The USC Trojans totally dominated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the line of scrimmage en route to an impressive road victory in South Bend. But without Notre Dame turnovers, they might not have had a decisive victory on Saturday night. Notre Dame turned over the ball three times on their final four offensive possessions (including the pivotal Dayne Crist turnover that was returned by Jawanza Starling 80 yards for a score), and USC turned it into the two touchdowns they needed to march to victory.
Matt Barkley led the way for USC, completing 24 of 35 passes for 224 yards and three touchdown passes. He was efficient and made few mistakes in the pocket, and made the crucial touchdown throw in the 4th quarter to clinch things for USC. Robert Woods was the beneficiary of that TD throw, hauling in two scores among 12 catches for 119 yards. Marc Tyler was leading the run attack early and finished with 67 yards on the ground, and Curtis McNeal finished up with 118 yards.
USC now moves onto the next one, and it's a big one: A home date with the Pac-12 titans, the Stanford Cardinal.
To discuss the game with fans of either team, head to Conquest Chronicles (USC) or One Foot Down (Notre Dame).