Ian Book passed for 165 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 49 yards and another score as No. 9 Notre Dame fended off visiting USC's rally for a 30-27 win Saturday night in South Bend, Ind.
Cole Kmet and Braden Lenzy also scored touchdowns for Notre Dame (5-1), which won its 15th home game in a row. Tony Jones Jr. led a dominant ground attack with 25 carries for 176 yards.
True freshman Kedon Slovis completed 24 of 35 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns for USC (3-3). Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tyler Vaughns each hauled in a touchdown pass from Slovis, and Markese Stepp had a rushing touchdown.
Notre Dame outgained USC by a 473-426 margin, including a 308-171 advantage in rushing yards.
USC led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a 40-yard field goal by Chase McGrath.
Notre Dame responded with two touchdowns and a field goal in the second quarter to grab a 17-3 halftime lead.
Kmet started the rally when he hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Book with 8:37 left in the second quarter. Less than four minutes later, Lenzy scored on a 51-yard rush down the left sideline.
Jonathan Doerer hit a 45-yard field goal just before halftime, and then connected from 52 yards to push Notre Dame's lead to 20-3 early in the third quarter.
USC responded on the following possession with its own field goal, a 27-yarder by McGrath.
The Trojans trimmed the deficit to 20-13 on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Slovis to St. Brown with 2:34 left in the third.
St. Brown, whose brother Equanimeous starred for Notre Dame before being drafted by the Green Bay Packers, scored on a play-action pass.
Notre Dame answered with a 43-yard field goal by Doerer to make it 23-13 with 13:47 to play.
USC continued its comeback bid by pulling within 23-20 with 10:27 remaining. Slovis lofted a 5-yard touchdown pass to Vaughns, who hauled in the ball along the right side of the end zone.
The Fighting Irish created some breathing room on an 8-yard rushing touchdown by Book with 3:33 to go. He tucked the ball and sprinted up the middle to cap a 14-play, 75-yard drive.
USC fought back yet again. Stepp scored from 2 yards out on a second-effort rush to make it 30-27 with 1:04 left, but the Irish recovered the ensuing onside kick.
--Field Level Media
Southern California | Notre Dame | |
Markese Stepp | Player | Tony Jones Jr. |
10 | Attempts | 25 |
82 | Yards | 176 |
8.2 | Avg Yards | 7.0 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
0 | Long | 0 |
Southern California | Notre Dame | |
Amon-Ra St. Brown | Player | Cole Kmet |
8 | Receptions | 6 |
112 | Yards | 61 |
14.0 | Avg Yards | 10.2 |
1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
0 | Long | 0 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Southern California | 426 | 171 | 255 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 |
Notre Dame | 473 | 308 | 165 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4.0 | 1 |