Irish fend off Trojans to finish unbeaten season

Notre Dame 24, USC 17

LOS ANGELES — Ian Book passed for 352 yards, Dexter Williams went 52 yards on a goahead touchdown run and No. 3 Notre Dame completed an unbeaten regular season and likely secured a spot in the College Football Playoff with a 24-17 over longtime rival Southern California on Saturday night.

Chris Finke caught an early TD pass for the Fighting Irish (12-0), who showed playofflevel tenacity in rallying from an early 10-point deficit, their largest of the season. Tony Jones Jr. then took a short pass 51 yards for a touchdown with 3:09 to play to finish off Notre Dame’s 10th perfect regular season since 1945, the first since 2012.

Notre Dame is all but certain to be chosen for the four-team playoff, and this win could keep the Irish away from powerhouse Alabama in the first postseason game.

Williams rushed for 97 yards as the Irish overcame a slow start in the 90th edition in this famed intersectional rivalry. Notre Dame didn’t score until Finke’s TD catch shortly before halftime, but the Irish ran off 24 consecutive points and shut out USC in the second half until Tyler Vaughns’ TD catch with 48 seconds to play.

J.T. Daniels passed for 349 yards for the Trojans (5-7), who will stay home for the bowl season after their first losing season since 2000. Vaughns caught 12 passes for 120 yards in what might have been the final game for coach Clay Helton, who is under pressure after the Trojans lost five of their final six games in a dismaying collapse.

After USC won eight straight over Notre Dame in the 2000s, the Irish have claimed the Jeweled Shillelagh in six of the last nine meetings in this classic college football matchup. Notre Dame is the first road team to win in the series since 2012, when the Irish also completed an unbeaten regular season with a victory at the Coliseum.