Sunday Leftovers From USC-Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Observations and opinions on Saturday's USC-Notre Dame clash:

Sure, Notre Dame came close, but imagine how much better quarterback Matt Barkley will be 13 months from now in the Los Angeles Coliseum. By the way, listening to both Pete Carroll and Barkley speaking to the media after the game, it sounds as if the USC head coach has engineered his own Mini-Me.

Here is a portion of what Carroll had to say about Barkley, who after all did toss for 380 yards, is 5-0 as a starter and has won on the road in Columbus, Berkeley and South Bend: "Matt Barkley is really something,'' Carroll said. "The plays he's capable of making, there's no limit for him. He's just remarkable -- there's no other way to describe it. There's no one else to compare him to in our history. He's so poised, so comfortable in the arena. He has this great inner strength."

And you thought Charlie Weis had a man-crush on Jimmy Clausen ...

-- But it isn't really about Barkley versus Clausen. As the last two weeks have shown with clarity, Manti Te'o is a difference-maker on defense. Now, if Weis could only attract a few more such players, then Notre Dame could begin to consider itself elite.

-- We all love the magic that Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate can do, but hoping for long-term success while allowing 30-plus points per game (as the Irish have now done in four of their six games this season) is like trying to appear fit via crash dieting as opposed to exercise. The best teams in the nation, year in and year out, play outstanding defense. The Irish do not, though having Te'o on the field is a step in the right direction. Now they need at least two players with that type of motor on the defensive line, which I imagine is exactly what Weis is telling five-star defensive end Chris Martin when they meet today.

-- Robby Parris had a team-high nine catches yesterday. Parris had nine catches in 2008. Four of Parris' nine catches on Saturday were third- or fourth-down conversions. You have heard me say it many times before, that Parris is criminally underused. The 6-3 senior is a terrific possession receiver, and with key fourth-quarter receptions versus both Purdue and USC, he has proven his worth. Parris now has 16 receptions on the season, and there's an outside shot in the remainder of this season that he'll match his receptions totals from the previous three (39).

-- Four different Notre Dame offensive players took a direct snap in the first quarter on Saturday: Jimmy Clausen, John Goodman, Eric Maust and Robert Hughes. In the final three quarters, Clausen took every snap. Does head coach Charlie Weis become conservative once he has run through his opening, pre-scripted plays?

-- The longest run from scrimmage for the Irish yesterday came courtesy of sophomore wide receiver John Goodman, who took a direct snap in the first quarter and rambled 13 yards. If you had Goodman in your "Irish Long Rush Fantasy Sweepstakes", good for you, man. You probably had Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby, didn't you?

-- For the first time in seven games, safety Kyle McCarthy did not lead the Irish in tackles. Freshman linebacker Manti Te'o, who had eight, tied fellow linebacker Brian Smith for the team high. Te'o has started two games and in each has tied for the team lead in tackles. He had ten against Washington, equal to McCarthy.

-- Give the Irish this credit: Not once during the post-game interviews did I hear a player mention the name "Michael Floyd". What a difference the gifted sophomore might have made yesterday, particularly on that final drive.

-- Teo's hit on USC quarterback Matt Barkley -- the most coveted defensive recruit smacking the most coveted offensive recruit of a year ago -- was eerily reminiscent of the shot former Trojan linebacker Rey Maualuga landed on UCLA quarterback Patrick Cowan in 2006.

-- Trojan tight end Anthony McCoy is a beast. And kudos to Barkley for lofting the perfect pass for McCoy to run under on that 60-yard completion on third down.

-- Golden Tate's final catch on Saturday reminded me a lot of New York Giant David Tyree's catch in Super Bowl XLII. Tate may well be the best gamer the Irish have had since Raghib "Rocket" Ismail.

-- If you're scoring at home, USC defensive end Everson Griffen was flagged 15 yards for flexing his biceps with his arms above his neck. One series later Te'o was not flagged at all for flexing his triceps with his arms below his neck.

-- I kid you not, before yesterday's game I asked Pete Sampson of Irish Illustrated, "Is it just me or is Gary Gray the best cornerback the Irish have this season?" Pete did not disagree and Gray did not disappoint, with six tackles (third-best after Te'o and Smith) and a game-changing interception midway through the fourth quarter.
"I think he'll be playing a lot more," Weis said afterward.

Let's go one step further. Notre Dame's two best coverage defensive backs may be its two colors: Gray and Brown, as in Gary Gray and Sergio Brown. A media pal texted late in Saturday's game, "Why doesn't Sergio Brown start?" Granted, Brown is the first player on the field in any nickel package, but the question is valid.

-- Pete Carroll could stand to hold his players more accountable for the slew of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties than simply calling them "knucklehead plays". That said, Taylor Mays' hit on Armando Allen early in the fourth quarter was clean. Allen was slowing down and going out of bounds after making the reception, but it sure looked as if he was still inbounds when Mays clocked him.

-- Yes, it was a spirited comeback, not unlike the 1986 game in Los Angeles when the Irish erased USC's 37-20 fourth-quarter lead to win, 38-37, on a game-ending John Carney field goal. That victory not only kick-started Tim Brown's '87 Heisman campaign but it was the turning point of the Lou Holtz era.

That said, the Irish deserve criticism for mismanaging the clock in the final moments. There were 35 seconds remaining after the Parris fourth-down catch and the personal foul on Mays moved the ball to the USC 8. One play later only nine seconds remained.

"That was about the number of plays we were counting on having in that sequence right there," Weis said, while Clausen echoed, "I saw the clock the whole time. We were trying to get plays in and out."

Granted, it was chaos. But the Irish were home and the fact remains that when the game ended -- and I doubt that second gets put back on the clock, correct though the call was, if we're not in South Bend -- they still had one more down and one more timeout remaining. How is that anything but poor game management given that they allowed 26 seconds to elapse on one play before the final troika of plays beginning at 0:09?

-- In the waning moments, for a change of pace, I stood on the visitors sideline. Had a cush spot directly in front of the Song Girls and Shelley Smith of ESPN and directly to the left of Hall of Fame offensive tackle Anthony Munoz. Former USC quarterback Rodney Peete and I tried to guess whom Clausen would throw to before each play. It was, in short, pretty good.

When the clock struck 0:00 -- the second time -- Carroll began walking onto the field. That is, farther onto the field. No coach ignores the coaching box rule more egregiously than Pete, but that's another story.

Anyway, Carroll made it to about the hashmarks and then, looking as if he'd lost his wallet, sprinted back to the USC sideline at about midfield. He found an older man wearing a camouflage hunter's cap and vigorously shook his hand. I rushed over to ask the man his name and he said, "Gene Autry."

Really? Isn't he dead, I thought? But in the chaos of it all, I just looked at the man dumbly.

Then he took pity on me. "Bud Grant," he replied.

The old Minnesota Vikings coach probably thought I'd never heard of him. But, as a Dallas Cowboy fan growing up in the 70's, of course I knew who Bud Grant was. Here is what was so unbelievable. Bud Grant looks exactly the same as he did in 1975. Seriously, I wonder if he is a vampire. Only Abe Vigoda has aged less in the past 35 years, but that's only because Vigoda looked one step from death's door even then.

-- In the tunnel after the game Weis, just before entering the Notre Dame locker room, found Mays and McCoy of USC, shook their hands and congratulated them. Both players looked Weis in the eyes and said, "Thank you, sir."