For those fretting over how this win looked today, here are a few things to consider..
•USC led during the 4th quarter of every game they played this year, until today
•4 of USC's 5 previous losses were on the road
•USC's largest loss of the season, prior to today, was by 7 points on the road
•USC's only home loss, prior to today, was by 3 points to Penn State in Over Time
•Of our 11 wins, 7 of them are vs bowl eligible teams and USC was the 8th opponent that we handed their worst loss of the season
•Bonus Stat for those who think ND doesn't 'look like' a Top 5 team...Notre Dame is the ONLY team in FBS that ranks in the Top 5 for both Scoring Defense and Points Scored
Go Irish!
Replies to: For those fretting over how this win looked today, here are a few things to consider..
Yep, great post
Thought the team looked physically tired as well but still dug deep and manufactured energy. The rest and health will be huge moving forward.
If Love doesn’t go out, I don’t think the offense stalls the last few possessions either and the game looks a little uglier.
You can dog in Lincoln Riley all you want, but he’s a top 3 play caller in college football who has talent all over the field.
ND was confused by their alignments and shifts. Gray gets a lot of heat, but there were a lot of coverage busts due to confusion pre snap.
This is a better win than most will give credit too but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. ND is hosting a playoff game and hopefully they get a good draw.
Fretting? Ecstatic. Great rivalry win over a talented team when it mattered. They earned it.
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concerned how ND’s defense was exposed, and the OL didn’t look great in pass pro. Some things to
clean ip for the playoffs.
Pass pro ? Was Riley sacked?
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Twice
Also, there were several pressures.
It wasn't the best performance by the line last night, but for a patchwork line featuring several second stringers forced into action, along with a lot of youth, I have to tip my cap to Coach Rudolph for getting that unit to play well all year long.
You forgot the most important thing to consider.
Fuck USC.
Thought that was obligatory.
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Very true. We kicked a good team’s ass.
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We kicked a good team’s ass but we still can't kick a chip shot FG.
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Re: Very true. We kicked a good team’s ass.
Great points! As a 7-year old, I attended my first ND game in 1953 at the LA Colisem which was Leahy's last team and the Irish won 42-14. I followed ND religously through the Brennan-Kuharic-Devore years by listening to the games on radio, reading about them in Scholastic magazine and following Lindsey Nelson's Sunday night Irish highlight show. The next ND-SC game I attended was 1964 - Ara's fist year - when SC beat us in the last minute 20-17 to steal a National Championship from us. It took me 10 years to venture back to the LA Coliseum in 1974 for the 55-24 debacle. It was so difficult being an ND fan in LA, I started attending ND-SC games in South Bend. I waited to attend a ND-SC again at the LA Coliseum game in 2014 when SC beat us 49-14. I am now 78 years old and watching the game yesterday finally cured me of my LA Coliseum phobia. God willing, I will attend the game in 2026 because of the Irish beat down yesterday! Thank you Coach Freeman and the 2024 Irish team!!
I'm right with you jetman !!! Feels great
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