Irish may finally have the edge
by Matt Shanley
In 2005, when Brady Quinn was at the helm for the Irish, they had their best season since 1988. They started their season with a record of 5-1 and seemed destined for a Bowl Championship bid. They had moved their way up from being an unranked team to being rated the number nine team in the nation. Their offense was rolling, their defense was rocking, and head coach Charlie Weis appeared poised to make his freshman season a memorable one for the title-starved fans in South Bend, Indiana.
Unfortunately for Notre Dame, they just so happened to run into USC in their seventh regular season game. At the time, the Trojans were the most feared team in the nation. Their quarterback, Matt Leinart, was already a Heisman Trophy winner, and their do-it-all halfback Reggie Bush was one of the most dynamic players college football had ever seen. The game went back and forth. Then it went forth and back. It was a defensive struggle for both teams that resulted in a Trojan victory on a questionable no-call when Leinart pushed Bush across the goal line for the score in the game’s closing seconds.
Notre Dame won the remainder of their games until their Fiesta Bowl appearance against Ohio State, however, it can be argued that the team wouldn’t have even been in that bowl game if they had defeated Southern Cal. Since that game in 2005, the Trojans have defeated the Irish by a collective score of 96 points.
Now, Weis and his troops are finally ready to escape the shadow of Pete Carroll’s Trojans.
This season, junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen has emerged into his own as a viable Heisman candidate and his supporting cast isn’t too bad either. Halfback Armando Allen and wide receiver Golden Tate have accumulated over 1200 total yards of offense through five games, and the absence of star receiver Michael Floyd seems to simply make the rest of the team step their game up by a notch or two.
There’s no shortage of talent on the other side of the ball, either. The team has combined for an average of one interception and two sacks per game. In spite of the 119 points they have given up thus far, this defense has proven the ability to shut down opposing teams at will.
It’s obvious that USC is a perennial powerhouse within Division-I college football. They always will be. This year, however, may finally be the year that the Fighting Irish reestablish themselves as one as well.
