Kyren Williams established season highs of 138 rushing yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 13 Notre Dame to a 31-16 victory over Southern California on Saturday night at South Bend, Ind.
Jack Coan completed 20 of 28 passes for 189 yards, one touchdown and one interception for the Fighting Irish (6-1). Backup quarterback Tyler Buchner rushed for a touchdown, Avery Davis caught a scoring pass and Bo Bauer had a key interception for Notre Dame.
Keaontay Ingram rushed for a season-best 138 yards and one touchdown, and Drake London caught 15 passes for 171 yards for USC (3-4). Kedon Slovis completed 27 of 37 passes for 299 yards and lost a fumble in addition to the interception.
The Trojans have lost each of their last five visits to South Bend, their longest such skid since dropping seven in a row from 1983-95.
Notre Dame standout safety Kyle Hamilton injured his right leg in the first quarter and didn’t return. He was seen sporting a brace and crutches as he walked off the field at halftime.
Isaiah Foskey recorded two sacks and forced Slovis to fumble on the latter one as the Irish won despite being outgained 424-383.
The Trojans trailed by 21 points entering the fourth quarter before staging a comeback to narrow the gap.
Ingram scored on a 4-yard run on the second play of the final stanza. Just over six minutes later, Darwin Barlow scored on a 3-yard run, but Parker Lewis was wide left on the extra point to leave USC behind by eight points.
But Notre Dame responded with an eight-play, 75-yard drive. Buchner capped it with a 3-yard scoring run to give the Irish a 31-16 advantage with 4:52 remaining.
Foskey’s sack and forced fumble was recovered by TaRiq Bracy at the USC 17-yard line with 2:45 left as Notre Dame finished off the victory.
Notre Dame led 17-3 at halftime despite the fact London had nine receptions for 109 yards.
The Fighting Irish struck first when Coan tossed a 4-yard scoring pass to Davis with 4:09 left in the first quarter.
The Notre Dame defense set up the team’s next three points as Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa blocked Slovis’ pass and it was intercepted by Bauer, who returned it 79 yards to the Trojans’ 4-yard line. The Irish settled for a 21-yard field goal by Jonathan Doerer early in the second quarter to hold a 10-0 lead.
USC got on the scoreboard when Lewis booted a 33-yard field goal with 7:29 left in the half. Williams ran in from the 5 three-plus minutes later to give Notre Dame the 14-point edge.
–Field Level Media
