Yes, that is a twist on the title of Eric’s USC Review from this past weekend. I suppose it’s fitting that ten years after the Irish nearly took down a top-10 USC team in South Bend, the Trojans nearly did the same to ND last Saturday. This week’s edition of Charlie Weis’ Last Stand will cover the 2009 clash, which also featured a beleaguered coach trying to save his job with a win.

The Nemesis

No opposing coach will ever own Notre Dame as much as Pete Carroll did in the 2000s. Following a loss to Bob Davie’s last squad, Carroll and USC mercilessly destroyed the next seven Irish teams by an average score of 41-14. Keep in mind, that’s with the infamous Bush Push game included. The last two affairs were particularly gruesome, with USC winning by a combined score of 76-3. In the pathetic 2008 regular season finale in the Coliseum, the Irish offense gained a grand total of 91 yards and got their first first down on the last play of the third quarter.

In 2009, USC seemed on track for another national title run especially after beating Ohio State in Columbus. However, 5-star phenom Matt Barkley was injured against the Buckeyes and missed a disastrous loss to Washington the week after. However, the Trojans rallied to win two straight and came into South Bend as 10-point favorites and their title-dreams still intact.

The Irish were coming off a bye week and had to figure out how to finally beat the Trojans. USC’s defense was led by the fearsome Taylor Mays whom everyone considered a surefire future Pro Bowler. After such a humiliating stretch of games against the Trojans, Charlie Weis would have one last chance to finally beat the nemesis.

Game Highlights

*If you would like to watch the game in its entirety, click here. If you want DownInTheBend’s condensed games from the 2009 season, you can find those here.

Some Thoughts

  • It was a serious “Here we go again” moment when USC scored in effortless fashion on their first possession. The Irish responded with their first touchdown against the Trojans since 2006, and this was a game from that point forward.
  • Notre Dame’s offense clearly labored at times in this game, but came alive in the second half. USC hadn’t allowed a passing touchdown to that point in the season, yet the Clausen-to-Tate connection produced two highlight reel scores to bring the Irish back from the brink.
  • There was a ton of hand-wringing about Charlie Weis’ fake field goal being illegal, but I thought it was awesome. Here’s another view.
  • The defense was torched… again. Barkley had the best game of his freshman year in throwing for 380 yards on just 29 attempts. Tight end Anthony McCoy had 153 yards receiving on an insane 30.6 yards per catch. Despite holding the Trojan run game mostly in check, Allen Bradford and Joe McKnight (RIP) broke about 50 tackles to help USC stake out its big lead.
  • This was the Robby Parris game. The senior receiver had 9 catches for 92 yards including an clutch 4th down conversion on ND’s final drive where he was also injured. We all thought he was done for the year by the way he reacted, but Parris miraculously came back the following week.
  • Kyle Rudolph’s improbable non-catch with four seconds left is just sooooo close to being a touchdown. Rudolph was so good in his limited time at ND and he really deserved a special moment like scoring a huge touchdown against SC.
  • The amount of in-game hype around Taylor Mays made it feel so good when Tate burned him twice for touchdowns. It’s probably good that he’s not around in the era of targeting and increased scrutiny around concussions.
  • Despite another loss to USC, it was obvious that the Irish had closed the talent gap between the two programs. A couple of examples: ND’s offensive line only gave up one sack while you could definitely tell that a guy like Manti Te’o would start for the Trojans.

Almost a Game for the Ages

This did feel like a moral victory at the time. USC was poised to pour it on the Irish when the score was 34-14, but Clausen and Co. finally solved the Trojans defense to make things close. On two second half plays, Golden Tate bore the brunt of big hits from Mays yet scored nonetheless. And despite being on hte ropes once again, the Irish defense managed to avoid a TKO and give the offense a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter.

It really felt like the Irish were going to pull it off on the last possession. Everything seemed to mirror the 2005 game, from the 4th down conversion, to Rudolph’s controversial no-catch and then time being put back on the clock for one final play. Yet, life is unfair which meant that USC once again beat Notre Dame. Weis coached a good game, but missed out at what would’ve been an enormous win.

As fate would have it, USC would lose four games that year (as many as the previous three years combined) and this contest would mark the last time the Trojans had title aspirations under Pete Carroll. Notre Dame’s greatest enemy in modern times left USC with an 8-1 record against the Irish, outlasting three ND coaches while turning Southern Cal into a superpower. His absence is not missed.

In re-watching the final drive, I couldn’t help but be reminded of some of the similar opportunities ND has had over the past 10 years. Whether it was the final drive against defending champ FSU in 2014, the Clemson monsoon game, or just a few weeks ago in Athens, the chances to pull off an epic win have been there for the Irish. What was missing in 2009 is still missing ten years later: finishing.

However, the seeds for ND wresting back control of the Jeweled Shillelagh were planted in this game. The Irish finally landed some punches against the Trojans after a decade of mostly toothless performances against SC. And as we saw last weekend, a lot has changed in LA and South Bend over the past decade. You can trace some of that back to this game where ND looked like USC’s equal for most of the contest.

There would be little reprieve for Weis and the Irish. Boston College was incoming and looking to extend a six-game winning streak over ND. Despite losing an eighth straight time to Southern Cal, the Irish would get an opportunity to stop at least one embarrassing streak to a rival the following week.

Other Things that Happened that Week

  • Brian Kelly and Cincinnati beat #21 USF on the road despite playing a backup quarterback in Zach Collaros. I guess that guy has experience dealing with turnover at that position.
  • Sam Bradford was lost for the year a Red River Rivalry loss and Texas continued a relatively unimpressive march towards the BCS title game.
  • Mark Ingram had his ‘Heisman performance’ against South Carolina which accounted for nearly 20% of his total rushing yards on the year. He was perhaps the weakest Heisman winner of the past two decades.
  • #4 Virginia Tech lost at Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson’s squad began its run towards an ACC title.
  • #15 Nebraska suffered a bizarre blowout loss at home to Texas Tech in which the Red Raiders only gained 259 yards. Nebraska was now 4-2 with both losses coming to teams it had out-gained and held under 280 yards.