Notre Dame vs. USC Game Balls
In the first true shootout for Notre Dame this season, the Irish never trailed Saturday in its 49-35 victory over USC, but the game was tied three times and wasn’t settled until midway through the fourth quarter.
The 35 points scored by USC marked the most the Notre Dame defense gave up during the regular season.
The Irish win almost certainly secures, a spot in the College Football Playoff after what should be considered the biggest win of the the three-year career of Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman.
The notable win provided a handful of game-ball candidates.
Here are the three we decided on.
QB Riley Leonard
The Irish senior continued his noticeable improvement in performance and confidence against USC with 155 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception through the air, and another 50 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground.
Leonard’s 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was his 14th rushing score of the season, which tied him with Brandon Wimbush in 2017 for the most in a single-season by an Irish signal-caller. It was also Leonard’s fifth straight game with at least one touchdown pass.
Riley’s performance against USC gave him 30 total touchdowns on the season (16 pass, 14 rush).
CB Christian Gray
Despite two pass interference penalties called against him, the Irish sophomore kept a short memory, held his ground, and finished the game with 7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 2 pass breakups and 1 interception that he returned 99 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Gray’s interception turned what could’ve been a USC game-tying drive at 35-35 into a 42-28 Irish lead that put this game on ice.
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An up-and-down game for Gray with the USC offense singling him out in coverage, the young cornerback came up big at the biggest time.
RB Jeremiyah Love
The Irish sophomore continued his late-season surge with 99 yards on 13 carries with 1 touchdown, and added 3 catches for 38 yards as a receiver, before leaving the game in the third quarter with an apparent knee injury.
Love didn’t need long to establish his impact on the game.
On Notre Dame’s first offensive possession, Love carried 4 times for 36 yards and capped the 13-play, 72-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Irish an early 7-0 lead.
Along the way, Love extended his streak to 12 straight games with a rushing touchdown, making him the first Irish tailback to reach that mark in program history.
