Irish eye playoff
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 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’s 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 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 win at the Coliseum.
Notre Dame had only trailed twice at any point beforehand this season, but Williams bounced his 52-yard go-ahead run down the USC sideline shortly after halftime.
Justin Yoon set a Notre Dame record with his 58th career field goal late in the third, putting the Irish up 17-10.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dwayne Haskins threw five touchdown passes, freshman Chris Olave scored twice and blocked a punt that was returned for a TD and No. 10 Ohio State continued its mastery over No. 4 Michigan with a recordsetting 62-39 victory Saturday that sends the Buckeyes to the Big Ten championship game.
The Wolverines were two victories away from their first conference championship since 2004 and a trip to the College Football Playoff, facing an Ohio State team that has looked discombobulated on defense and one-dimensional on offense much of the season.
Looking to snap a sixgame skid against the Buckeyes (11-1, 8-1) and get coach Jim Harbaugh his first victory in four tries in the rivalry game, the Wolverines (10-2, 8-1) wilted.
In the 115th meeting between two of college football’s most storied rivals, Ohio State scored more points than it ever had against Michigan — more points than any team has ever scored in regulation against Michigan. The previous high was 58 by Cornell in 1891.
And now, despite all the dysfunction at Ohio State this season — both on and off the field — the Buckeyes will face No. 19 Northwestern next week in Indianapolis with a chance to repeat as Big Ten champs and maybe even squeeze into the playoff.
“I think we definitely showed the country the Ohio State Buckeyes are still here,” offensive tackle Isaiah Prince said.