Notre Dame all but wrapped up an at-large spot in the College Football Playoff with a 49-35 victory at USC on Saturday afternoon. It was the 10th consecutive win for the Fighting Irish, who bounced back from a shocking Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois to finish the regular season with an 11-1 record.
Heading into the weekend, Notre Dame had a 99 percent chance to make the 12-team field and a 71 percent chance to host a first-round game, according to The Athletic’s Austin Mock. The Irish were No. 5 in last week’s CFP rankings but will likely move up after No. 2 Ohio State lost at home to Michigan. They cannot, however, earn one of the top four seeds because they will not be a conference champion.
USC ends the regular season with a 6-6 record and will await its bowl destination. The Trojans, who had won two straight after making the move at quarterback from Miller Moss to Jayden Maiava, had led in the fourth quarter in each of their previous five losses. That streak ended against Notre Dame, which scored 21 points in the third quarter to seize control.
USC threatened late, driving to the Notre Dame 21-yard down 35-28 with about four minutes remaining, but Christian Gray — who struggled for most of the day — intercepted a pass and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. Xavier Watts followed up with a 100-yard interception return moments later.
CHRISTIAN GRAY #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/VPYKhCeH3S
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 1, 2024
Quarterback Riley Leonard continued his strong play, completing 17 of 23 passes for 155 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while adding 50 yards and one score on the ground. Star tailback Jeremiyah Love ran for 99 yards and one touchdown on 13 attempts but had to leave the game in the third quarter with an injury. Jadarian Price led the Irish’s ground game with 111 yards and one TD on 12 carries.
Here are some takeaways.
Notre pushed … and responds
On a day when Notre Dame needed to find a response after being pushed by USC, the Irish leaned hard on their ground game while also getting burned when they didn’t. Love and Price combined for 25 carries and 210 yards, including some spectacular game-breaking plays that let Notre Dame get out of the Coliseum with its CFP goals still in place. Love hurdled yet another defender. Price broke off a 36-yard touchdown run. Love scored a rushing touchdown for the 12th straight game, a school-record streak.
It was all a reminder Notre Dame doesn’t need to work everything through the quarterback every week — although Leonard pitched in on the ground with 50 yards and a touchdown, a reminder the Duke transfer remains Notre Dame’s most dangerous red zone weapon.
And yet, it’s worth asking if Notre Dame can keep winning if Leonard the quarterback can’t balance this three-headed rushing attack. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock seemed to bottle up Leonard the downfield passer, which made stretches of Thanksgiving weekend look like early September for Notre Dame’s offense.
Leonard barely pushed the ball vertically, although both touchdown passes — the first to tight end Eli Raridon and the second to tight end Mitchell Evans — were ambitiously down the field. But so was Leonard’s interception, when he miscommunicated with receiver Kris Mitchell to give USC a second-half gift that John Humphrey collected.
Yes, Notre Dame rode its run game into the CFP. That’s a smart business decision. And yes, it’s fair to wonder if the Irish will have the passing game it needs to win in the CFP in December. — Sampson
Work still be done
Notre Dame’s spot in the College Football Playoff is secure. It will almost certainly host in late December, with the bigger curiosity about where the Irish are seeded and who they might face on their side of the bracket.
But this survival of USC is also a reminder that Notre Dame has work to get done before then. For the first time all season, Al Golden’s defense got put on its heels and Notre Dame’s defensive depth looked stretched. The Irish staff seemed to come unhinged as wide receivers coach Mike Brown was called for unsportsmanlike conduct on the sideline. Leonard the passer was sporadic. And the kicking game remains a major question with Mitch Jeter.
Notre Dame can get to work on all that during the next three weeks, though, after checking off the biggest (but not only) goal of the season, now that it knows it’s going to the CFP. Living down the Northern Illinois loss, which remains the biggest point spread upset of the college season, demanded this 10-game winning streak that saw Notre Dame improve virtually everywhere during the past three months.
That’s a credit to head coach Marcus Freeman, who may be on his way to a classic Year 3 in Notre Dame history. — Sampson
The dam finally broke for USC’s defense
Look, the Trojans’ stats aren’t eye-popping or overly impressive, but defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn has done a good job keeping the unit respectable. USC has dealt with injuries to its top players (defensive lineman Anthony Lucas and linebacker Eric Gentry), sudden departures (Bear Alexander), lack of depth and general youth. Despite all that, the defense has held its own and has kept the Trojans in every game — and sometimes won the game for them like last week against UCLA.
But all those problems were so glaring against Notre Dame, which is the best team USC has faced this year. Whether it was running backs Love and Price, tight end Evans or Leonard’s arms and legs from the quarterback position, the Trojans had no answer for what the Fighting Irish were doing offensively.
Notre Dame finished with 436 yards of offense and controlled the line of scrimmage with 258 rushing yards. USC’s lack of size, strength and depth along the defensive line really showed up against a strong Fighting Irish O-line. Notre Dame scored touchdowns on three of its four third-quarter possessions, which allowed it to build the lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Lynn did a commendable job in his first season as USC’s DC, but the problem is clear — he needs more talent. — Morales
USC continues to find ways to lose
It’s pretty astonishing to see how many breakdowns the Trojans have had late in games this season. USC led in the fourth quarter of its first 11 games this season and somehow managed to lose five of those games. It didn’t lead in the fourth quarter against Notre Dame but at least looked poised to tie the game with about four minutes left.
On first-and-10 from the Notre Dame 21, Maiava tried to hit Kyron Hudson on a back-shoulder throw. Hudson didn’t come back to the ball and it was picked off by Gray, who returned it 99 yards to essentially seal the game for the Fighting Irish.
That sequence summed up USC’s 6-6 season: a great opportunity only to find a way to fumble it. The Trojans will hate looking back on this season because of how many chances and games they let slip away for the simple fact they couldn’t finish and make enough plays when they had to.
(Photo of Riley Leonard: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)
