Notre Dame football not only beat USC, it snapped the Trojans' 2024 claim to fame

Just how impressive was the Notre Dame football win over USC? It's probably more impressive than even the Fighting Irish faithful believe. 

While ND struggled to put the Trojans away until late in the game, the fact that they were in position to “put them away” at all stands out when talking about opponents for the Big Ten school.

Entering Saturday afternoon’s game, USC was one of just six FBS teams who managed to hold a lead in the fourth quarter of every single game this season. In other words, Lincoln Riley’s squad was in position to be 11-0 when they took on the Notre Dame football team, they simply couldn’t close the deal. But that streak ended against the Irish.

Notre Dame football ends USC’s 2024 claim to fame

On Saturday, the two teams entered the fourth quarter having traded punches all game long, but with the Irish looking like they were starting to pull away. They held a 35-21 lead to begin the final period.

Almost immediately, USC did make the game that much more of a nail biter thanks to a Ja'Kobi Lane touchdown catch to make the score 35-28. But that was as close as they would ever get to keeping their streak going for a 12th game.

USC never led in the fourth quarter. And thanks to interception returns for touchdowns by both Christian Gray and Xavier Watts - starting deep in Irish territory - the game was eventually sealed away. 

Perhaps to some degree, what Notre Dame football did to the Trojans was a bit of mercy. The school’s fans didn’t have to watch Lincoln Riley’s squad blow another late lead.