It was important Notre Dame won tonight’s game for a lot of reasons, but a statement of intent for the program was in order. Play USC, beat USC, and beat USC playing the kind of football they refuse to play.

Notre Dame eventually stopped screwing around and beat the Trojans into submission Saturday, 34-24, leaving a five-game November run of teams that can’t match the Irish’s talent with a CFP berth the likely reward if they navigate it.

Important because we don’t know when this will happen again

NBC mentioned twice, I think, that this is the last scheduled meeting for Notre Dame and USC. Of course NBC employees aren’t going to bite either hand that feeds them, so they danced around the reasons this game isn’t continuing (the reasons in a nutshell: USC is too busy losing to Minnesota and Maryland to play actual good teams from the Midwest anymore unless they can make TV money on both the home and road games).

I couldn’t help but notice that of the six games Todd Blackledge deems above all others in this sport, USC/ND was the only one that isn’t a conference game. Of course, that’s the reason it’s the only one of the six in danger; the conferences have more or less decided that unless they can make TV money on every game they play, they don’t want to play them. The B1G doesn’t make money on Notre Dame home games, so here we are.

OK, off my soapbox about that for a second and back to the game.

Important because Notre Dame almost beat itself

Marcus Freeman talks a lot about not letting Notre Dame beat Notre Dame. The Irish were testing the limits of that theory yet again for much of the first three quarters, stubbornly refusing to take control of the game. CJ Carr threw the worst pass of his ND career and looked wobbly. The Irish secondary couldn’t stop being whistled for penalties, both legitimate and otherwise. Three different times ND had golden chances to go up double digits and farted all over themselves with miscues instead.

Luckily, though it took too long, Mike Denbrock remembered that he has the best RB tandem in the country on his team and that they were ripping off chunks of yardage at an elite rate – nearly 10 yards per carry in the first half. Once he started feeding them, the results were impressive. Jeremiyah Love ran for a career-high 228 yards, setting an ND record for rushing yards in a USC game and breaking into the top five ND rushing games all-time. He’s an undeniable, amazing, awesome talent.

Did you see him lay blocks with glee and abandon on CJ Carr’s short TD run, too? Team guy.

Also, Jadarian Price is a certified dude too. His kickoff return to the house after USC’s PI-aided touchdown drive was a massive factor in turning the game back in ND’s favor.

I think my favorite sequence of the game was the fourth-and-inches stop by Notre Dame (on a classic Lincoln Riley goofy play call), followed a few plays later by JD Price powering for 8 yards on third-and-8. Couldn’t sum up the difference between the two programs much more succinctly than that.

So, certain stud running backs who might have been on campus for the game…whaddya think?

And speaking of goofy Lincoln Riley play calls

How about calling an end around WR pass play in a monsoon? I think even the monsoon play calling maestro Brian Kelly would’ve considered that too much.

It was a call that allowed the Trojans to trump ND in the ‘desperately trying to lose the game’ department after the Irish missed a field goal (what is going on with this kicker business) and failed to cash in an interception by Christian Gray.

I didn’t follow Riley all that closely before he got to USC, beyond knowing of his offensive reputation and seeing his OU quarterbacks win Heisman after Heisman. But what a snake oil salesman this guy is looking like right now. At one point Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge were discussing the 2022 USC team that went 11-2 being one that was ahead of schedule and that Riley had said the Trojans had to learn to “win games like this,” presumably meaning tough games like the ND game.

No way to learn about winning games like this than cancelling games like this, eh?

Important because Notre Dame showed resilience

ND has had to learn a lot about resilience over the last 14 months, between Northern Illinois and a seemingly unprecedented run of bad injury luck in 2024 to Miami, A&M and a slightly less insane but not much less annoying run of bad injury luck in 2025. Jaden Greathouse missed the game again. DeVonta Smith can’t stay on the field. Billy Schrauth left the game twice and the second time looked quite bad. Christian Gray’s raw animal flagnetism is undeniable, to the point where he was penalized for playing defense a couple of times.

But Dallas Golden stepped in and made a key pass breakup in the end zone. Sullivan Absher held up well enough for the Irish’s purposes. Gray made a pick and broke up a couple of passes besides.

One thing that cannot be denied is that at least one program on the field Saturday night is tough as crap.

So there you are. The Jeweled Shillelagh is in South Bend indefinitely. The Irish need to stay focused through Thanksgiving weekend to hopefully secure another playoff spot. And this team proved its bona fides (as well as some flaws) on a stage that demanded it.

This one feels sweet. We’ve got 2 weeks to enjoy it. Cheeseburgers ahead!