Quinn still can’t find a way

The 93 touchdown passes, 11,614 yards and innumerable Heisman Trophy candidate mentions -- Brady Quinn would have traded it all Saturday evening for one victory over USC.

Beating the Trojans was about the only thing the Notre Dame senior quarterback needed to complete an otherwise illustrious career.

But there was Quinn about an hour after USC polished off its 44-24 victory at the Coliseum, emerging glumly from the Fighting Irish locker room to answer more questions about how he couldn’t guide his team to a victory that would have catapulted it back into the national-title discussion.

Quinn acknowledged that he didn’t perform worthy of Heisman consideration for much of the game. Even so, the Trojans provided multiple openings after Quinn had struggled in the early going.

Trailing, 21-3, early in the second quarter, Notre Dame blocked a punt and intercepted two consecutive passes by Trojans quarterback John David Booty. But the Fighting Irish converted the miscues into only seven points.

Quinn was only partly to blame. On the play after the blocked punt, he completed a seven-yard touchdown pass to tight end Marcus Freeman that made it 21-10. And on Notre Dame’s next possession, Quinn perfectly threaded a fourth-down pass in first-down territory to receiver Rhema McKnight, who dropped the ball.

“I truly believed we were going to come away with a win, but we didn’t make enough plays,” said Quinn, who made his share while completing 22 of 45 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

After Booty’s second interception, Quinn faced another fourth down. He threw a pass to receiver Jeff Samardzija out of the back of the end zone and the ball went back to the Trojans, who would not crack the door for the Irish again.

“It was definitely a turning point,” said McKnight, a former La Palma Kennedy High standout who had six catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. “We didn’t make the plays we needed to make. I had a few crucial drops early in the game.”

There were other botched opportunities.

A 60-yard scramble by Quinn early in the second quarter -- the longest run for Notre Dame and the longest run against USC this season -- helped the Irish move the ball to the Trojans’ three-yard line, where they had a first-and-goal opportunity.

But on the next play, Trojans linebacker Keith Rivers stripped the ball from Notre Dame running back Darius Walker, and USC defensive tackle Fili Moala recovered the fumble.

“He didn’t get a lot of help, especially early on,” Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis said of Quinn. “He was far from perfect, but hey, I was far from perfect too.”

Quinn’s first pass of the game was a 38-yard completion to McKnight along the sideline, but the Irish drive ended when Quinn’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete. Quinn appeared to have running room on the play, but he opted to pass and overthrew McKnight.

“We just needed to be more solid at finishing drives,” Samardzija said. “Seven points is a lot different than three or zero.”

Notre Dame converted only two of six fourth-down attempts en route to its second loss.

“There were times I missed passes and didn’t do my job,” Quinn said. “We didn’t make enough plays as a team.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com