Notre Dame, Ind. - On a rain-drenched night at Notre Dame Stadium, Jeremiyah Love ran his way up the school record books to help carry Notre Dame to a 34-24 win over arch-rival Southern Cal. Love ran for 228 yards on just 14 carries for the fifth-most yards in a game in school history in the 95th meeting in the series. The Irish (5-2) won for the seventh time in the last eight meetings with the Trojans.
Southern Cal (5-2) entered the game allowing just 108.5 rushing yards per game. Love and Jadarian Price had nearly double that by halftime with 191 yards on 14 carries between them. Price finished with 87 yards on 13 carries of his own to help the Irish run for 306 yards on the night. Price returned a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown as well as the duo combined for three total touchdowns.
CJ Carr completed 16 of his 26 pass attempts for 136 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Notre Dame’s defense rose to the occasion by forcing three turnovers. Two were interceptions by Trojan quarterback Jayden Maiava and the third was a fumble forced by Adon Shuler and recovered by Kyngstonn Vilamu-Asa.
Shuler led the defense with 10 tackles while Jaylen Sneed had a pair of quarterback hurries. Christian Gray and Luke Talich had an interception each.
The Trojans won the opening coin toss and took the ball to start the game. They proceeded to drive 75 yards in 10 plays to start the game with a Maiava to Lake McRee touchdown pass. They face 3rd and 9 four plays earlier but converted when Maiava hit a wide open Tanook Hines for a 24-yard gain due to confusion by the Irish secondary before the snap.
Love answered for the Irish by gaining all 75 yards of a four-play TD drive himself. Love bolted 63 yards on Notre Dame’s second play to give the Irish the ball at the SC 12. After a second incompletion by Carr, Love shot through the right side of the Irish line and hit the endzone to tie the game 7-7.
Southern Cal drove to the Irish 25 thanks to pass plays of 25 and 21 yards. The Irish defense held though and forced a 42-yard field goal by Ryan Sayeri to put the Trojans up 10-7 midway through the first quarter.
After each team punted twice, Price saw the field for the first time on Notre Dame’s fourth drive of the night. He gained 32 yards on the first play and ran for 56 total yards on three carries, the last reaching the end zone from 16 yards out on a run to his left to give the Irish their first lead of the night at 14-10.
SC drove to the Irish 19 on its next drive. A defensive holding call on Dallas Golden on the second play of the drive negated a sack by the Irish and Maiva hit Malakai Lemon for a 27-yard gain on the next play. The Trojans went for it on 4th and 3 and turned the ball over on downs when Drayk Bowen broke up a pass intended for McRee. Leonard Moore shadowed Lemon, SC's leading receiver, most of the night and held him to his second-lowest total of the season with 76 yards.
The Irish drove to the SC two and faced 3rd and goal before Carr was intercepted by Braylan Shelby. Carr was forced out of the pocket and underthrew his intended target. After Tae Johnson saved a touchdown on a run by backup quarterback Husan Longstreet on second down, the Trojans settled for a field goal to make it 14-13 Irish with 1:43 left in the first half.
With rain picking up after halftime, the Irish had the ball to start the second half and used 13 plays to roll 75 yards to reach the end zone with a six-yard touchdown pass from Carr to Will Pauling. Love ran for 41 yards on five carries to reach a new career high 171 yards during the drive that gave ND a 21-13 lead.
Southern Cal drove to the Irish 23 and settled for a third field goal from Sayeri, this one from 43 yards. A pair of pass interference calls on Moore and Gray gave the Trojans 30 yards during the drive.
The Trojans regained the lead with a 59-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Kobi Lane. SC held a one-point lead and went up 24-21 when Maiava hit Lane on a slant on a two-point conversion.
The lead was short lived.
Price returned the ensuing kickoff 102 yards for his second return touchdown of the season and his second against SC in his last three games. Noah Burnette’s extra point was no good and the Irish led 27-24.
Gray intercepted Maiava on SC’s next drive to give the Irish the ball at the Trojan 44. The drive stalled at the 13 and Burnette missed a 31-yard field goal with 12:44 to play.
The Trojans got to the Irish 37 with a 42-yard pass to Lemon, but got too fancy on the next play. Lemon took a pitch from Maiava and wanted to attempt a pass but Adon Shuler blew it up and ripped the ball from the receiver and Viliamu-Asa recovered at the 50.
The Fighting Irish wasted no time capitalizing this time. Carr ran in on 2nd and goal from the one and Burnette nailed the extra point to make it 34-24 with 7:16 on the clock. Love went over 200 yards on the night with a 15-yard carry on the drive’s fourth play.
Southern Cal went for it on 4th and 1 from its own 44, but Maiava’s pass was incomplete as he threw the ball into the ground thanks to pressure from Sneed.
Talich intercepted Maiava on a desperation heave to seal the win. Notre Dame was flagged eight times for 59 yards on the night. The Trojans drew just one flag for five yards.
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