the first quarter. It was Niklas’ fifth touchdown reception of the season. The five touchdown receptions is the second most by an Irish tight end. Tyler Eifert (2011) and Ken MacAfee (1975) both had five touchdown receptions in a season as a tight end.
• Niklas made a full extension catch in the second quarter of 30 yards. Niklas now has six receptions of 20 yards or more.

TJ Jones

• TJ Jones high-pointed a fade route in the left corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown reception. It was his 15th career touchdown pass moving him into a tie with MacAfee for ninth all-time in Irish history. It was also his fourth straight game with a touchdown catch.
• With his 26-yard reception on the Irish’s opening drive, senior captain T.J. Jones has now had at least one reception in 34 straight games.
• Jones had four catches against the Trojans, which marks the 30th game of the last 34 contests in which he has had multiple receptions.

Jaylon Smith

• Intercepted a Cody Kessler pass on the first Trojan drive of the second half. It was his first career interception and the second interception of the season for a linebacker (Dan Fox had a 14-yard interception return for a touchdown against Arizona State).

DaVaris Daniels

• Daniels hauled in a 23-yard catch on the first Irish drive. With that catch, Daniels now has at least one reception of 20 yard or longer in 11 of his 18 career games.

Will Fuller

• Recorded his first career rush on the second Irish drive of the contest. Fuller collected five yards on the attempt.

Austin Collinsworth

• Collected six tackles against USC, which was a career high for the safety. His previous high was four against Oklahoma (2013) and Navy (2011).

Stephon Tuitt

• Sacked Cody Kessler twice in the contest for his 19th career sack, tying Ryan Roberts (1999-2002) for sixth on the all-time list.
• Tuitt had seven tackles against USC, which tied a career-high.
• Deflected a Cody Kessler pass on a critical third-down passing play for his fourth career pass deflection. He also had a pass deflection against Michigan (2013), Miami (2012) and Air Force (2011).

Cam McDaniel

• Carried the ball 18 times for 92 yards rushing on the evening, which was a career-high for both attempts and rushing yards.
• Rushed for 36 yards on an Irish second quarter drive which is his career long. McDaniel has now had two consecutive games with a rush of at least 20 yards.

Captains

• The captains for Notre Dame were Bennett Jackson (CB), TJ Jones (WR) and Zach Martin (OL).
• The captains for USC were Marqise Lee (WR), Hayes Pullard (LB), Devon Kennard (LB) and Marcus Martin (OL).