Notre Dame’s defense was under pressure in the final minutes with a seven-point lead, facing Southern California’s Jayden Maiava, who threw a back-shoulder pass toward Kyron Hudson. Christian Gray was quick to intercept it, maintaining his balance after a spin, and ran it back for a touchdown that will be remembered in Notre Dame history.
The Fighting Irish (11-1) hadn’t faced many tough situations since their only loss, but they handled the pressure well in this big rivalry game, the 95th meeting between the two teams. With the College Football Playoff looming, Notre Dame is confident it’s ready for what’s ahead.
Gray’s 99-yard interception return for a touchdown with 3:39 left, and Xavier Watts’ 100-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:18 remaining, sealed a 49-35 win for Notre Dame. Riley Leonard threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another score, helping Notre Dame win their 10th straight game against the persistent Trojans (6-6). The Irish have now won six of the last seven matchups in this famous rivalry, keeping the Jeweled Shillelagh trophy for another year.
“The statement we made was we won our rivalry game against a dang good football team,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman said. “And that was the only statement I wanted to make tonight.”
Notre Dame led 35-21 early in the fourth quarter, but USC’s Ja’Kobi Lane caught his second touchdown pass of the game with 8:43 remaining. After a stop by the Trojans’ defense, Maiava moved USC to the Notre Dame 21-yard line, looking to tie the game. However, Gray intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown, changing the course of the game. Maiava tried again, but Watts intercepted another pass in the end zone and ran it back for the game-clinching touchdown.
Notre Dame made history as the first team in the 21st century to have two 99-yard interception returns for touchdowns in one game, with both touchdowns coming less than 2.5 minutes apart.
After a victory in Los Angeles for the first time since 2018, Notre Dame is headed to the first-ever 12-team playoff. However, Freeman wanted his players to take a moment to appreciate their success since their tough loss to Northern Illinois earlier in the season. “This is what it’s all about,” Freeman said. “Proud of these guys and the fight they put on. … They’re resilient. They battled. They’re never out of the fight, and that’s what I love about them.”
Jadarian Price ran for 111 yards and a touchdown for Notre Dame, while Jeremiyah Love added 99 yards and a score. Eli Raridon and Mitchell Evans caught touchdown passes from Duke transfer Leonard, who had 155 yards passing and continued his strong finish to the season.
“Every single week, these guys prepare their tails off,” Leonard said. “This team, we’ll be very ready and very healed up for this playoff game coming up.”
Maiava, in his first loss as USC’s starter, passed for 360 yards and rushed for two touchdowns. USC (6-6) lost five of their last eight games, ending another disappointing regular season under coach Lincoln Riley. Lane caught his third touchdown pass with 13 seconds left, but the Trojans couldn’t take a lead in the fourth quarter, the first time that happened all season.
“We had a couple of opportunities to make some competitive plays there in the second half, and they made a couple more of them,” Riley said. “We’ve made massive progress on defense in every way you can measure it, but certainly today wasn’t our best.”
USC’s 1,100-yard rusher, Woody Marks, injured himself on a 9-yard run early in the game and didn’t return, ending his 56-game streak of consecutive receptions. Riley acknowledged Marks’ absence had an impact, but still credited his other running backs for making important plays.
The first half was closely contested in front of a large crowd. Love made an impressive hurdle over Kamari Ramsey, setting up Raridon’s 12-yard touchdown catch just before halftime. However, USC quickly answered by driving 78 yards in 31 seconds to tie the game at 21, with Lane beating Gray for a 12-yard touchdown.
