Who would have thought that Notre Dame would play for a National Championship before the season? Looking at the rivalry between USC and Notre Dame, all the attention was on USC. They were #1 and the Irish were unranked.
It is amazing how things changed over the season. USC still could have spoiled Notre Dame's plans with a win, but the Irish weren't having it.They got off to a 10-0 nothing lead off the strength of a Theo Riddick 9 yard touchdown run. Riddick had a nice all around game by gaining 146 yards on the ground and catching 3 passes for 33 yards.
Everett Golson continued to show growth at quarterback. He distributed the ball around nicely to Riddick, Tyler Eifert, Robby Toma, TJ Jones, among others.
Kyle Brindza had a great night by hitting 5 of 6 field goals including a career long 52 yarder.
The Irish just dominated the time of possession once again by having the ball about 10 minutes more than USC. Although the offense did only manage one touchdown, they scored on six drives thanks to Brindza.
Defensively was more of the same. Manti Te'o got another interception. Notre Dame once again showed how tough they are in the red zone by posting two very impressive goal line stands. With star quarterback Matt Barkley injured, redshirt freshman Max Wittek was thrown into a tough spot against the nation's best defense. He started out doing pretty good by throwing an early touchdown to Robert Woods. However, her learned like so many quarterbacks before him that Notre Dame gets tougher on defense as the game progress.
Wittek went on to throw two interceptions and was under constant pressure in the second half. He was unable to get them in the end zone again.
Although the score seemed close, those watching the game never got the sense Notre Dame would lose. They have been there too many times this year.
Already being #1, the Irish have clinched their spot in the BCS title game and they await the winner of Alabama and Georgia in the SEC Championship.
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