SOUTH BEND, Ind. ? Three time zones away from Howard Jones Field and the blocking sleds and the black-and-blue places where USC football always has lived, the Trojans brought it all back home.
Eleven runs in their first 12 offensive plays, leading to a touchdown.
Ten runs in their final 10 offensive plays, all featuring a miniature boulder named Curtis McNeal, with the game ending on Notre Dame's four-yard-line, no kneel, no field goal, no further doubt.
"That's kind of your dream as an offensive lineman," center Khaled Holmes said. "To leave the game on the field like that."
USC's 31-17 victory over Notre Dame Saturday night featured a hobbled kicker, a Notre Dame third-and-goal from USC's one-yard-line that turned into a Trojan touchdown, and a truckload of mistakes, mostly by the Irish.
It assuredly did not follow the script of the first half of the season.
Notre Dame had allowed one touchdown, or none, in eight of its previous 11 games. USC had scored 14 fourth-quarter points in its first six games. It was 77th nationally in rushing.
So, of course, USC growled for 219 rushing yards to Notre Dame's 41, hogged the ball for 39:41, and scored a fourth-quarter touchdown and obviously could have scored another. It was almost more contemptuous not to.
Move the pile, get up, huddle up, move it again.
"We watched the tape of last year's game against them and knew we had to correct some things with our scheme," said offensive line coach James Cregg. "We told the guys all week that this was what we were going to do."
"It's a lot easier than going backwards," said backfield coach Kennedy Pola.
Remember September, when its offense seemed to consist of endless sideline passes to Robert Woods?
Those were the Trojans who were somewhat fortunate to squeak past Minnesota and Utah. They bore no resemblance to the infantry that cruised up and down the gloriously unadorned turf of Notre Dame Stadium.
Holmes and left tackle Matt Kalil were the givens, when Cregg began assembling this line. They have been joined by right guard John Martinez, right tackle Kevin Graf and left guard Marcus Martin, a 330-pound freshman.
Together they had two penalties, the only two that USC drew all night: a holding call on Martin and a face-mask grab by Kalil.
No false starts, amid all this shaken-down thunder. No sacks. No turnovers.
"We had silent counts, we varied the snap count, we focused on the center and on Matt's (Barkley's) count," Kalil said. "That first drive was fun, imposing our will on them, getting a chance to show what we can do in the running game."
"They've come a long way," Cregg said. "I'd say John Martinez is the guy who has come the farthest."
But Barkley was terrific, too, running the Trojans to first downs when plays went wrong, capitalizing on USC's new-found muscle to trigger the play-action game, hitting Woods for the decisive touchdown on third down when nobody knew if kicker Andre Heidari was healthy enough to kick.
And there was 5-foot-8 Nickell Robey, chasing 6-foot-2 Michael Floyd all over the place, holding him to four catches for 28 yards, when Floyd averages 6.5 and 106.5.
Robey also intercepted Tommy Rees' pass to Floyd that snuffed Notre Dame's final chance.
"We matched him up, we challenged him," Lane Kiffin said. "Nickell was one of our heroes."
Robey was one of Kiffin's first USC recruits, as was Jawanza Starling, another defensive back who hasn't always played smoothly.
When Dayne Crist, subbing for a banged-up Rees, fumbled a snap on USC's one-yard-line, Starling scooped it and streaked for a touchdown that changed a probable 17-17 game to 24-10.
"When it happened, I was out there wondering when's the last time we had a play that big," Holmes said.
That, and a backwards pass that was covered by Chris Galippo before USC made it 31-17, inflamed Irish coach Brian Kelly.
"Losing stinks. It's hard for me to put a stink-meter on losing," Kelly said. "They all stink. To turn it over in the ridiculous fashion we did makes me crazy. We had some guys that needed to play with poise that didn't play with poise."
Which might be the most telling effect of Kiffin's best all-time victory, encompassing his days with the Raiders, Tennessee and now USC.
The Trojans, with every reason to panic, found a state of serene urgency. Or maybe urgent serenity.
"Lane Kiffin did a great job preparing this team," defensive line coach Ed Orgeron said quietly. "This is a great rivalry, but he wouldn't let these guys get too excited about it. We thought all along: If we play our game, we'll win."
Contact the writer: mwhicker@OCRegister.com. Follow him at @MWhickerOCR
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