Trojan roller coaster fails to rise to challenge of Notre Dame

Up until yesterday, the USC Trojans had been on a roller coaster, winning one week and losing the next. Yesterday’s game proved that the Boys from Troy could take a week off, then come back to frustration.

The Trojans failed to show up to play during the first three quarters of the game, scoring a lonely field goal in the second quarter.

Meantime, Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish piled up 24 points — enough to win the game even if they had slept through the Trojan fourth quarter rally that added 13 more points. However, the Irish were awake enough on their side of the ball to add another touchdown and point after, for an ending score of Irish 31, Trojans 16.

The Trojans led the Irish in passing yards, 299 to 213, but trailed in rushing yards, 126 to 170. Troy also collected a lot of penalties and penalty yards — 9 penalties for a loss of 65 yards compared to only 4 penalties for the Irish with a loss of 39 yards. Rough parity was seen in down conversions.

The Trojan players need to get out and push that roller coast upwards in the following weeks if they want to avoid a losing season.

Next week the Trojans will play Arizona at home in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

USC football schedule