USC tailback Curtis McNeal (22) is tackled by Notre Dame defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore (89) and defensive end Stephon Tuitt (7) in the fourth quarter at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Notre Dame won 22-13.(Photo: Matt Cashore, US Presswire)
2:50AM EST November 25. 2012 - LOS ANGELES – The whole game (against Notre Dame), the whole month (of November) and the whole season (of 2012) pretty much added up to a nightmare for Lane Kiffin and the Southern California Trojans.
But the last five minutes of the Trojans' 22-13 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night – precisely, a three-minute, 17-second stretch late in the fourth quarter that will seem like an eternity in the 7-5 Trojans' offseason of discontent – was an especially horrible sequence of events.
Call it bad clock management.
Call it lack of execution.
Call it bad play-calling.
Call it all of the above, probably.
IRISH WIN: Notre Dame completes unbeaten regular season
BOX SCORE: No. 1 Notre Dame 22, USC 13
The sequence started promisingly enough, with a 53-yard pass from redshirt freshman quarterback Max Wittek, subbing for injured Matt Barkley, to Marqise Lee for a first-and-goal at the Notre Dame 2 with a little less than six minutes to play.
Time for a quick TD, a defensive stop and then a chance at a game-winning field goal, right?
Not so fast.
A false start penalty started the drive. Then a 3-yard run. Then, on two consecutive plays, the Fighting Irish were called for pass interference in the end zone.
That's when the USC follies truly began. On first down from the 1, Wittek plunged into the line for no gain, and the clock continued to run. Again, Wittek was sent into the line. Again, no gain.
Suddenly, the clock was ticking down toward 3:00 and the Trojans still hadn't scored. At this point, Kiffin called timeout.
On third-and-1, Wittek handed off to Curtis McNeal, and the 5-7, 190-pounder was stopped for no gain.
Again the clock continued to run, with Kiffin hanging on to his last timeout.
On fourth-and-1, Wittek threw a pass to fullback Soma Vainuku, who couldn't catch it.
Eight snaps and more than three minutes after a first-and-goal at the 2, the Trojans had no TD, no field goal and no chance to come back.
Notre Dame took over with 2:33 left.
"Our plan didn't work," Kiffin said. "Our plan was to pass to the outside. We weren't able to convert with the fullback on the flat out. That really is the story."
Well, that was part of the story.
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