LOS ANGELES -- Notre Dame is one win from a national title shot. There really isn't any embellishment left to make, nor any nuance left to explore, nor any argument over who's worthy and who isn't.
That is, flatly and tantalizingly, all there is. The No. 1 Irish, facing their most bitter rival, just one victory away from a chance to win a championship.
"We just have to go out and play our game and not change anything we do," defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore said. "Obviously what we do has been working."
It worked 11 out of 11 times before Saturday at the Los Angeles Coliseum, and it was working through three quarters against USC. The Irish had a 19-10 lead and stood just 15 minutes away from a spot in the BCS title game on Jan. 7.
Notre Dame diced up the USC defense on its two drives of the first quarter, though it only managed to hit paydirt on one.
The first march was a clinical dissection all the way inside the Trojans' 10-yard line, using four plays of 10-plus yards to get there. But then things sputtered, with an Everett Golson third-down pass sailing out of the end zone. Kyle Brindza came on and his 27-yard field goal made it a 3-0 lead, the Irish firing a first salvo that could have been more.
USC could have had more on its first possession, too, but a 50-yard bomb from redshirt freshman starter Max Wittek couldn't be corralled by Marqise Lee in double coverage. After a Trojans punt, the Irish reestablished offensive dominance on a 12-play, 87-yard, nearly-seven-minute drive that culminated with Theo Riddick's 9-yard touchdown run and a 10-0 leaed with 1:48 left in the first quarter.
That might have tested the mettle of a four-loss Trojans team playing for nothing, but Notre Dame helped USC back into the game. A pass interference penalty on KeiVarae Russell and a face mask penalty on Bennett Jackson helped push the Trojans along until Wittek found Robert Woods for an 11-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter, cutting the Irish lead to 10-7 and infusing the proceedings with some drama once more.
Again, Notre Dame would have its way with the USC defnse as it tried to expunge that drama on the next series. But, again, it couldn't finish what it started. A drive to the Trojans' 12-yard line stopped there, with Brindza's 29-yard field goal and a 13-7 lead the result.
USC then matched the Irish for red-zone futility as a retort. On a third-and-8 from the Notre Dame 19-yard line, at the end of an otherwise promising drive, Wittek dropped a snap and fell on it for a four-yard loss. A 39-yard field goal was the consolation prize, slicing the Irish lead to 13-10 with 3:50 left in the half.
After actually managing a defensive stop, USC gave the Irish life again. Wittek threw a long interception on the first play after a Notre Dame punt, returning the ball to the Irish with 1:25 left.
Golson moved the offense into position with a 23-yard pass to John Goodman and then a 12-yarder to Robby Toma, and then almost moved it right back out of position with a third-down scramble that nearly resulted in a drive-killing sack. He unfurled an incompletion with one second left, though, and Brindza came on for a 52-yard field goal and a 16-10 halftime edge.
What appeared to be a game-breaking opportunity to start the second half became just another missed chance for Notre Dame. Manti Te'o recorded his seventh interception on the second USC snap of the half, a Wittek throw directly into his chest, setting up the Irish offense at the Trojans' 37-yard line.
But Tyler Eifert couldn't corral a third-down fade to the end zone, and then Brindza hooked a 34-yard field goal wide left, a chance to more or less bury the Trojans leaving them very much alive instead.
Then came the three-and-outs for USC, an offense suddenly stuck in the mud, and it seemed just a matter of time before Notre Dame broke through. It was a small breakthrough, with a nine-play drive leading to a Brindza 33-yard field goal at a 19-10 lead with 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
Notre Dame Game Day: Up 16-10 at halftime
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Notre Dame Game Day: Up 16-10 at halftime
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Notre Dame Game Day: Up 16-10 at halftime
