Notes written in the last seconds of the game: 64 freaking yards to his roommate on fourth and 12! Then pretend you’re gonna down it and Leinart sneaks over the top!!!!! WOWOWOWOWWOW!!!! Unbelievable. Why did USC get a celebration penalty but ND didn’t after Leinart’s fumble? What a win!
Attention Downtown Athletic Club: Three TDs for Reggie Bush but Matt took over in the end–my Heisman vote is still undecided.
(Checking the post-game reports, emotion got the better of me. Leinart threw for 61 yards and it was fourth and 9.)
The victory today has to be one of the most exciting football games I remember watching. Like the Notre Dame players and fans. All the hype about ND ending big win streaks, the special kelly green uniforms, the celebrity alumni pumping up the Friday night pep rally, maybe was going to come true.
The game looked to be over when Leinart was stopped short of the goal with USC having no timeouts. I watched the clock count down to zero and was totally dejected that after the brilliant catch and run by Jarrett we couldn’t get the last twelve yards. The ND crowd were racing all over the field, the Trojans were looking downcast.
But I saw Pete Carroll plus a couple of assistant coaches and players trying to get to the referees, then the TV guys must have gotten the message in their headsets, ABC shows the replay and sure enough Leinart fumbled the ball out of bounds with seven seconds left on the clock.
Since the Fighting Irish are our biggest football rivals this was starting to smell much sweeter. The refs got all the celebrants off the field, reset the clock to seven seconds and gave us the ball first and goal at the one. Leinart pretends he’s going to down it, to stop the clock so we can organize the real try but instead takes the snap and makes like a power fullback, ploughing into the line and rolling off a tackle to spin in. Six points baby, 34-31 USC.
Now it’s really over, the streak still runs, and Irish eyes are not smiling tonight.
BillSaysThis 