Junior Year Box Set

USC started the first series with a bang. Bill ran a jet up the sideline, and their quarterback hit him in stride in the opening between the cornerback and safety; Bill had found that opening for me many times. He was tackled on the 6 yard line. USC’s quarterback kept the ball the next play to score.

Notre Dame’s freshman quarterback dropped back and answered the call. He found a streaking wide receiver behind the USC secondary. Someone had made a mistake, and the score was tied at seven all.

On the next drive, USC kicked a long field goal to make it 10–7. Notre Dame’s run game ripped off two long ones against a porous USC defense to retake the lead 14–10. Finally, someone played some defense and USC was stopped. Unfortunately for USC, their special teams failed them, and the Fighting Irish blocked the punt to score. The first quarter ended 21–10.

At the start of the second quarter, Notre Dame was driving again. On the 1 yard line, USC forced a fumble to prevent the rout. USC had a good drive going, but the Fighting Irish defense made a stand and forced a punt. The return man almost broke it, and then the run game kicked in again. USC was able to slow the Fighting Irish down enough to only give up a field goal, making it 24–10.

I looked at the clock, and the half was running out. I had resigned myself to accepting that it wasn’t the Trojans’ day. Then they did a nifty backward pass towards the sideline. The receiver set up and threw a long pass to a wide-open receiver on the trick play to make it 24–17. The Trojans got the football back, and they did a little screen pass that suddenly found a seam. Just like that, USC had come roaring back, and the score was now 24–all.

During halftime, the Notre Dame fans were a little stunned. They had this game in hand, but with two quick strikes, USC was back in it. It reminded me of what Bud Mason said: plays of twenty-plus yards demoralized your opponent. At the start of the third quarter, USC drove the ball the length of the field and took the lead 31–24.

I thought USC had turned the corner and might actually win the game. Both teams traded possessions in the third quarter. At the beginning of the fourth, the Fighting Irish got something going and scored to tie the game. Then the Irish paid USC back with their own wide-receiver backward-pass trick play. A couple of plays later it was 38–31 in favor of the Irish.