Diary
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Sunday, October 16, 2005
WHO , Notre Dame ??????
Trojans display heart of champion
Leinart's sneak lifts No. 1 USC over over ninth-ranked Irish in epic that went down to the final seconds
BY CHUCK CULPEPPER
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
October 16, 2005
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - As a gasping, heaving gem of a college football game prepared to shift off the Notre Dame Stadium field and into unforgettable lore late yesterday, Southern California's 27-game winning streak seemed to terminate.
Notre Dame players bled onto the field in celebration of an apparent upset. First-year coach Charlie Weis held his arms skyward. The scoreboard clock read :00, if only perhaps because a hopeful operator had rushed it along.
Then, as if any game already earmarked for greatness should hog one last stirring jolt, USC's winning streak suddenly resumed, right then and there, before 80,795 nervous witnesses. The officials deduced that quarterback Matt Leinart had fumbled out of bounds at the 1-yard line with seven seconds left after linebacker Corey Mays decked him on a frantic scramble at the left corner of the end zone.
The Irish curtailed their celebration and retreated. The clock operator adjusted the clock. And as USC prepared to demonstrate the élan that has made it hover above the sport for three seasons, as it prepared to win 34-31 and retain its No. 1 ranking, it prepared to line up at the 1-yard line for the game's 151st offensive play.
Leinart, the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner, had a choice of spiking the ball or sneaking it in, hoping to give the game its third lead change in the closing five minutes. He turned back to running back Reggie Bush, whose own 2005 candidacy gained a boost from his 160 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
"Reggie, what do you think?" Leinart said.
Bush endorsed going for it. Coach Pete Carroll absolutely didn't want overtime against a Notre Dame offense that was dicing up the USC defense.
So as Leinart approached the line yelling, "Clock! Clock!" trying to fool No. 9 Notre Dame into thinking he'd spike the football, he planned all along to do something along the lines of squirming into the end zone with linebacker Brandon Hoyte's arms more or less hugging him.
That's precisely what he did with :03 showing on the clock, and in the confused seconds that followed, offensive lineman Taitusi Lutui said he'd fallen on his back in the end zone. He had no idea whether Leinart had scored or not, whether USC would remain unbeaten or not, whether USC might still think Rose Bowl or not.
He couldn't see Leinart, but Lutui could see a line judge farther down the goal line signaling touchdown. He began bawling uncontrollably.
On the sideline, Leinart seemed almost woozy. "I was totally shocked," he said. "This has to be one of the greatest finishes in the history of college football."
USC, accustomed to routing its opponents with its peerless offense, or to trailing in the first half before rallying with its peerless offense, had weathered the full brunt of Notre Dame's quick climb from the program that had lost to USC by 31 points in each of the previous three seasons.
It had overcome even Weis, whose two weeks of preparation through an off week on Oct. 9 led to a bruisingly competent offense that featured an efficient, game-shortening running game and quarterback Brady Quinn's excellence.
Quinn's dramatic 5-yard touchdown run with 2:04 left put Notre Dame ahead - and USC weathered that, too.
The Trojans had committed self-defeating penalties totaling 98 yards, yielded a 60-yard punt-return touchdown to Tom Zbikowski, suffered an off day from Leinart, had its receivers bottled up, had bull of a running back LenDale White held to 26 rushing yards, faced an almost hopeless third-and-20 from their own 16-yard line with 1:44 to go, faced an almost hopeless fourth-and-8 on the play after that, and still won the game.
They won because Bush distanced himself even from his teammates in the Heisman race by scoring on touchdown runs of 36, 45 and 9 yards.
And they won because they're so accustomed to winning that they converted on that fourth-and-8 with Leinart's shocking 61-yard pass up the left sideline to Dwayne Jarrett, setting up USC at the Notre Dame 13-yard line with just over a minute left.
And they won because Bush got them to the 2. And Leinart tried to dive in from there, only to take a lick and fumble. And Notre Dame celebrated, the officials conversed and Leinart writhed into the end zone
Leinart's sneak lifts No. 1 USC over over ninth-ranked Irish in epic that went down to the final seconds
BY CHUCK CULPEPPER
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
October 16, 2005
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - As a gasping, heaving gem of a college football game prepared to shift off the Notre Dame Stadium field and into unforgettable lore late yesterday, Southern California's 27-game winning streak seemed to terminate.
Notre Dame players bled onto the field in celebration of an apparent upset. First-year coach Charlie Weis held his arms skyward. The scoreboard clock read :00, if only perhaps because a hopeful operator had rushed it along.
Then, as if any game already earmarked for greatness should hog one last stirring jolt, USC's winning streak suddenly resumed, right then and there, before 80,795 nervous witnesses. The officials deduced that quarterback Matt Leinart had fumbled out of bounds at the 1-yard line with seven seconds left after linebacker Corey Mays decked him on a frantic scramble at the left corner of the end zone.
The Irish curtailed their celebration and retreated. The clock operator adjusted the clock. And as USC prepared to demonstrate the élan that has made it hover above the sport for three seasons, as it prepared to win 34-31 and retain its No. 1 ranking, it prepared to line up at the 1-yard line for the game's 151st offensive play.
Leinart, the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner, had a choice of spiking the ball or sneaking it in, hoping to give the game its third lead change in the closing five minutes. He turned back to running back Reggie Bush, whose own 2005 candidacy gained a boost from his 160 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
"Reggie, what do you think?" Leinart said.
Bush endorsed going for it. Coach Pete Carroll absolutely didn't want overtime against a Notre Dame offense that was dicing up the USC defense.
So as Leinart approached the line yelling, "Clock! Clock!" trying to fool No. 9 Notre Dame into thinking he'd spike the football, he planned all along to do something along the lines of squirming into the end zone with linebacker Brandon Hoyte's arms more or less hugging him.
That's precisely what he did with :03 showing on the clock, and in the confused seconds that followed, offensive lineman Taitusi Lutui said he'd fallen on his back in the end zone. He had no idea whether Leinart had scored or not, whether USC would remain unbeaten or not, whether USC might still think Rose Bowl or not.
He couldn't see Leinart, but Lutui could see a line judge farther down the goal line signaling touchdown. He began bawling uncontrollably.
On the sideline, Leinart seemed almost woozy. "I was totally shocked," he said. "This has to be one of the greatest finishes in the history of college football."
USC, accustomed to routing its opponents with its peerless offense, or to trailing in the first half before rallying with its peerless offense, had weathered the full brunt of Notre Dame's quick climb from the program that had lost to USC by 31 points in each of the previous three seasons.
It had overcome even Weis, whose two weeks of preparation through an off week on Oct. 9 led to a bruisingly competent offense that featured an efficient, game-shortening running game and quarterback Brady Quinn's excellence.
Quinn's dramatic 5-yard touchdown run with 2:04 left put Notre Dame ahead - and USC weathered that, too.
The Trojans had committed self-defeating penalties totaling 98 yards, yielded a 60-yard punt-return touchdown to Tom Zbikowski, suffered an off day from Leinart, had its receivers bottled up, had bull of a running back LenDale White held to 26 rushing yards, faced an almost hopeless third-and-20 from their own 16-yard line with 1:44 to go, faced an almost hopeless fourth-and-8 on the play after that, and still won the game.
They won because Bush distanced himself even from his teammates in the Heisman race by scoring on touchdown runs of 36, 45 and 9 yards.
And they won because they're so accustomed to winning that they converted on that fourth-and-8 with Leinart's shocking 61-yard pass up the left sideline to Dwayne Jarrett, setting up USC at the Notre Dame 13-yard line with just over a minute left.
And they won because Bush got them to the 2. And Leinart tried to dive in from there, only to take a lick and fumble. And Notre Dame celebrated, the officials conversed and Leinart writhed into the end zone
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