Gable plugs away and stays productive

C.J. Gable was, as usual, in the background Saturday night in USC’s 44-24 victory over Notre Dame.

It’s where the USC freshman seems to operate best.

While receiver Dwayne Jarrett, quarterback John David Booty and the USC defense stole the show, Gable ever so efficiently had his best game, rushing for a season high for the second consecutive game.

“I knew it was coming,” said Gable, a Sylmar High product who gained 107 yards in 20 carries and also caught a pass for a 21-yard gain. “Chauncey [Washington] has been helping me, telling me to slow down, that the holes will open.”

With Washington slowed by a sprained knee the last two games, it has been Gable -- perhaps the least-celebrated first-year back on the Trojans’ roster -- who has been getting the call. Against California, he had 91 yards in 19 carries.

He said he was confident it was only a matter of time. “I never cared how high I was rated” as a recruit, Gable said. “What mattered was the competition. I knew I could prove to everyone I should have been rated higher.”

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Slightly more than a year after Desmond Reed injured his knee against Notre Dame, going down untouched while fielding a kickoff, the USC returner showed off his recovery.

Reed took the first punt of the night and sprinted along the sideline for 43 yards to the Notre Dame 26.

On the next play, Booty and Steve Smith connected on a 25-yard gain, and after a motion penalty, Booty passed to Jarrett for a five-yard scoring pass that gave USC a 14-0 lead.

The return was Reed’s longest of the season and it buoyed his spirits.

“Notre Dame, you can’t get bigger than that with a rivalry,” he said afterward. “We don’t like them and they don’t like us, so it’s real exciting just to be able to come back and have a nice play against the team that I got hurt against.”

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Smith had three catches for 35 yards and moved into fifth place on USC’s career list with 177 receptions, one ahead of Mike Williams.

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Notre Dame’s Rhema McKnight, a senior out of La Palma Kennedy High, led the Irish with six catches for 109 yards, moving into fifth place on the program’s career list for receiving yardage with 2,255 yards. McKnight has 167 career receptions, second on the all-time list behind Jeff Samardzija’s 171.

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Brady Quinn’s 60-yard gain early in the second quarter was Notre Dame’s longest run of the season and the longest gain against USC on a run.

Trojans safety Taylor Mays dragged Quinn down from behind at the USC 17, and Notre Dame didn’t score.

On the fourth play after Quinn’s run, Trojans linebacker Keith Rivers punched the ball away from Irish running back Darius Walker and tackle Fili Moala recovered for USC.

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Steve Quinn’s block of Greg Woidneck’s punt midway through the second quarter marked the first thwarted Trojans punt this season.

The play gave Notre Dame the ball at the USC seven, and Marcus Freeman caught a scoring pass on the next play for the Irish’s first touchdown.

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USC’s fifth consecutive win over Notre Dame ties the Trojans’ longest streak in the series. USC also won five straight from 1978 to ’82. Notre Dame’s longest streak in the series was 11 games, from 1983-93.

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mike.hiserman@latimes.com

david.wharton@latimes.com