Trojan (Domi)Nation

By Gary Klein

Dec. 1, 2002 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

USC started and ended the regular season on a perfect stage.

A prime-time national television audience that included bowl championship series officials and Heisman Trophy voters watched Saturday as the sixth-ranked Trojans played seventh-ranked Notre Dame.

USC put on a show worthy of the spotlight, completing the toughest schedule in the nation with a 44-13 rout of the Fighting Irish before 91,432 at the Coliseum.

“I hope everyone was paying attention and saw the score,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “They need to know that we’re for real now. We are definitely worthy of being a BCS team.”

BCS officials will have a hard time ignoring a USC team that rolled over the nation’s fifth-best defense for a season-high 610 yards, the most ever given up by Notre Dame.

The USC defense was even more overpowering. The Trojans (10-2) limited the Fighting Irish to 109 yards and four first downs to complete their first 10-win season since 1988.

“This one is the sweetest of the season because it doesn’t get any bigger than Notre Dame,” linebacker Melvin Simmons said. “We just dominated them. We’re still rolling.”

USC, which defeated Auburn in a prime-time season opener on Labor Day, has won seven consecutive games since losing to Washington State in overtime Oct. 5. The Trojans, coming off a 52-21 rout of UCLA, defeated their two rivals in the same season for the first time since 1981 and the first time in consecutive games since 1978.

“It’s so hard to get this done against such a challenging schedule,” said USC Coach Pete Carroll, who remained undefeated in November games. “But it didn’t matter who they were or what color their jerseys were. It has always been about us.”

USC overcame a 13-10 deficit late in the second quarter and scored 34 unanswered points en route to its ninth consecutive home victory and its first victory over Notre Dame or any top-10 team since 1998.

Palmer led the way, passing for 425 yards and four touchdowns, two to freshman wide receiver Mike Williams, who had 10 receptions for 169 yards.

Palmer completed 32 of 46 passes and had two interceptions.

“I definitely had some bad plays tonight, two in particular,” said Palmer, who still set a school record with 32 touchdown passes this season. “But as far as the offense was concerned, we were really clicking.”

It did not look as though it would be an easy night for most of the first half.

The Fighting Irish (10-2) took a 13-10 lead with 1:07 left in the second quarter when Carlos Pierre-Antoine broke through the line and blocked a punt by Tom Malone that he recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.

USC got the ball back at the 25 and moved downfield on Palmer completions of 18 yards to Williams and nine, 12 and 16 yards to Justin Fargas, who rushed for 120 yards in 20 carries.

On first and 15 from the Notre Dame 19, Palmer found Williams on a post route with five seconds left in the half to give the Trojans a 17-13 halftime lead.

“To move down field like we did and click like we did -- it propelled us the rest of the game,” Palmer said.

USC scored on its first three possessions of the third quarter on a 15-yard touchdown reception by fullback Malaefou MacKenzie and 27- and 29-yard field goals by Ryan Killeen to go ahead, 30-13.

Sultan McCullough scored on an 11-yard run and MacKenzie had a 10-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter to complete the biggest scoring day against the Fighting Irish this season.

“We knew they had great skill,” Notre Dame Coach Tyrone Willingham said. “They schemed us well and executed well. They’re probably as good of an offense as we’ve seen.”

Cornerback Darrell Rideaux, safety DeShaun Hill and linebacker Mike Pollard intercepted passes for the Trojans, who limited the Fighting Irish to 70 passing yards and 39 rushing yards.

Notre Dame was 0 for 13 on third-down conversions.

“I have no explanation for it,” Willingham said.

Trojan players believe that BCS officials will have some explaining to do if the Trojans do not garner serious consideration for the Orange, Sugar, or -- if Miami or Georgia fall -- Fiesta bowls.

Their regular season complete, the Trojans will root this week for UCLA when the Bruins play ninth-ranked Washington State at the Rose Bowl.

USC already clinched a share of the Pacific 10 Conference championship, and can win the conference outright and play in the Rose Bowl if UCLA defeats Washington State.

If Washington State wins and goes to the Rose Bowl, the Trojans expect a BCS berth.

“We’ll play anybody and I can’t imagine how anybody wouldn’t want us to play in their game,” Carroll said. “Although I know that some people might not want to play us.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Definitely Defense

USC scored 44 points against Notre Dame, but it was its defensive performance that turned the game into a rout. The Trojans came up with perhaps their best effort based on season averages:

*--* AVG CATEGORY vs. ND 17.0 First downs 4 213.5 Passing defense 70 11.7 Yards per catch 7.0 18.3 Completions 10 83.9 Rushing defense 39 2.7 Yards per rush 1.8 31.3 Rushing attempts 22 297.4 Total defense 109 4.5 Yards per play 2.1

*--*

By Comparison

A look at Mike Williams and former USC receiver Keyshawn Johnson, after their first 12 games. Williams is a true freshman; Johnson started at USC as a junior in 1994 after two years at West L.A.:

*--* G REC YARDS YPR TDS MIKE WILLIAMS 12 75 1,166 15.5 13 KEYSHAWN JOHNSON 12 74 1,486 20.1 9

*--*

Blarney Rubble

Comparing some numbers:

FIRST DOWNS

USC: 31

ND: 4

TOTAL YARDS

USC: 610

ND: 109

TIME OF POSSESSION

USC: 38:05