Edwards-Led Notre Dame Crushes Usc

This was supposed to be the year Southern Cal finally beat Notre Dame. But the Trojans didn’t even come close.

Marc Edwards ran for three touchdowns, threw for a two-point conversion and rushed for another two-pointer as No. 17 Notre Dame pounded No. 5 Southern Cal 38-10 Saturday in South Bend, Ind., to extend its unbeaten streak against the Trojans to 13 games.

The Fighting Irish ran for 191 yards and four TDs against a highly rated USC defense that was giving up only 9.5 points and 81 rushing yards per game. And Notre Dame’s much-maligned defense warmed up on a cold, dreary day, holding Southern Cal 24 points below its average and contributing a safety in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we played outstanding,” Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said. “This is a very good Southern Cal team. I thought if they got by us, they would have a very good chance of winning the national championship.”

Holtz, still recovering from spinal surgery, coached most of the game from the press box. He got a big cheer when he came down to the sideline after Notre Dame (6-2) scored its final touchdown with 4:53 left in the game.

Southern Cal (6-1) is 0-12-1 against Notre Dame since 1982, including last year’s 17-17 tie. It was the Trojans’ worst loss to the Irish since a 37-3 defeat in 1985.

“It’s obvious we played a bad game and Notre Dame played a good game,” USC coach John Robinson said. “The thing that decided this game was their ability to run at us.”

Notre Dame converted 15 of 20 third-down chances, including 10 of its first 11.

“We just didn’t stop them on third down,” Robinson said. “They overwhelmed us, no doubt about it.”

The Trojans pulled to 21-10 on Adam Rendon’s 25-yard field goal early in the third quarter and had a chance to get closer later in the period, but Larry Parker’s 59-yard punt return for an apparent touchdown was nullified by a clipping penalty.

“The turning point could have been the punt return that was called back,” Robinson said.

Notre Dame pulled away in the fourth quarter with a safety, a 2-yard touchdown pass from Ron Powlus to Pete Chryplewicz and a 1-yard TD run by Edwards. The Irish got the safety when Kory Minor tackled USC quarterback Kyle Wachholtz in the end zone.

Edwards had a hand in 22 of Notre Dame’s 38 points and gained 82 yards on 17 carries. The junior fullback was carried off the field by his teammates.

“I didn’t win this game. The team won this game, the defense won this game,” Edwards said.

Southern Cal, which allowed only three rushing touchdowns in its first six games, gave up three TDs on the ground in the first half.

“We weren’t tackling like the defense we are,” tackle Darrell Russell said. “We’re an attacking defense, and their offense was designed to go against an attacking defense.”

Southern Cal star Keyshawn Johnson caught six passes for 122 yards and a touchdown, but was not a major factor.

Notre Dame 38, USC 10

Southern Cal 0 7 3 0 - 10

Notre Dame 6 15 0 17 - 38

ND-Edwards 9 run (kick failed) USCJohnson 17 pass from Wachholtz (Rendon kick)

ND-Edwards 2 run (Powlus pass from Edwards)

ND-Denson 4 run (Kopka kick) USCFG Rendon 25

ND-Safety, Minor tackled Wachholtz in end zone

ND-Chryplewicz 2 pass from Powlus (Edwards run)

ND-Edwards 1 run (Kopka kick)

A-59,075.

USC ND First downs 20 23 Rushes-yards 29-101 56-191 Passing 278 189 Return Yards 115 100 Comp-Att-Int 22-40-2 18-29-1 Punts 4-41 4-30 Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-1 Penalties-Yards 7-39 4-19 Time of Possession 24:49 35:11

RUSHINGSouthern Cal, Washington 19-69, Sermons 4-28, Otton 1-9, Wachholtz 5-(minus 5). Notre Dame, Denson 27-95, Edwards 17-82, Powlus 7-6, Mayes 1-5, Spencer 1-3, Kinder 2-2, Stokes 1-(minus 2).

PASSINGSouthern Cal, Wachholtz 14-23-1-168, Otton 8-17-1-110. Notre Dame, Powlus 18-29-1-189.

RECEIVINGSouthern Cal, Johnson 6-122, McWilliams 4-65, Miller 3-28, Sermons 3-18, Barnum 3-8, Parker 2-29, Allred 1-8. Notre Dame, Edwards 4-30, Mosley 3-51, Denson 3-36, Chryplewicz 3-24, Mayes 2-22, Wallace 2-21, Stafford 1-5.

UCLA 42, (23) Stanford 28

Karim Abdul-Jabbar ran for 261 yards and four touchdowns as the Bruins rallied for a win at Stanford, Calif., despite four touchdown passes from the Cardinal’s Mark Butterfield.

Abdul-Jabbar had scoring runs of 9, 1, 10 and 5 yards for the Bruins, who trailed 21-7 at halftime. Cade McNown had a 28-yard touchdown pass to Tod McBride and ran 11 yards for another UCLA score.

Butterfield, who was 17 of 39 for 221 yards, had scoring passes of 1 yard to Greg Comella, 20 yards to Mark Harris, 7 yards to Greg Clark and 10 yards to Brian Manning. He was intercepted twice.

Abdul-Jabbar’s 42 carries broke the school record of 40 he set in 1993 against Stanford. He came within 13 yards of Theotis Brown’s UCLA record of 274 yards set in a 1978 game against Oregon.

Abdul-Jabbar’s previous rushing high was 187 yards, set two years ago at Stanford.

UCLA 7 0 21 14 - 42

Stanford 7 14 7 0 - 28

Stan-Comella 1 pass from Butterfield (Abrams kick) UCLAAbdul-Jabbar 9 run (Merten kick)

Stan-Harris 20 pass from Butterfield (Abrams kick)

Stan-Clark 7 pass from Butterfield (Abrams kick) UCLAMcNown 11 run (Merten run) UCLAAbdul-Jabbar 1 run (Merten kick)

Stan-Manning 10 pass from Butterfield (Abrams kick) UCLAMcBride 28 pass from McNown (Merten kick) UCLAAbdul-Jabbar 10 run (Merten kick) UCLAAbdul-Jabbar 5 run (Merten kick)

A-45,075.

UCLA Stan First downs 34 24 Rushes-yards 55-312 43-168 Passing 150 221 Return Yards 28 7 Comp-Att-Int 15-27-1 17-39-2 Punts 5-43 6-36 Fumbles-Lost 2-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 2-21 5-54 Time of Possession 31:37 28:23

RUSHINGUCLA, Abdul-Jabbar 42-261, McNown 10-52, Caldwell 1-0, Milliner 2-(minus 1). Stanford, Mitchell 18-68, Bookman 12-57, Butterfield 8-33, Comella 3-6, Salina 2-4.

PASSINGUCLA, McNown 15-27-1-150. Stanford, Butterfield 17-39-2-221.

RECEIVINGUCLA, Jordan 5-43, Ayers 3-34, McBride 2-37, McElroy 2-20, Grieb 1-12, Scott 1-6, Abdul-Jabbar 1-(minus 2). Stanford, Manning 5-61, Harris 4-70, Clark 3-37, Kirwan 1-36, Mitchell 1-11, Evans 1-3, Bookman 1-2, Comella 1-1.

California 13, Oregon St. 12

In Corvallis, Ore., Pat Barnes avoided a sack and scrambled into the end zone with 6:40 left, lifting the Golden Bears over the Beavers.

After the touchdown, Barnes appeared to spike the ball, and the officials slapped him with his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the game, an automatic ejection.

Barnes hit 11 of 28 passes for 134 yards and one interception in the Golden Bears’ first conference victory of the season.

California 6 0 0 7 - 13

Oregon St 6 6 0 0 - 12

CALRutherford 8 run (kick failed) OSUReynolds 1 run (kick blocked) OSULund FG 36 OSULund FG 38 CALBarnes 2 run (Longwell kick)

A-27,573

Cal OSU First downs 13 16 Rushes-yards 41-103 51-197 Passing 134 65 Return yards 3 73 Comp-Att-Int 11-28-1 5-17-1 Punts 11-41 6-36 Fumbles-lost 2-0 5-3 Penalties-yards 14-132 7-50 Time of possession 32:20 27:40

RUSHINGCalifornia, Rutherford 26-70, Smith 8-11, Tavake 1-4, McGonigal 2-minus 1, Barnes 4-minus 18. Oregon St, Alexander 24-53, Stewart 2-48, Reynolds 13-26, Thomas 8-22, Olford 4-14.

PASSINGCalifornia, Barnes 11-28-1 134. Oregon St, Alexander 5-17-1 65.

RECEIVINGCalifornia, Benjamin 3-40, Uwaezuoke 3-46, Shaw 3-33, Gonzalez 2-15. Oregon St, Cross 3-41, Kuykendall 1-9, Reynolds 1-15.