LOS ANGELES — In themoments after Tommy Reestook a knee on his own three-yard line at the Los AngelesMemorial Coliseum Saturdaynight, sophomore receiver TheoRiddick dropped to his knees.Other players jumped up anddown. Most just saunteredtowards the tunnel, the standsor each other, partaking inamazed hugs and handshakes. On the strength of a latetouchdown drive and countlesskey defensive stands, NotreDame had beaten USC for thefirst time in nine years. “When we were required toplay our best, we came up witha big drive and a big stop,” Irishcoach Brian Kelly said. “Andthat’s really what we’ve talkedabout all year. We cannot winunless all three units play foot-ball.”

Senior running back RobertHughes ended a 77-yard drivewith a five-yard touchdown tocomplete the scoring at 20-16. The Trojans got the ball at

their own 31-yard line with2:16 left in the game. Theydrove to the Irish 23-yard linebefore senior safety HarrisonSmith intercepted a pass fromquarterback Mitch Mustain atthe one-yard line. Three playslater, the game was over. “I don’t think words do it jus-

tice. Everyone’s ecstatic,” saidRees, a true freshman whostarted for the third time thisseason. “It’s great for the sen-iors to go out with a win overUSC. Words can’t describe howeveryone’s feeling right now.”Four plays before the

turnover, Trojans receiverRonald Johnson evaded Smithand was open for a pass thatcould have turned into a touch-down. But in the rainy condi-tions, Johnson dropped the ball. “It’s about time we caught a

break,” Kelly said. Both teams started out with

strong defense, and each punt-ed twice in the first quarter. Bythe end of the game, NotreDame (7-5) had punted sixtimes and USC had puntedseven times.USC started with a short field

on each of its four scoringdrives due to three Rees inter-ceptions and a lost fumble. Butthe Irish defense limited theTrojans to three field goals anda single touchdown, all comingafter turnovers. “Defensively, we have the

mentality, you just put the balldown and we’ll go out andplay,” sophomore linebackerManti Te’o said. “It doesn’t mat-ter whether you’re on our five-yard line or their five-yard line.We’ll go out and play.”The touchdown, a quarter-

back sneak in the third quarter,was the first the Irish had sur-rendered in November andended a streak of 13 straight

quarters without an opponentscoring an offensive touchdown. “Unbelievable effort,” Kelly

said. “We put them in some badsituations, and they just contin-ued to battle and they’ve donethat all year. This is not a one-time occurrence. This is adefense that has played reallywell in the month of November.”The Irish offense struggled

early and did not achieve a firstdown until its third possessionof the game. But in the secondquarter, Rees and junior receiv-er Michael Floyd connected ona one-yard pass for NotreDame’s first touchdown. Nearly 10 minutes later, with

44 seconds left in the half, theIrish went 62 yards for anothertouchdown, this time a one-yard pass to senior DuvalKamara. They did not score again until

the game-winning drive in thefourth quarter. “The offense really rallied

together to be able to bounce

back on our last drive,” Reessaid. “It showed what kind ofcharacter we have, and leader-ship.”Rees finished the game 20-of-32 passing for 149 yards. Sophomore running backCierre Wood led with 89 rushyards on 15 carries, whileHughes had 69 yards on 11 car-ries. Floyd led the team with 86yards on 11 catches, eight ofwhich came in his second-quar-ter touchdown drive. When hewalked past the Irish support-ers still in their seats and intothe tunnel after a long celebra-tion, he kept his arms raisedabove his head. “[This win is] huge,” Kellysaid. “It’s looking at the faces ofso many Notre Dame fans thathave been waiting for thismoment. Just to see the look ontheir face, it’s satisfying.”

Monday, September 19, 2005 o bserverTHE

Michigan State 44 , Notre Dame 41

player of the game

Michael FloydIrish receiver

Floyd caught 11 passes for 86 yards,including Notre Dame’s first score anda five-yard reception on the final drive.

quote of the game

“It shows that we’re going in the rightdirection. It shows that we’ll fight, andwe have what it takes to compete.”

Manti Te’osophomore linebacker

stat of the game

W

Notre Dame earned a ‘W’ over USCfor the first time since 2001, a

time-span that encompassed threehead coaches.

play of the game

Robert Hughes’ five-yard touchdownrun with 2:23 remaining in the game

Hughes rushed for 36 yards on NotreDame’s final drive. His final five-yarddive provided the winning margin.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010 o bserverTHE

IRISH INSIDERNotre Dame 20, USC 16

Contact Laura Myers atlmyers2@nd.edu

By LAURA MYERSSports Writer

DAN JACOBS/The Observer

Junior receiver Michael Floyd celebrates Notre Dame’s 20-16 victory over USC Saturday in Los Angeles. Floyd led the Irish with 11 catches for 86 yards in Notre Dame’sfirst victory over USC since 2001, a victory that was in doubt until the final minute.

VICTORY!

C

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERpage 2 Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Win over SC means much moreLOS ANGELES — It was a win

over an unranked team. It movedthe Irish to 7-5, certainly not aspectacular record and nowherenear the top 25, let alone a BCSbowl game or a national champi-onship. It was avictory over ateam that ishaving its worstyear in the lastdecade, a sanc-tion-riddledteam with anew coach anda backup quar-terback. TheIrish turned theball over fourtimes, and USCwas a caughtpass and 15yards of openfield away from continuing itseight-game win streak in theseries. But Notre Dame’s 20-16 winover USC Saturday in the rain atthe Los Angeles Memorial Coliseumcould not have been more mean-ingful.If the win over Utah was the true

beginning of the Brian Kelly era atNotre Dame, then Saturday’s winwas it’s first meaningful victory. Ithardly matters that the Trojans aredown and that the victory was notnearly as decisive as some of theones USC has handed the Irishsince 2002. Notre Dame beat USC,and that’s what matters.Each season, it is jokingly

claimed by Irish fans that even ifNotre Dame goes 1-11, they will besatisfied as long as the win comes

over SC. And while this season did-n’t quite reach that extreme, a winover the Trojans to cap off anundefeated November changes theoutlook on the 2010 campaign dra-matically. The close losses toMichigan and Michigan State, theembarrassing performance againstNavy and the heartbreaking loss toan inferior Tulsa can be basicallyignored because of Notre Dame’sperformance in November, andparticularly Saturday’s win overthe Trojans. The Irish still under-achieved, but they did not quit.And this will be what characterizesthe Kelly era.In his first year, Tyrone

Willingham started the season 8-0,beat two ranked teams but wentinto the Coliseum and lost by 31.Charlie Weis went 10-2 in his firstyear, including a win over then No.3 Michigan, but lost to USC in themost heartbreaking fashion possi-ble, a game that would set the tonefor his entire tenure at NotreDame. Both coaches had successesin their first year, but they couldnot beat USC, and could not bringNotre Dame back to prominence.Kelly’s rookie season has been

filled with controversy, both on andoff the field. His coaching decisionshave been questioned, his schem-ing critiqued. But when it matteredmost, Kelly and the Irish succeed-ed, and did it in a spectacular way.A 7-5 record certainly isn’t ideal,for the fans nor the team itself. Butthe record that matters is 3-0 inNovember. The Irish were 3-10over the last five years in the lastmonth of the season, including five

losses to their archrival, bothheartbreaks and blowouts.Winning at the end of games andat the end of seasons needs achange of mindset, and this Irishprogram certainly looks to havemade an attitude adjustment.It is this attitude, which can onlybe crafted by facing adversity andstill coming out on the other side,is what will bring Notre Dame thesuccess that has escaped it for solong. The Irish lost a lead into thefourth quarter against bothMichigan and Michigan State, butwent into Los Angeles and beat theTrojans in the fourth quarter. Theywere outplayed and out-schemedby Navy, but came back and domi-nated a similar-in-style Armysquad. They lost to an undersizedTulsa, but came back with a tough-ness that allowed them to beat aranked Utah team. Notre Dame isnot only learning from its mistakes,but is confident that it has learnedfrom them, and is taking that con-fidence onto the field.The win over USC is still just onewin. But it is also a sign of thingsto come — not a sign of excellentrecruiting or a decided schematicadvantage, but a sign that thisteam has a willingness to see itsfaults, correct them, and know thatit is better for it. It is a sign of goodthings to come.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author

and not necessarily those of TheObserver.

Contact Eric Prister ateprister@nd.edu

B-quarterbacks: Tommy Rees threw twotouchdown passes, but turned the ballover four times and set up each ofUSC’s scores. He kept his composure,though, and led the Irish to a victory.

report card

Eric Prister

AssociateSports Editor

Arunning backs: Both Robert Hughes andCierre Wood averaged six yards percarry, and Hughes powered his wayinto the end zone from five yards outfor the game winner.

Areceivers:Michael Floyd had more catchesthan the rest of the Irish squad combined,but his 11 receptions, including six on onedrive, were enough to lead the Irish to awin.

A+offensive line: Notre Dame averaged 4.5yards per carry and Tommy Rees wasnot sacked. If that’s not enough, theoffensive line dominated the Trojans onNotre Dame’s game-winning drive.

A+defensive line: Notre Dame held USC toless than three yards per carry. Theyput pressure on Mitch Mustain all night,forcing him to roll out to make passes,and commanded the line of scrimmage.

Alinebackers: Southern Cal gained only 80yards on the ground, and their longestsingle rush was only 11 yards. DariusFleming led the Irish in tackles withseven.

Bdefensive backs:Notre Dame did not giveup a score through the air and HarrisonSmith tied for the team lead in tackles.USC dropped a lot of open passes, though,including a potential game-winner.

special teams: David Ruffer did notattempt a field goal, and missed oneof his extra point attempts. Ben Turkaveraged only 37.5 yards per punt,and only tallied 106 return yards.

Acoaching: Notre Dame may have commit-ted four turnovers and given USC chanceafter chance to win the game, but BrianKelly still led the Irish to their first winover the Trojans in nine years.

3.59overall: In a sloppy effort, TommyRees, Brian Kelly and NotreDame got the job done and thatis all that really matters in theColiseum.

COLEMAN COLLINS/The Observer

Junior receiver Michael Floyd, 3, celebrates his second quarter touchdown which gave Notre Dame a 7-3 leadover USC Saturday. Floyd pulled in five catches for 34 yards on the 16-play, 77-yard scoring drive.

adding up the numbers

227Before USC scored a touchdown with 5:40left in the third quarter, the Irish defense hadnot allowed a touchdown in 227 plays.

3,325 Notre Dame had not defeated USC in theirlast eight meetings, with their last victoryon Oct. 20, 2001, a span of 3,325 days.

4:58Notre Dame only held the ball for 4:58 inthe first quarter Saturday, compared toUSC’s 10:02.

10:11 Notre Dame flipped the tables in the sec-ond quarter, holding the ball for 10:11,compared to USC’s 4:49.

26Notre Dame won its 26th straight game whenoutrushing its opponent.

26 Michael Floyd registered his 26th career touch-down reception in the second quarter. He nowtrails Jeff Samarzija by one for the Irish record.

11Floyd’s 11 receptions tied his career high andranks fifth-most in school history. He has fourof the top 10 marks for receptions in a game.

10 Tommy Rees has thrown for 10 touchdownpasses this season, one short of NotreDame’s freshman record.

COLEMAN COLLINS/The Observer

Senior linebacker Brian Smith breaks up a pass during Notre Dame’s 20-16 victory over USC Saturday. Smith ended thegame with five tackles, bringing his November total to 16.

LOS ANGELES — After a 4-5 start tothe 2010 campaign, Notre Dameentered the month of November withlow prospects. Four weeks later, theyare 7-5 and bowl bound.Irish coach Brian Kelly said that itwas the adversity they faced in thefirst two months that allowed them toend the season as they have.“I would like to have some morewins on the board, but I love thedevelopment of our football team andwhere we’re going from that stand-point,” he said. “You look back to the1-3 start, and you see how we playedafter that . We think we stumbledtwice where maybe we shouldn’t havebut our kids never blinked. They keptplaying hard, they kept competing,and that’s why we are where we arein November.”No unit has faced more adversity orrisen to the occasion as spectacularlyas the defense, which has given uponly 22 points and one o f fens ivetouchdown this month.“At that point [early in the season],we were still trying to find ourselvesand see where everyone fit in,” seniorsafety Harrison Smith said. “As theseason went on, everybody startedimproving and making plays, andover time everybody has just gottencloser together and picked up their

game. It was time for us to grow andlearn from our mistakes, and we tookadvantage of that later in the year.”After giving up 37 points in a loss to

Stanford and 373rushing yards in a lossto Navy, the Ir i shdefense held both Utahand Army to threepoints each and gaveup only 80 rushingyards to a ta lentedUSC of fense .Sophomore linebackerManti Te’o said thatthe ability was therethe entire time.“ I th ink we just

learned what we coulddo,” he sa id . “Welearned our potentialand we just knew thatwe had a lot of things to improve on,and we did.”No single player realized his poten-

tial as much as senior l inebackerBrian Smith, who led the team intackles with 10 against Utah andintercepted a pass in Yankee Stadiumagainst Army. He also played a moti-vational role on the defense.“I told the team, ‘We’ve been in

these situations before and came outon the bottom. This is our time now.What a better time to do it? This isUSC, we’re up, and it’s time for us toput a stamp on this Notre Dame foot-ball squad,’” Smith said.

Another change for the Ir ish inNovember came at quarterback. Afterjunior Dayne Crist fell to a season-ending knee injury against Tulsa,

freshman Tommy Reestook over under centerand has led the Irishto three straight victo-ries. Rees said it wasthe challenges of thefirst two months thatallowed them to fightback, espec ia l lyagainst the r iva lTrojans.“We lost some tough

games early on, andwe learned to how tof ight back and keepbattling when adversi-ty h i ts ,” he sa id .“Adversi ty hi t again

tonight, but obviously we’re makinggreat strides to be able to come backagainst a great team like USC in thefourth quarter.”And while the individual efforts

have been impressive, it was the teamas a whole coming together and mak-ing positive strides that allowed theIr ish to have success down thestretch, Brian Smith said.“Everyone has just picked their

game up to make this a better team,”he said.

Notre Dame 7, USC 3Michael Floyd 1-yard pass from Tommy Rees(David Ruffer kick) with 2:39 remaining.Drive: 16 plays, 79 yards, 8:02 elapsed.

Notre Dame 13, USC 3Duval Kamara 1-yard pass from Rees (Rufferkick failed) with 0:07 remaining.Drive: 7 plays, 62 yards, 0:37 elapsed.

LOS ANGELES — NotreDame will learn of its bowldestination and opponentSunday. This week, playerswill work out but will notpractice. After the game Saturday,Irish coach Brian Kelly didnot speculate on where orwho the Irish would play in abowl. “Suffice to say I think ourkids are excited about play-ing and looking for an eighthwin,” he said. Sophomore l inebackerManti Te’o acknowledgedthat Notre Dame’s 7-5 recordwould probably take theHawaii Bowl out of the pic-

ture, but said he wasn’t dis-appointed about going some-where other than his homestate. “It doesn’t matter as long

as we have another footballgame,” Te’o said.

Victory captainsJunior receiver Michael

Floyd and senior safetyHarrison Smith were namedcaptains for the gameagainst USC, the thirdstraight game in which theywere the two captains. Floydhas been captain for fivegames this season, andSmith four.All four games under

Smith’s captaincy have beenwins, while the only losswhile Floyd was captain wasagainst Tulsa.

Catching the recordsWith his touchdown catch

in the second quarter ofSaturday’s game, Floydmoved into a second-placetie on Notre Dame’s careertouchdown receptions list.He is now even with formerIrish receiver Golden Tate at26 touchdowns, and needsone more to t ie formerreceiver Jeff Samardizija,who had 27 touchdownreceptions in his career.

Starting without the foot-ballNotre Dame won the coin

toss before the USC game butelected to defer and beginthe second half with the ball.It was the first time this sea-son the Irish did not start thegame with the football. It

meant l itt le; the Trojanswent three-and-out in theirfirst possession, and NotreDame ended its first drive ofthe second half with aninterception after just twoplays.

Trojan milestonesThe 7-3 lead Notre Dame

achieved early in the secondquarter was the first timeNotre Dame had led againstUSC since it led 31-27 late inthe game in 2005. The lasttime the Irish had given upjust three points in a half tothe Trojans was in the sec-ond half of the teams’ 1999contest, which Notre Damewon 25-24.

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERTuesday, November 30, 2010 page 3

Past adversity leads to success now

By ERIC PRISTERAssociate Sports Editor

Contact Laura Myers atlmyers2@nd.edu

By LAURA MYERSSports Writer

NDUSC

3rd100

4th73

Second quarter

Notre Dame 0, USC 3Joe Houston 45-yard field goal with 4:09remaining.Drive: 4 plays, 3 yards, 2:20 elapsed.

Third quarter

Notre Dame 13, USC 6Houston 23-yard field goal with 11:02 remaining.Drive: 7 plays, 15 yards, 2:29 elapsed.

Notre Dame 13, USC 13Mitch Mustain 1-yard run (Houston kick) with5:40 remainingDrive: 4 plays, 2 yards, 1:50 elapsed.

Total2016

scoringsummary

First quarter

statisticsPassing Yards

Rushing Yards

20-37-0

17-487-191-6

8-816-405-382-22

20-32-2

15-8911-694- -3

11-863-362-151-81-6

Rees

WoodHughesRees

FloydEifertTomaHughesRiddick

Mustain

MarcGableWoods

WoodsJohnsonEllisonHavili

receiving

rushing

passing

Contact Eric Prister at eprister@nd.edu

1st30

2nd013

Penalty Yards

Added win does not yield bowl destination

Fourth quarter

Notre Dame 13, USC 16Houston 37-yard field goal with 6:25 remaining.Drive: 7 plays, 18 yards, 4:03 elapsed.

Notre Dame 20, USC 16Robert Hughes 5-yard run (Ruffer kick) with2:23 remainingDrive: 7 plays, 77 yards, 3:55 elapsed.

Time of Possession

“I would like to havemore wins on the

board, but I love thedevelopment of ourfootball team and

where we’re going fromthat standpoint.”

Brian KellyIrish coach

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERpage 4 Tuesday, November 30, 2010

More than nine years, and eight consecutive defeats in

the series, since Notre Dame last beat USC, Brian Kelly’s

Irish managed that feat 20-16. Kelly became the first

Irish coach to win his first match-up with the Trojans

since Lou Holtz did so in 1986.

The first quarter ended with USC up 3-0, but by halftime

Notre Dame led 13-3. While a Mitch Mustain rushing

touchdown did briefly tie the game at 13-13, Irish

quarterback Tommy Rees led Notre Dame down the field

late in the fourth quarter to take the lead for good on a

five-yard Robert Hughes rushing touchdown.

Senior safety Harrison Smith sealed the game for the

Irish with an interception with 36 seconds left on the

Trojans one-yard line.

Nine yearslater

Clockwise from top: Irish coach Brian Kelly talks with quarterback Tommy Rees after one of Rees’ three interceptions; defensive linemen Ethan Johnson and Hafis Williamscelebrate a defensive stop; Bennett Jackson returns a kick; Trojan receiver Ronald Johnson drops a potential game-winning pass; tight end Tyler Eifert reaches for an extra yard.

DAN JACOBSThe Observer

COLEMAN COLLINS/The Observer

COLEMAN COLLINS/The Observer DAN JACOBS/The Observer

DAN JACOBS/The Observer