For Johnson, Numbers Don’t Add Up : Trojans: USC quarterback throws for personal bests in passes, completions and yardage, but he would gladly trade his statistics for a victory.

USC Coach Larry Smith sensed that Trojan quarterback Rob Johnson would play well against Notre Dame because Johnson was extremely accurate as the Trojans began preparations for their regular-season ending game against the Irish.

“At the beginning of the week, I saw that he was really sharp in his passing,” Smith said. “It seemed like he was on target.”

Against the No. 5 Irish, Johnson completed 27 of 41 passes for 302 yards, all personal highs, with one touchdown and one interception in the Trojans’ 31-23 loss Saturday night before 90,063 at the Coliseum.

Johnson outplayed Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer, who completed only five of 14 passes for 75 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. But Johnson was far from satisfied.

“It really doesn’t matter how you play as long as the team wins,” Johnson said. “Rick Mirer didn’t have to throw the ball much this game, but he’s just as happy as if he’d thrown for 200 yards. The win is the most important thing. I’d rather have thrown for 50 yards and won.”

Although Johnson played an outstanding game, he was frustrated after Notre Dame held off a fourth-quarter rally to extend its winning streak to 10 games against the Trojans.

“This is my first loss to Notre Dame, but one is just as frustrating as 10 for me,” Johnson said. “I’m pretty bitter. I can’t wait until next year back there.”

In last week’s 38-37 loss to UCLA, Johnson failed to hit tight end Yonnie Jackson on a two-point conversion pass with 41 seconds left that would have pulled out a victory at the Rose Bowl. Saturday, he was in position to salvage a tie against Notre Dame.

With USC trailing by eight points after Notre Dame fullback Jerome Bettis scored on an eight-yard run with 6:58 remaining in the game, Johnson drove the Trojans from their 20 to the Notre Dame five with 25 seconds left. He completed five of six passes for 70 yards, including a 41-yard play to Travis Hannah.

But Johnson was sacked for a seven-yard loss by defensive end Devon McDonald on first down.

“We had (wide receiver) Larry Wallace coming underneath on an under route and he was open, but we had to snap the ball because (the play) clock was running down and none of the line heard the cadence to go so they were all standing still,” Johnson said. “That was one of those sacks you can’t control.”

The Trojans’ comeback bid ended on the next play. Irish cornerback Tom Carter intercepted Johnson’s pass intended for wide receiver Johnnie Morton, who had nine catches for a personal-best 91 yards, in the left corner of the end zone to hand the Trojans their third loss in the last four games.

“It was a bad decision,” Johnson said of the interception, his first in the last three games. “I should have thrown it away. I wanted to give Johnnie the chance one-on-one, but (Carter) fell back on it.

“Losing this week was tough, but last week was definitely tougher because we had a chance to win the Pac-10 title. It’s terrible, but we’ve got to come back and play in a bowl game. It’ll probably take us at least a good week to get it out of our system.”

After completing 12 of 18 passes for 142 yards in the first half, Johnson completed his first seven passes of the second half, including an 18-yard touchdown pass to tailback Estrus Crayton that trimmed Notre Dame’s lead to 24-23 with 3:05 remaining in the third quarter.

But Johnson also took a beating as Notre Dame sacked him six times for 33 yards in the second half. Although he had trouble getting up after a few hits, Johnson kept returning for more.

“We had guys out there playing with torn-up knees and busted shoulders,” Johnson said. “I can take a couple of hits. I thought our offensive line did an excellent job.”

Johnson, whose touchdown pass to Crayton was his first in the last five games, probably should have had another touchdown, but wide receiver Curtis Conway, who was weakened by flu, dropped a pass at the goal line in the second quarter.

“It was lack of concentration,” Conway said. “Rob threw a perfect pass, but I took my eye off the ball. He had some pressure, but he put the ball right where we wanted it.”

Morton agreed.

“I think he had a career day,” Morton said of Johnson. “I just had to mess it up at the end. He was putting the ball on the money, but I had a couple drops. He played one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen him play. He was making all the right checks and hitting all the open guys.”

Crayton, who ran for 140 yards in last week’s loss to UCLA, was held out of the starting lineup because he was late for meeting last Monday at 6:30 a.m. “My alarm didn’t go off and it was 8 when I woke up,” Crayton said.

USC wore jerseys styled after their jerseys of the 1960s to salute the 100th year of Trojan football. “We were trying to bring back some of the old tradition,” Smith said. “It was a neat jersey anyway.”