Instant Reaction | Notre Dame 24 USC 17

If you’re looking for a harsh critique, you’ve come to the wrong place. Come back for the Rewatch Notes. You’ll get plenty then.

This reaction is going to be about a team that overcame a horrible start to get a big win. A team that won when not playing their best. A team that went 12-0 and is headed to the College Football Playoff. It wasn’t pretty, but this one didn’t need to be.

It just needed to happen and Notre Dame got it done. They’ll have time to clean everything up over the next month before they get ready to play the first ever Playoff game.

For now, let this one sink in. Breathe easier after winning when three top-8 teams couldn’t this weekend. This staff and these players deserve to enjoy the win as it’s the end of something great and the start of something that can be better.

- Michigan lost today. They didn’t just lose, they got smoked. Clemson gave up 600 yards of total offense. The two best defenses in the country according to S&P+ were not very good today. Neither was the third ranked Irish defense for a half.

In the first quarter JT Daniels was 16 of 17. In the second quarter he was 10 of 14. The Irish played off man early and didn’t want to give up the big play. Daniels exploited them in a way that he had not done all year. He deserves a ton of credit for coming to play.

Clay Helton did an outstanding job with his game plan and Daniels was almost flawless throwing several RPOs while moving the ball up and down the field. But for all of that, they only came away with 10 points.

The Irish clamped down in the red zone and got turnovers when they needed them. Daniels didn’t get anything going in the second half until the final drive of the game. The Irish played more zone, mixed in dropping eight into coverage, and also started blitzing more while taking away Amon-ra St. Brown.

In hindsight I’m sure Clark Lea would have changed a lot of things, but he changed enough in a game that is four quarters, not one, and the Irish got the job done.

- It was not a great day for Mike Elston’s defensive line. I think the footing had something to do with it as I saw numerous times they were slipping on a field that was in terrible condition. They weren’t getting penetration and when they did, like Jerry Tillery on a big 3rd and short play, they didn’t finish the play.

Then they came up with two massive sacks in the fourth quarter. Julian Okwara finally hit home and a 3rd down blitz from Te’von Coney forced Daniels to step right into Tillery.

Again, it was not pretty. They did get it done when it mattered, though.

- This was the best game I saw from USC wide receiver Tyler Vaughns. He was brilliant in this game with several amazing catches. Michael Pittman was a tough matchup all game long. Amon-ra St. Brown showed exactly how annoying he will be against Notre Dame over the next three years.

Those guys all had big games and Notre Dame still won the game. I wouldn’t have predicted that that would have been the outcome if I knew how all three would play.

- SC had to have blitzed on ⅔ of the snaps tonight. They went for broke and it definitely had an impact on Ian Book’s play. Even though the line did a good job of picking up the blitz the majority of the time, it still seemed to have an impact on Book.

He was not at his best. That one missed touchdown on the slant and go to Chris Finke is a throw he has seemed to make in the second half of games all season. That pick he threw when they were in field goal range was almost shocking because he just hasn’t done things like that late in games.

Two plays sum up why he still played winning football. They were both 3rd down runs.

One where he ran through a tackle to get the line to gain on a scramble and the second on a quarterback draw where he hopped over a tackle attempt before moving the sticks.

USC forced Notre Dame to throw and while Book wasn’t on like he has been in other games, he threw for 352 yards. His B- game was one where he threw for 352.

He is a baller. No doubt about it.

- I thought Chip Long called an exceptional game. Maybe I’ll feel differently looking at it closer and I’m sure he could have been better in some areas, but there was so much to like from what he called.

He took advantage of Chris Finke versus nickel back Jonathan Lockett repeatedly to score that first touchdown drive. He dialed up plenty of screens that resulted in big plays when Notre Dame was in desperate need of them. T

he two 50 yard plus touchdowns to Dexter Williams and Tony Jones Jr. were both fantastic calls at the right moment too. The first was a great use of misdirection with a counter trey look going the other way. The second took advantage of the blitz with Jones leaking out for the clinching score.

The offense only ran 9 plays in the first quarter. They got the job done from that point on with Long being the biggest influence behind it.

- There are a lot of things to nitpick in this game with the decision making by the coaches or mistakes by the players. They can correct those things going forward. They’ll have time to watch the film and figure it all out.

What matters is that they got the job done after being down 10 points for the first time all season. They responded again like they have all year. Brian Kelly is now 6-3 against USC and he just went 12-0 for the second time at Notre Dame.

Congratulations to him, the staff, the players, and everyone who put in the work to get to this point. No one at the beginning of the season thought they could do it. They proved us all wrong.