USC at Notre Dame
FanNation tells us that the rivalry between USC and Notre Dame dates all the way back to 1926 and is the longest intersectional college football rivalry in the country with the 92nd meeting having taken place this past Saturday in South Bend. Since it started the two teams have met every year except for three during World War II and last year due to COVID-19. Prior to Saturday the series was 49-36 favoring the Fighting Irish plus five ties. The winner of the match gets possession of the Jeweled Shillelagh, a Gaelic war club made of blackthorn saplings from Ireland with ruby-adorned Trojan heads with the year and score for USC wins and emerald-studded shamrocks representing Notre Dame wins. The Fighting Irish had a three game winning streak prior to the game Saturday.
Make that a four game win streak and 10 years since the Trojans have beaten Notre Dame in South Bend. They never had a chance in this one, managing only three points through the first three quarters—finally putting up a rally in the fourth that was too little too late to make up for a 28 point deficit, falling to the Fighting Irish 31-16. QB Kedon Slovis connected on 27-of-37 for 299 yards, no TD’s, and one interception with 171 of those yards collected by Junior WR Drake London on just 15 receptions. Senior RB Keaontay Ingram kicked in 138 yards on 24 attempts and one of the two Trojan rushing TD’s. They missed one of two extra points but picked up three more on a field goal. USC did very little on the defensive side to shut the Fighting Irish down as they scored at least a TD in every quarter.
Notre Dame Senior QB Jack Coan connected on 27-of-37 for 189 yards of their total 213 in the air, 1 TD, and 1 pick that led to a USC score early in the 4th Qtr. Sophomore RB Kyren Williams matched his Trojan counterpart in yards at 138 on 25 carries but picked up one more TD with Freshman QB Tyler Buchner picking up the other on one of his only two snaps in the game. On the day Notre Dame rushed 41 times for 170 yards and 3 TD’s. Other than the one interception, the Fighting had no other turnovers in the game while USC had a couple of fumbles, one lost with less than three minutes left in the game on the end of a six play drive that actually netted the Trojans a minus 2 yards. Notre Dame ran out the clock from there.
USC now sits alone at 4th place in the PAC-12 South with a combined record of 3-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play. They have an easy game this next Saturday at home against an Arizona team desperate to put their losing streak behind them. After that its two games on the road against Arizona State and Cal, one of which they will probably lose, before coming back home for good to host their cross town rival UCLA in the coliseum before ending their season against No. 25 BYU on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
BYU at Washington State
BYU took to the road to take on Washington State this past Saturday in Pullman. This was a Washington State team whose head coach Nick Rolovich and four assistants had been fired the previous Monday for not complying with the governor’s mandate requiring vaccination of all state employees Jake Dickert, the Cougar’s defensive coordinator, was elevated to the position of head coach for the remainder of the year. As it turned out, BYU was lucky to get out of the Palouse with a very narrow 21-19 win in a game that would have gone into overtime if not for two failed extra point attempts.
Cougar Sophomore QB Jayden De Laura had no problem connecting with six different receivers for 257 yards in the air but couldn’t translate the passing game into points which they left to their talented Senior RB Max Borghi who was responsible for all three of Washington State’s TD’s and all but 10 of their 93 rushing yards. De Laura’s counterpart, Sophomore QB Jaren Hall, never got into the end zone either and didn’t come close to his total in the air with only 147 yards. But BYU had it going on the ground, rushing 48 times for 238 yards with Sophomore RB Tyler Allgeier picking up 191 of those and 2 of their 3 rushing TD’s.
The game was close all the way, tied at the end of the 1st and 2nd Qtrs with BYU only up by a single point at the end of three. Those three TD’s by RB Max Borghi game him a career total of 37—tied for second in school history. Senior LB Jahad Woods gets the defensive game ball for giving his team a great chance to win with 16 tackles, 9 solo, and 1 tackle for loss. Head Coach Dickert was gracious in defeat, praising his team for their heart, effort, and commitment, and his staff for coming together. Asked what it was like to final become a head coach he replied; “I’ll never forget it, it was a dream come true.” Let’s home his dream does not become a nightmare with a couple of very tough road games coming up next against Arizona State and Oregon then back home to host the Wildcats before closing out at Husky Stadium the Friday after Thanksgiving in the Apple Cup.