Irish Still Have That Winning Personality : USC: Notre Dame rolls to 28-7 halftime lead en route to 31-13 victory, its 11th in a row over Trojans.

Notre Dame scored every time it had the ball in the first half, played USC roughly even in the second half and beat the Trojans easily Saturday, 31-13.

And when it was over, after the Irish winning streak over USC had reached 11, USC Coach John Robinson could only state the obvious.

“They were big and powerful, that’s the Notre Dame personality, and we didn’t match up well with them,” he said.

And how.

Notre Dame scored on a 70-yard run on the game’s second play, then put together drives of 67 and 80 yards for a 21-0 lead before USC scored. The Irish went 60 yards in five plays for a fourth first-half touchdown.

The Trojans, who had won two in a row, dropped to 4-4. Second-ranked Notre Dame is 8-0.

Statistically, USC junior quarterback Rob Johnson had his biggest day--29 completions in 46 attempts--but it didn’t matter much, not in a game decided before halftime, when Notre Damehad a 28-7 lead.

Notre Dame’s big, agile offensive line, led by 6-foot-4, 299-pound Aaron Taylor, dominated the line of scrimmage early. As USC cornerback Jason Sehorn put it: “They came off the line full speed, and some of those holes in our line in the first half were huge.”

USC senior Brad Banta called it an afternoon of frustration.

“It was tough--we could drive it up and down the field on them, but we couldn’t stick it in the end zone,” he said.

“It was bend-but-don’t-break defense, they let us nickel-and-dime them all day.”

By contrast, Notre Dame’s running game simply flattened USC.

The Irish had 305 rushing yards when it ended, to USC’s 69.

USC’s Johnnie Morton, who came into the game with nine touchdown catches, caught six passes for 109 yards--most when it didn’t matter in the closing minutes--and no touchdowns.

Afterward, Robinson seemed to yearn for future seasons when he said: “We don’t have the kind of team that can play with that kind of big, powerful team right now.”

To compound the defeat--the most one-sided in the series since a 37-3 Irish victory in 1985--the Trojans lost another lineman. Nose tackle Mike Hinz suffered a dislocated right elbow in the second quarter and is finished for the season.

On a cloudless, crisp afternoon (63 degrees at kickoff), Notre Dame’s Lee Becton brought a capacity crowd of 59,075 to its feet on the game’s second play. He scored on a 70-yard run through USC’s right side, a bolt that would be the most untypical play Notre Dame would run all day.

And Becton would go on to gain 177 yards in 20 carries.

After his explosive first touchdown, the Irish running offense became a meat grinder.

On its next possession, Notre Dame pounded USC with a 7-minute 49-second drive that began at the Irish 33.

The featured play in the drive was a “bounce pass” from quarterback Paul Failla to Becton. At USC’s 10, Failla’s option pitch to Becton fell short, but Becton short-hopped it--a fumble recovery--and took it to USC’s two.

Fullback Marc Edwards scored on the next play to complete the 67-yard drive, making the score 14-0.

Next, the Irish put together an 80-yard drive, concluded with a four-yard run by part-time running back Jeff Burris, who also played free safety Saturday.

Burris, in fact, had stopped a scoring threat on the previous USC series by blocking Mike Salmon’s field-goal attempt.

Johnson took USC 80 yards in 13 plays in the second quarter. At the drive’s midway point, he had completed 12 consecutive passes, but the gains were short ones. The touchdown was a 13-yard pass over the middle to fullback Deon Strother, with 2:19 left in the half.

But Lou Holtz’s team came back to go 60 yards and make the score 28-7 with 46 seconds left in the half on an impressive bit of open-field running by Ray Zellars, who had caught an over-the-middle pass from Failla.

Zellars, stumbling much of the way, broke three tackles on the play, the last one an attempt by Jason Oliver, and scored on a 29-yard play.

The Trojans buried themselves in the third quarter, failing to register a first down on their first three series. And John Stonehouse’s punts measured 20, 30 and 11 yards.

Notre Dame got a 43-yard field goal from Kevin Pendergast on its third possession of the quarter to make the score 31-7.

Johnson and Morton teamed up in the final quarter to put USC in scoring position. Morton made a tumbling catch at Notre Dame’s 19 on a 22-yard play, then Johnson went to his tight end, Johnny McWilliams, for the game’s final score on an eight-yarder with 6:04 left.

At the end, Notre Dame had a 38-23-4 record in the series.

Notre Dame sophomore cornerback Bobby Taylor dogged Morton most of the game, and the two talked to each other throughout.

“Yeah, we talked--but it was good-natured, all competition,” Taylor said. “He beat me a couple of times and made some catches. He’s a great receiver. He’s probably the best pass-catcher I’ve faced, but other guys block better.”

Holtz said afterward that Kevin McDougal, who took Saturday off because of a strained right shoulder, is still his starting quarterback, and that Failla (six of nine, 78 yards) played well.

Then, in typical Holtz fashion, he added: “We are not a good team.”

Notre Dame will play Navy next week, then have a bye before meeting Florida State in a probable matchup of No. 1 and No. 2 Nov. 13 at South Bend.

Defensive tackle Bryant Young sounded as if he had been programmed by Holtz, when he later told reporters: “We can’t overlook Navy.”

* QUICK STRIKE: Lee Becton’s 70-yard touchdown run on the second play puts Trojans in an immediate hole. C10

* RETRO OFFENSE: Oregon State’s dated wishbone proves difficult to stop even without threat of the pass. C8

A Walkover

Notre Dame’s running game has been a huge success during its 11-game winning streak against USC. A look at the Irish rushing leaders and team totals during the streak:

Season Player No. Yds. TD Team Avg. TD Final 1983 Allen Pinkett 21 122 3 213 4.4 3 27-6 1984 Allen Pinkett 27 98 1 120 2.7 1 19-7 1985 Allen Pinkett 28 110 1 217 4.4 3 37-3 1986 Mark Green 24 119 0 197 3.9 0 38-37 1987 Mark Green 13 73 1 351 5.2 3 26-15 1988 Tony Rice 13 86 1 162 4.0 3 27-10 1989 Tony Rice 18 99 2 266 5.4 4 28-24 1990 Ricky Watters 16 61 0 208 3.9 1 10-6 1991 Jerome Bettis 24 178 2 299 6.1 2 24-20 1992 Reggie Brooks 19 227 3 330 7.3 4 31-23 1993 Lee Becton 20 177 1 305 5.4 3 31-13