GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NCAAF: USC (5-1) at NOTRE DAME (1-6)

NCAAF: USC at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
USC (13) 7 10 14 7 38
NOTRE DAME 0 0 0 0 0 FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QUARTER: USC - TD, FRED DAVIS 10 YD PASS FROM
MARK SANCHEZ (DAVID BUEHLER
KICK), 11:20. USC 7-0
2ND QUARTER: USC - TD, ALLEN BRADFORD 8 YD PASS FROM
MARK SANCHEZ (DAVID BUEHLER
KICK), 11:05. USC 14-0
USC - FG, DAVID BUEHLER 30 YD, 14:49.
USC 17-0
3RD QUARTER: USC - TD, STANLEY HAVILI 5 YD PASS FROM
MARK SANCHEZ (DAVID BUEHLER
KICK), 2:04. USC 24-0
USC - TD, VIDAL HAZELTON 48 YD PASS FROM
MARK SANCHEZ (DAVID BUEHLER
KICK), 6:12. USC 31-0
4TH QUARTER: USC - TD, JOE MCKNIGHT 51 YD RUN (DAVID
BUEHLER KICK), 4:03. USC 38-0</div>

 

NCAAF: USC at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NCAAF
USC (13) 38
NOTRE DAME 0 FINAL</div>

 

SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- In a battle of backupquarterbacks, Evan Sharpley wasn't the answer for Notre Dame'sinept offense. However, Mark Sanchez had no problems forSouthern California.


Sanchez threw for 235 yards and four touchdowns and 13th-rankedUSC held Notre Dame to just 149 yards of offense as the Trojanspounded the Irish, 38-0, on Saturday.


Sanchez, who was making his second start while filling in forthe injured John David Booty, completed 21-of-38 passes andthrew a touchdown to four different receivers .


It was the sixth straight loss to USC for the Irish, whosuffered their worst home shutout loss since losing, 40-0, toOklahoma in 1956.


Sharpley, who was making his first start of the season in placeof freshman Jimmy Clausen, completed 17-of-33 passes for 101yards with one interception. He was sacked six times.

After a defensive struggle for much of the first quarter, USCrecovered a punt that had bounced off an Irish player on NotreDame's 9-yard line.


The Trojans took advantage on the first play when Sanchez foundtight end Fred Davis in the left corner of the end zone for a7-0 lead with 3:40 remaining in the opening quarter.

USC (6-1) doubled their lead with just under four minutes leftin the first half. Sanchez rolled out and hit Allen Bradfordfor an 8-yard score that capped a 10-play, 79 yard drive andgave the Trojans a 14-0 lead.


A 30-yard field goal by David Buehler made made it 17-0 with 11seconds remaining in the half.


Travis Thomas fumbled on his own 12-yard line on the second playof the second half for the Irish, and Sanchez found StanleyHavili for a 5-yard touchdown to give the Trojans a 24-pointlead two minutes into the third quarter.


Vidal Hazelton hauled in a 48-yard touchdown midway through thethird and freshman Joe McKnight scored his first careertouchdown on a 51-yard run in the fourth quarter to cap thescoring.


Notre Dame (1-7), which came into the game ranked dead lastnationally in total offense, managed just four first downs inthe first half and went three-and-out nine times.

 

NCAAF: USC at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
USC (13) 7 10 14 7 38
NOTRE DAME 0 0 0 0 0 FINAL

USC-TD, F Davis 10 YD PASS FROM M Sanchez (D Buehler
KICK) 11:20 1st Qtr
USC-TD, A Bradford 8 YD PASS FROM M Sanchez (D
Buehler KICK) 11:05 2nd Qtr
USC-FG, D Buehler 30 YD 14:49 2nd Qtr
USC-TD, S Havili 5 YD PASS FROM M Sanchez (D Buehler
KICK) 2:04 3rd Qtr
USC-TD, V Hazelton 48 YD PASS FROM M Sanchez (D
Buehler KICK) 6:12 3rd Qtr
USC-TD, J McKnight 51 YD RUN (D Buehler KICK) 4:03
4th Qtr


USC NOTRE DAME
First downs 24 10
Rushed-yards 36-227 30-48
Passing yards 235 117
Sacked-yards lost 0-0 5-36
Return yards 43 13
Passes 21-38-0 17-33-1
Punts 7-31.7 10-45
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 8-52 2-20
Time of possession 30:15 29:45


Individual Statistics

RUSHING: USC-Joe McKnight 7-65, Chauncey Washington 12-64, Stafon
Johnson 8-47, Stanley Havili 6-31, Mark Sanchez 1-11, Hershel Dennis
2-9. NOTRE DAME-Armando Allen Jr. 11-58, Travis Thomas 4-11, Luke
Schmidt 2-6, Robert Hughes 4-3, Asaph Schwapp 1-1, Evan Sharpley
8-MINUS 31.

PASSING: USC-Mark Sanchez 21-38-235- 0. NOTRE DAME-Evan Sharpley
17-33-117- 1.

RECEIVING: USC-Vidal Hazelton 3-80, Patrick Turner 4-42, Fred Davis
5-40, David Ausberry 3-28, Stanley Havili 3-18, Desmond Reed 1-14,
Allen Bradford 1-8, Chauncey Washington 1-5. NOTRE DAME-Duval Kamara
4-33, John Carlson 4-28, Golden Tate 1-22, Robby Parris 3-15, Will
Yeatman 3-14, George West Jr. 1-6, Travis Thomas 1-MINUS 1.


Att: 80,795</div>

 

SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- In a battle of backupquarterbacks, Evan Sharpley wasn't the answer for Notre Dame'sinept offense. However, Mark Sanchez had no problems forSouthern California.


Sanchez threw for 235 yards and four touchdowns and 13th-rankedUSC held Notre Dame to just 165 yards of offense as the Trojanspounded the Irish, 38-0, on Saturday.


Sanchez, who was making his second start while filling in forthe injured John David Booty, completed 21-of-38 passes andthrew a touchdown to four different receivers .


"I felt really comfortable this week," Sanchez said. "I wascalm. I got the jitters out last week. The team was behind me.The defense did an unbelievable job of just shutting them out.It was a total team effort."


It was the sixth straight loss to USC for the Irish, whosuffered their worst home shutout defeat since losing, 40-0, toOklahoma in 1956.


Sharpley, who was making his first start of the season in placeof freshman Jimmy Clausen, completed 17-of-33 passes for 117yards with one interception. He was sacked five times.

"I think you have to give a lot of credit to their defense,"Sharpley said. "They had a good plan, a good scheme, and theyplayed well."


After a defensive struggle for much of the first quarter, USCrecovered a punt that had bounced off an Irish player on NotreDame's 9-yard line.


The Trojans took advantage on the first play when Sanchez foundtight end Fred Davis in the left corner of the end zone for a7-0 lead with 3:40 remaining in the opening quarter.

USC (6-1) doubled their lead with just under four minutes leftin the first half. Sanchez rolled out and hit Allen Bradfordfor an 8-yard score that capped a 10-play, 79 yard drive andgave the Trojans a 14-0 lead.


"USC is a good football team," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weissaid. "They're well coached, they have good players that playedwell today, and my hats off to them because you see where theyare and you see where we are."


A 30-yard field goal by David Buehler made made it 17-0 with 11seconds remaining in the half.


Travis Thomas fumbled on his own 12-yard line on the second playof the second half for the Irish, and Sanchez found StanleyHavili for a 5-yard touchdown to give the Trojans a 24-pointlead two minutes into the third quarter.


Vidal Hazelton hauled in a 48-yard touchdown midway through thethird and freshman Joe McKnight scored his first careertouchdown on a 51-yard run in the fourth quarter to cap thescoring.


"We were just on our game today," McKnight said. "They are goodteam, but we just took advantage of what was given to us.Great coaches put the players in position to do good things andmake plays, and that's what we did."


Notre Dame (1-7), which came into the game ranked dead lastnationally in total offense, managed just four first downs inthe first half and went three-and-out nine times.


"I think the big thing is on first down we were getting negativeyards more than third down," Weis said. "You run a toss, youlose three; you run an inside run, you lose two; you run ascreen pass, you lose eight.


"If you're going to have success on third down, you need to havesuccess on first down."