USC GAME REPORT

1st QUARTER

USC 7

Notre Dame 7

THE SCORING: * Notre Dame 7, USC 0: Howard, one-yard run at 5:23. 40-yard drive, eight plays. PAT--Setta (kick).

* USC 7, Notre Dame 7: Palmer, three-yard run at 0:36. 65-yard drive, 10 plays. PAT--Bell (kick).

TURNING POINT: USC punter Mike MacGillivray, who had a punt blocked early in the second quarter, had his first punt partially blocked by David Givens, and Notre Dame got a first down on the USC 40. Notre Dame, aided by two offside penalties on USC, methodically drove toward its first touchdown.

NOT IN THE SUMMARY: After Notre Dame’s touchdown, a 31-yard kickoff return was the start of a strong afternoon for USC safety and kick returner Frank Strong, who finished with four returns for 122 yards.

STAT WATCH: Carson Palmer completed six of seven passes for 77 yards in the first quarter, and the Trojans outgained the Irish, 97 yards to 62.

2nd QUARTER

Notre Dame 21

USC 14

THE SCORING: * Notre Dame 14, USC 7: LoVecchio, 13-yard run at 12:25. 50-yard drive, four plays. PAT--Setta (kick).

* Notre Dame 21, USC 7: Fisher, one-yard run at 8:39. 19-yard drive, six plays. PAT--Setta (kick).

* Notre Dame 21, USC 14: Kelly, 59-yard pass from Palmer at 7:32. 72-yard drive, four plays. PAT--Bell (kick).

TURNING POINT: USC faced a fourth-and-four at the Notre Dame 46 and chose to punt. Chad DeBolt’s block gave the Irish the ball at midfield. An 18-yard pass to Joey Getherall and a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty on USC helped put Notre Dame in position to score on Matt LoVecchio’s run.

NOT IN THE SUMMARY: Notre Dame, which rarely made a mistake this season, had five of its seven penalties in six plays on the drive that followed Kareem Kelly’s 59-yard touchdown reception. One was for offensive pass interference, then came four successive false starts, and after a 16-yard run by LoVecchio came a delay-of-game penalty. Notre Dame had a first down at the USC 32 and faced a third-and-36 at its own 42. USC, with 20 seconds left in the first half, had all three of its timeouts left and had a fourth-and-one at its 39. Two successive false starts preceded a punt.

STAT WATCH: Notre Dame had five blocked punts this season, a school record, and the Irish scored touchdowns after all five. Givens had three of the blocks, including one against Rutgers the previous Saturday and one earlier in the season against Stanford.

3rd QUARTER

USC 28

Notre Dame 14

THE SCORING: * Notre Dame 28, USC 14: LoVecchio, one-yard run at 3:56. 52-yard drive, five plays. PAT--Setta (kick).

TURNING POINT: The Trojans appeared to be gaining momentum and had a first down at their own 46. But Palmer’s school-record-tying 18th interception of the season on third down killed the momentum and led to the Notre Dame touchdown that made the score 28-14.

NOT IN THE SUMMARY: Notre Dame’s Getherall was wide open downfield on a trick play, but flanker Givens’ pass was too long. Zeke Moreno sacked LoVecchio on the next play, and the Trojans remained within two touchdowns. On Notre Dame’s first drive of the quarter, Moreno stopped Julius Jones for no gain on fourth-and-one at the USC 42, but the Trojans couldn’t take advantage.

STAT WATCH: Palmer had completed 12 of 24 passes for 204 yards and USC had outgained the Irish, 287 yards to 267. But Palmer had thrown two interceptions, LoVecchio none.

4th QUARTER

Notre Dame 38

USC 21

THE SCORING: * Notre Dame 28, USC 21: Harris, 10-yard pass from Palmer at 14:56. 80-yard drive, nine plays. PAT--Bell (kick).

* Notre Dame 31, USC 21: Setta, 39-yard field goal at 12:09. 32-yard drive, six plays to the USC 22.

* Notre Dame 38, USC 21: Jones, two-yard run at 2:57. 80-yard drive, 12 plays. PAT--Setta (kick).

TURNING POINT: The Trojans were down by 10 when back-to-back tough calls hurt them with just under 10 minutes to play. On third-and-17 from the Notre Dame 46, Matt Nickels appeared get a first down by making a catch on the sideline, but he was ruled out-of-bounds. Then a MacGillivray punt appeared to have pinned Notre Dame deep in its own territory, but it was ruled a touchback because a Trojan broke the plane of the goal line before knocking it back on the field. Before USC scored on the first play of the fourth quarter, USC got a break when it appeared Palmer had fumbled but the officials ruled he was down.

NOT IN THE SUMMARY: Notre Dame ran 24 consecutive running plays to close out the game and didn’t throw a pass in the fourth quarter.

STAT WATCH: The Irish had no turnovers, the Trojans three.