< The Latest 2025-10-19T06:41:30+0000
The Pasadena Star-News | Sat 10/18 08:51pm PST | Haley Sawyer
SOUTH BEND — Rain left Notre Dame Stadium shortly before kickoff but shrouded the field once again in the second half. Always there. Threatening, but never fully dominating.
No. 13 Notre Dame (5-2 overall) pulled away 34-24 to beat No. 20 USC (5-2 overall, 3-1 in Big Ten) for the Jeweled Shillelagh Trophy and bring the rivalry record to 53-38-5 in favor of the Irish.
“The challenge to this team is to handle this to learn from it,” head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters after the game, “and we just flat-out have to be better.”
Irish running back Jeremiyah Love rushed for a career-high 228 yards on 24 attempts and scored one touchdown. USC’s own run game struggled, accumulating only 68 total yards.
USC kept the score close but, like the rain, never completely commanded the evening.
The Trojans gained their first advantage of the game with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter. Ja’Kobi Lane sprinted straight ahead and separated himself far enough away from a defender so that quarterback Jayden Maiava could drop a pass into his chest near the 20-yard line.
Lane caught it in stride and kept going for a 59-yard touchdown — which tied his career-long catch — giving the Trojans a 24-21 lead.
Their excitement was flattened when Jamarion Price returned the ensuing kick for 100 yards and a touchdown. USC had two missed tackles on the play, and the Irish were ahead once again.
“The kickoff return, obviously, was a huge, huge play in the game after we had taken the lead,” Riley said. “You just can’t do that against a good football team.”
Freshman quarterback CJ Carr scored on a quarterback keeper to bring the score to 34-24 with 7:16 to go in the game.
Carr went 16 for 26 for 136 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Maiava completed 22 of 42 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions.
The 96th edition of the USC-Notre Dame football rivalry may be the last one ever if a new contract between the schools is not reached. Both teams were playing like it.
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love proved why he’s at the top of NFL Draft projections, knowing exactly when to burst through the trenches and when to allow the blocks to unfold in front of him.
He had a game-long run of 63 yards on Notre Dame’s second play of the game and had support on the ground from Jadarian Price, who finished with 87 yards and a touchdown.
“In this game, from the sideline, there were a lot of stalemates,” Riley said, “but we had a lot of guys not stunting into correct gaps or not fitting into correct gaps. And again, against two really good backs like that, they’re going to make you pay.”
USC’s offense got to work quickly and only trailed by one point, 14-13, at halftime.
Maiava failed on his first screen pass of the game before adjusting to hit Lake McRee with a 10-yard pass that was just low enough to be in the 6-foot-4 tight end’s reach and high enough to be out of range for any defenders.
USC was first on the scoreboard with the clock reading 11:09 in the first quarter.
Ryon Sayeri made two field goals in the first half of 42 and 24 yards and Tanook Hines became the night’s primary receiver, since the Irish were carefully patrolling Makai Lemon in the slot and Lane out wide.
The USC defense forced a pivotal turnover midway through the second quarter, showing the level of technical aggression that the Trojans are capable of.
Carr faked a pass to Love, but was chased down by USC safety Kamari Ramsey before he had the chance to make a read.
The Trojans proceeded to methodically move down the field with a series of short runs, despite the absence of dynamic rushers Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders, and reached the 3-yard line. The coaching staff sent out five receivers in an attempt to score, but an incomplete pass had them settling for Sayeri’s 24-yard field goal.
USC next enters a bye week and still has multiple quality opponents left on its schedule, including Nebraska, Iowa and Oregon.
“We’ve got some really cool opportunities in front of us here again with the way that we positioned ourselves in this conference,” Riley said. “We’ll get on the bye week, get some work in, get some of these guys back healthy and get ready.”