Notre Dame, Ind (UHND.com) — The oldest cliché in football is that it is a game of inches and Saturday’s showdown between Notre Dame and USC proved this age old saying once again. The game lived up to all the hype and was all that any college football fan could ask for, but in the end Southern Cal was just a few inches better and left the Irish faithful with a lot of “what-ifs.”
Facing a 4th and 8 deep in their own territory, Southern Cal’s chances were looking grim. Ambrose Wooden covered Dwayne Jarrett well on a fade route and was in excellent position but a perfect throw from Matt Leinart was just an inch out of Wooden’s reach. If Wooden knocks that pass down the game ends and the Irish win.
Jarrett however caught the ball in stride however and raced 60 yards into Notre Dame territory to set up the game winning drive.
We saw that this was a game of inches shortly after in a heartbreaking sequence that gave Southern Cal a win. With 17 seconds remaining Matt Leinart dropped back to pass but couldn’t find anyone so he took off. As he approached the goal line he took a shot that knocked the ball out of his hands.
Unfortunately for the Irish the ball went out of bounds at the 1. Had the ball went out a few inches downfield and went into the end zone and the game would have been over with a touchback. Or knock Leinart down in bounds without fumbling and the game is also likely over.
Even after USC got the ball inside the 1 yard line with 7 seconds remaining after the Leinart fumble, the Trojans again were just inches better than the Irish as Matt Leinart needed the assistance of Reggie Bush to get over the goal line. Nevermind the fact that what Bush did is technically ILLEGAL, but the Irish had Leinart stopped at first but couldn’t keep him out with second effort and Bush’s help.
An unbiased college football fan could have come away from this game with some sort of satisfaction since it truly was an instant classic. However, for Irish fans it was a heart wrenching experience knowing that Notre Dame came up just a few inches short of pulling off the upset of the year.
Fans can complain about the referees all they want, but when it came down to it the refs did not give USC the game. Yeah, Bush can’t push another player in the end zone, but good luck getting that call with any officiating crew. This game came down to that 4th and 8 when Notre Dame had USC backed up against the wall.
Even if Notre Dame gave up the 4th and 8 it still would have been a tough task for USC to get in the end zone had the Irish not surrendered 60 yards on that play. A 12 or 13 yard completion would have given the Trojans a first down, but they had no timeouts at that point and would have had to make a few more plays to get close to the end zone.
The Irish will have to wait another year to get some revenge on USC, but it is nice to know that the Trojans were just a few inches better than Notre Dame today instead of oh I don’t know — 31 points better.
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