Notre Dame-USC: Numbers, Turning Point, Brian Kelly & More
By The Numbers
2 Losing seasons suffered by Brian Kelly in his 26 years as a college head coach. His first year at Central Michigan in 2004 produced a 4-7 mark, and his seventh at Notre Dame resulted in a worse 4-8.
3 Teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, since the divisions were established in 1978, that still have never played a Football Champions Series opponent (formerly lower than Division 1-A): Notre Dame, USC and UCLA.
3-10 Record of Notre Dame in its last 13 true road games, or when it played in the other team’s home stadium (no neutral site). It dates back to the 28-21 loss to Pitt in November 2013. It was 0-3 this season after losing the Sept. 4 opener at Texas (50-47 in double overtime), Oct. 8 at North Carolina State (10-3) and USC in the finale. Two of the wins were 11th-hour rallies last year at Virginia (34-27) and Temple (24-20)
4 Notre Dame teams in history that lost at least eight games in one season: 1956 (2-8), 1960 (2-8), 2007 (3-9) and now 2016 (4-8).
Meanwhile, USC’s eight -game winning streak is its longest in one campaign since winning the last 10 games in 2008.
5 Opponents among the 12 on Notre Dame’s 2016 schedule that finished above .500 versus Football Bowl Subdivision foes. Each of those foes came in the second half of the season: Stanford (9-3), Miami (8-4), Navy (9-2), Virginia Tech (9-3) and now USC (9-3).
11 Games out of 12 this year where 4-8 Notre Dame scored the game’s first touchdown. The lone exception was at North Carolina State on Oct. 8, where the Wolfpack took a 3-0 lead en route to a 10-3 victory. At USC, junior quarterback DeShone Kizer’s one-yard TD run gave the Irish a 7-3 lead at the 9:51 mark of the first quarter. It was the eighth time this year Notre Dame scored on its first series, be it on offense or special teams, and it did in each of the last five.
22 Points scored by Notre Dame in the fourth quarter over the last eight games, including six on a touchdown pass from Malik Zaire to Equanimeous St. Brown with 1:05 left against USC. The Irish scored only two touchdowns in those eight games, including the meaningless one versus the Trojans, while going 3-5.
59-31 Career record of Kelly (.656 winning percentage) through seven seasons at Notre Dame. The 31 defeats are now the most by a Fighting Irish head coach, eclipsing the 100-30-2 (.765) ledger during Lou Holtz’s 11 seasons from 1986-96.
321 Rushing attempts by Notre Dame running backs this year — without losing a single fumble. The Irish lost nine fumbles this season at quarterback, receiver or special teams, but none came from second year running back coach Autry Denson’s crew, led by sophomore Josh Adams, who rushed for a career high 180 yards on 17 carries versus USC.
Turning Point
Per usual this year, Notre Dame was competitive through the first half, trailing 10-7 and taking possession at its 21 with 3:12 left until the intermission. The opening of the floodgates began with USC sacking Kizer for a 13-yard loss. Then when junior punter Tyler Newsome booted the ball from the end zone, USC game-breaker Adoree Jackson fielded it on the bounce and raced untouched for a 55-yard touchdown with 1:24 left.
Two plays later while trying to operate the two-minute drill, Kizer was intercepted by cornerback Ajene Harris, who returned the pick 33 yards for a score. In a span of 17 seconds, the score went from 10-7 to 24-7 on two non-offensive touchdowns.
Stat Of The Game
USC junior speedster/cornerback Jackson scored three touchdowns via different routes that added up to 204 yards. He became the second player in the NCAA the past 10 years to score on a punt, kickoff and reception in the same game. His 55-yard punt return extended USC’s lead to 17-7. After Notre Dame cut it to 24-14, Jackson caught his first pass of the year, a screen he took down the sidelines for a 52-yard tally. When Notre Dame pulled to within 31-21, Jackson’s 97-yard kick return was the dagger.
It’s the first time an Irish opponent scored two touchdowns on special teams since USC’s Anthony Davis two kickoff returns in a 45-23 victory in 1972. In the Orange Bowl the following game, Nebraska’s Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers scored three times on a run, once on a pass and threw a 50-yard TD during a 40-6 rout of the Irish.
Late First-Half Woes
USC’s two touchdowns in 17 seconds from 1:24 to 1:07 until the end of the first half to take a 24-7 lead was a distressing pattern for the Irish in four different defeats this season:
• In the opener, Texas went 80 yards in seven plays to score a touchdown with 1:12 left in the first half for a 21-14 edge.
• Michigan State drove 92 yards and tallied a TD with 23 seconds left for a 15-7 halftime lead.
• Duke marched 70 yards for a TD and scored with 1:22 remaining in the first half for a 28-21 advantage at the intermission.
• Virginia Tech moved 75 yards and produced a TD with 1:18 left to slice its halftime deficit to 24-14, and it gave it momentum in its eventual 34-31 victory.
Brian Kelly On Plans To Return In 2017
“Oh yeah, absolutely. I’ll be back. (Football media relations director) Mike Bertsch had brought it up. I guess there was some discussion as to why I’m coming back early. I don’t believe I’m coming back early because I’m getting fired. Jack [Swarbrick] and I always meet at the end of the year.
“I want to do some exit interviews with our players because I haven’t been able to do that because I stay on the West Coast for the whole weekend. Then we get into bowl practice. Well, obviously we don’t have bowl practice, and then they go into exams. So I’m going to use next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to do exit interviews so I can spend a little time and get some feedback from our players in terms of some of the things that we may need to adjust within our program.”