TROJANS WIN EIGHTH STRAIGHT OVER IRISH

The USC Trojans won their eighth straight game versus Notre Dame on Saturday, but not before withstanding a furious Irish rally in the fourth quarter.  The Trojans led 34-14 early in the fourth before Notre Dame scored the final 13 points to make the score respectable.  Eventually, Southern Cal would escape with a 34-27 victory and improve their record on the season to 5-1 while Notre Dame dropped to 4-2.

The late game rally by the Irish did snatch victory against the spread from the jaws of defeat, much to the pleasure of pcollege football pointspread bettors who backed Notre Dame as +10 home underdogs.  USC dropped to 2-3 against the spread in their lined games, while Notre Dame covered for only the second time this season in their lined contests (2-4 ATS).  The 61 points scored went OVER the posted total of 50’—only the second time this season Southern Cal has exceeded the total.  Notre Dame evened their college football totals record at 3-3.

Afterwards, Irish coach Charlie Weis praised his team’s tenacity:

"I think anyone that doesn't realize the fight that's in the Fighting Irish is missing the boat. It's evident if you watch the last five games. Every week it's the same thing. This team's a bunch of fighters. I'm proud of the fight. I'm disappointed with the loss, it's never OK to lose. But they're a bunch of fighters."

"If you would have told me before the game, hey you can have the ball on the 5-yard line with a chance to tie it or win, I probably would have taken that. I'm really disappointed for those guys in there because they're fighters.”

Trojans’ linebacker  Chris Galippo said it was a very challenging game:

"They just kept getting second chance after second chance after second chance, and penalties. We would rip the ball straight our of their hands, but they fell on it. This seems to be a theme for our season, these close games. But our defense came through there."

USC head coach Pete Carroll expressed his pride in his team’s winning streak over the Irish:

"We hope to keep this thing going. It's a big deal to us. It's special. So we've got to hang onto it next time around when they come to our place. We have to get after it and see if we can keep the thing going. Because it's very special for the SC family to continue to be on top of this rivalry."

USC will host Oregon State next weekend before traveling to the Pacific Northwest to play the University of Oregon on October 31.  They’ll return home to face Arizona State the following weekend.  Notre Dame will play at home the next three Saturdays, hosting Boston College, Washington State and Navy.