Irish Turn Back the Clock, Finish USC in Green, 37-3

SOUTH BEND, Ind. —  Notre Dame Coach Gerry Faust was asked during the week whether his team would wear green jerseys against USC instead of the traditional blue garb.

Faust said that the Irish would not be adorned in green on the opening kickoff of Saturday’s game. He told the truth, but not all of it. It turned out that Notre Dame was clad in green, but not until the start of the second half.

It was an emotional gimmick the Irish didn’t seem to need. Notre Dame led at the time, 27-0, on its way to a crushing 37-3 victory before a capacity crowd of 59,075.

The game went downhill for the Trojans on the opening kickoff. Flanker Randy Tanner fumbled at his own 15-yard line, Notre Dame cornerback Troy Wilson recovered at the two--and USC never recovered.

Notre Dame cashed in on the easy scoring opportunity, and the rout was on. It was USC’s worst margin of defeat since it lost to Notre Dame, 51-0, in 1966.

Faust, the beleaguered Notre Dame coach whose job is reportedly in jeopardy, pulled the green-jersey routine for the second time against USC.

In 1983, the Irish wore green at the start of the game and beat USC, 27-6. Dan Devine instigated the green-jersey craze in 1977 against USC, and the Irish responded with a 49-19 win.

USC Coach Ted Tollner said his team was whipped in every phase of the game and didn’t dwell on Faust’s wardrobe selection.

Asked if he thought that Faust was rubbing it into his team with a substantial lead, Tollner said:

“I didn’t take it that way. I think they had planned to wear the green jerseys no matter what the score was. We were responsible for our embarrassment. If we had taken care of our own program, we wouldn’t have been behind, 27-0, at halftime.”

Some USC players weren’t affronted, or didn’t seem to care that Notre Dame switched uniforms. But others were upset, notably senior cornerback Matt Johnson.

“It really bugs me,” Johnson said. “It looked like they were rubbing it in. If things were reversed, it would be like our defensive backs coming out in the second half dangling towels with our names on them.

“Pulling something like that was unnecessary. You could call it bush.”

Jeff Bregel, USC’s weakside guard, said that Faust’s ploy was “childish.” But split end Hank Norman said that the green jerseys had a reverse psychological effect, pumping up the Trojans.

It wasn’t evident, though, as the Irish outscored USC in a tame second half, 10-3.

Faust, in defending his green-jersey selection, said he didn’t think a 27-0 lead was safe against an explosive offensive team like USC and against a quarterback of Sean Salisbury’s passing ability.

The Notre Dame coach didn’t sound as if he had followed USC closely this season. The Trojans have not been a big-play, catch-up team. They have depended mainly on a running game and long drives.

Salisbury acknowledged as much after Saturday’s game when he said: “We’re not a Boston College, Doug Flutie-type team. And when we got so far behind, we had to get out of our game plan.”

So Notre Dame, which got off to a shaky start with a 1-3 record, is now 3-3. So is USC, which is showing signs of reverting to 1983, when it was 4-6-1 in Tollner’s first season.

The Trojans were the consensus preseason choice to win the Pacific 10 championship with a mainly veteran team. But they’re struggling now.

Tollner has yet to beat Notre Dame in three attempts as USC’s coach. He’s also 0-2 against UCLA, making him 0-5 against the Trojans’ two traditional rivals.

“There are no excuses for us losing like we did today,” Tollner said. “We were ready mentally and physically, but Notre Dame came out and just pounded us. The opening-kickoff fumble set the stage for the whole game.”

Tanner not only lost the ball when he was smashed by free safety George Streeter but was also carried off the field on a stretcher. He tore a tendon in his left knee and will undergo surgery today.

The USC flanker was five yards deep in the end zone when he caught the ball and, under the circumstances, should have stayed there, accepting a touchback, according to Tollner.

After Notre Dame’s fumble recovery, tailback Allen Pinkett got the touchdown for the Irish on an easy two-yard sweep, and the Trojans were never in the game.

Notre Dame drove 71 yards to a touchdown before the first quarter ended, scoring on quarterback Steve Beuerlein’s six-yard rollout.

John Carney kicked a 26-yard field goal early in the second quarter; fullback Frank Stams made it 24-0 on a five-yard run, and Carney added another field goal, of 33 yards, with 35 seconds left in the first half.

Pinkett, Notre Dame’s all-time leading ground-gainer, frustrated the USC defense with his quick-hitting, accelerating runs. He gained 110 yards in 28 carries against a team that was ranked seventh nationally in defending against the run. USC had allowed an average of only 82.8 rushing yards a game against five previous opponents.

USC seemed vulnerable in the middle of its defense, where nose guard Tony Colorito usually patrols. Colorito, who has a severely sprained left ankle, tried to play but lasted only two plays, hobbling off the field in the opening minutes. Sophomore Gary Willison was his replacement.

“Of course, you miss a player of Tony’s caliber,” Tollner said. “He’s our best defensive player on the front seven. But they lost some key players, too (defensive tackles Wally Kleine and Matt Dingens). They just did a better job of adjusting than we did.”

USC defensive tackle Matt Koart said he wasn’t certain how Colorito’s loss affected the defense, because Willison was often being double-teamed.

Although the outcome would seem to indicate otherwise, Koart said that he wasn’t contained, adding that he likes to play against a big, physical team like Notre Dame. If the Irish weren’t dramatically more physical than USC Saturday on an impeccable day (72 degrees, clear skies) in the Midwest, they were certainly more efficient.

When the game was on the line in the first half, the Trojans couldn’t stop the Irish, nor could they close the gap with their offense.

Two fourth-down gambles by Tollner failed. One was with three yards to go at the Notre Dame 42-yard line in the second quarter, when fullback Kennedy Pola gained only two yards.

The Trojans weren’t burned on that lapse, but the other fourth-down failure led to Notre Dame’s third touchdown. Tailback Aaron Emanuel tried to dive over a stack of players with about a foot to go for a first down at the Irish 45-yard line and didn’t make it. Notre Dame then swept 55 yards to a touchdown with its second team, no less.

Faust has used his reserves the entire season in such situations, and they were effective against the Trojans. Stams, a lumbering-type fullback, got the short-yardage touchdown while breaking two tackles.

USC didn’t threaten much and wasted a 67-yard advance in the first quarter when Don Shafer’s 34-yard field-goal attempt went wide.

If USC was to get back into the game at halftime, it had to get some quick scores early in the third quarter.

One opportunity was missed at the outset of the second half when safety Jerome Tyler almost intercepted a Beuerlein pass on the Notre Dame 37 with a clear field ahead of him.

USC did drive to Shafer’s 39-yard field goal, but that didn’t make much of a dent in the deficit at 27-3.

Carney matched the field goal in the third quarter after tailback Fred Crutcher fumbled at his own 38-yard line and the Irish recovered.

The Trojans’ last chance to make a respectable showing fizzled when Emanuel lost a fumble inside the Notre Dame five-yard line with nine minutes remaining.

Although USC gained only 102 yards rushing, it was a misleading statistic because Salisbury was trying to catch up by passing.

Salisbury performed competently, considering that USC isn’t programmed as a big-play team. He completed 21 of 34 passes for 191 yards while having one pass intercepted. Beuerlein, the former Servite High star, attempted only 14 passes, completing 7 for 82 yards with 1 interception.

Salisbury said that USC wasn’t confused by Notre Dame’s tactic of using five linebackers and only three defensive linemen. In fact, the Trojans generally seemed puzzled that they didn’t make more of a game out of it.

From the Notre Dame side, there was no conciliatory feeling for the Trojans.

“As for me, I don’t like USC,” nose tackle Eric Dorsey said. “The way I looked at it, we could have rubbed it in their faces.”

Some Trojans thought Notre Dame tried to do just that with its green fashion show in the second half.