Highlights: Notre Dame Survives USC Scare, Caps Off Undefeated Regular Season
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t as easy as it should have been. But it was a win for #3 Notre Dame tonight as the Irish edged arch rival USC 24-17 to cap off a 12-0 regular season and all but clinch their spot in the College Football Playoffs. USC came out fired up while the Irish took about a quarter and a half to get going, but in the end, the Irish prevailed and end their regular season undefeated.
There is going to be a lot to unpack in this one, because Notre Dame didn’t particularly play well Saturday night in the Coliseum. They did, however, play well enough to win and right now that is all the matters. Ian Book was not sharp, but he came up with some huge runs and throws when they were needed most. The Irish defense was on skates for the first 10 minutes, but rebounded and kept the Trojans off the scoreboard for almost the entire final three quarters.
There will be plenty of material for the 5 things to like and probably even more for the 5 things I didn’t like columns this week, but for now enjoy these highlights and enjoy the one thing to love from tonight: Notre Dame is going to the College Football Playoffs (no matter what any talking head tries to peddle).
Also, for any Notre Dame fans disappointed the game was closer than we all expected, remember, Michigan gave up 62 points today and got embarrassed by a team that got blown out by Purdue. Things could be a lot worse.
Much more coming from us on Sunday.
IT’S amazing to me the way people criticize KELLY on this site!!! From not knowing a thing about when a team makes adjustments , to wanting the coach to be more focused! From dopey davey wanting willie t or frosty the coachman, to guys crying last year for the WISCONSIN coach ( 7-6 in there last 13 games) to this years calling for brohm the purdue coach!! REALLY!! 22-3 THE LAST 2 YEARS!!! THIS is his second 12-0 season with ND!! ALL this crap because of 1 losing season 1 !! ACADEMIC STANDARDS, MAINTAINING GPA , NOT GETTING THE 5 STAR RECRUITS WHO WANT TO PLAY DOWN SOUTH OR DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT GPA !!! WE have 1 of the top coaches in the country!! And if we do fire or get rid of him as suggested on this site, KELLY will probably have to wait 5 seconds b4 another TOP TIER UNIVERSITY HIRES HIM!!! Davie, Willingham and fat ASS weis how soon we forget!!! GO IRISH!!!!!
Well, if your observation was directed to my comment which constituted a very small percentage of my post, so be it. However, it doesn’t change the fact Kelly boy was flirting with a NFL job during the time of an important game was to be played, which spoke volumes of his character by potentially chasing a different job at that time. That was a fact and facts don’t give a shit about feelings. Kelly has done a lot since his tenure begin at ND where he has been open to criticism for decisions as a head coach he has made and yes, there have been those on this site over the years that have expressed that criticism. I have backed off in my criticism of Kelly on here and only stated in my previous post that I hope there isn’t a repeat of what happened back in 2012 by Kelly. With that said, again congratulations to the 2018 ND team ( including the coaching staff and apparently a special thanks and adulation to BRIAN KELLY that seems to be an alleged requirement to post on this site according to some) for a hard achieved and well earned 12-0 regular season.
GO IRISH
I am going to say I enjoyed watching OSU put 62 points on that vaunted ranked number 4 team that all the pundits seemed to proclaim as the next “college football” coming. Desmond H can stuff it up his ass for all his Michigan homering he was doing on the tube. Going undefeated for a regular season is never easy and to do it how November was scheduled, pretty amazing for this team. No, not the prettiest game but the bottom line is what is in the W-L column. I am hoping for an output like 1988 versus what occurred in January for the regular season of 2012. Here’s one shot of negativity. If the head coach IS NOT FOCUSED on the CFP games ( you know, nothing like chasing a potential NFL job isn’t distracting circa 2013 BCS title game), he then deserves to be gone after the season. The CFP is the biggest thing for Irish football since 2012 and 1988. I just hope he stays focused on that this time around. Clemson can be beat. On that note, congrats to the 2018 ND team for an undefeated regular season.
Notredame needs to recruit more speed at the skilled positions.We need a Will Fuller to open things up.
I predicted ND 27 USC 24/ I expected the game to come down to the last minute – and it did. Not until we recovered the onside kick w/ 48 secs_ could we rest easy!
I was at the game = Irish looked tired, sluggish
Don’t ever let Swarbrick schedule back to back games on opposite coasts again!! could cost us a shot at a NC.
Give us a month to heal, we’ll beat Clemson. Go Irish
Totally agree on the scheduling. ND has enough national exposure and money to nix taking the Irish on the road for the “home game” Shamrock Series.
Ccb, good job with your prediction. I’m sure people thought you were nuts thinking it would be so close. I had Troy exactly at 17. Many missed scoring opportunities could have gotten the 34 I predicted. This game was opposite of so many other Coliseum encounters. Usually the Irish come out of the gate fast, then fold later down the stretch. You could tell the Irish grew stronger and stronger in 2nd. Half. Maybe we had to much turkey and tryptophan set in.
Good not great win. But a win is a win. The record and strength of schedule should stand on its own.
Desmond Howard is an idiot but he can eat it now. Obviously while he played football at Michigan, he didn’t get an education there. Obviously hasn’t learned any class either.
Notre Dame beat a Michigan team that while exposed today was #4 for many weeks, Syracuse who may win 10 games and is likely top 15, Pitt a division winner Northwestern, also a division winner and a possible top 15 and possible big 10 champ. Stanford is solid, VTech, and Vandy decent. USC unlucky as well as FSU and even Wake a better team than their record.
As tough a schedule as any. Deamond needs to learn to read. “And thang”
Jeepers, your giving Desmond a lot of positive credit he’s much worse than stupid!
Check this fact out. First game Michigan/ND wins 24-17. Last game USC/ND wins 24-17. How do you like that for “Book” end victories?
Nice, except Book didn’t play the Michigan/ND game.
Very clever?