Nov. 30--Zaire provides a lift: Notre Dame's offense was going nowhere, but three plays after entering the game, Malik Zaire had the Irish in the end zone. The quarterback job is up in the air at the moment, coach Brian Kelly said, and while Zaire wasn't perfect, he gave Kelly and his staff something to think about before Notre Dame's bowl game.
What are they going to do? The defense was ravaged again by injuries to multiple key contributors. It showed as Trojans quarterback Cody Kessler had his way with a secondary that was primarily playing man coverage to load up on stopping the run. The result was a record day for Kessler, who threw a record six touchdowns against Notre Dame.
Receivers drop the ball: Kelly was effusive this week in his praise of the receiver group, but multiple times during the game the Irish had a case of the drops, including two from normally sure-handed Will Fuller, one from Amir Carlisle and one from Corey Robinson that led to a USC interception.
Bryant steps up: One bright side for Notre Dame was the performance of tailback Greg Bryant, who finished with 79 yards and one touchdown on seven carries. Bryant struggled to stay consistent early in the season and had a propensity to go for the big play instead of taking a sure gain. But he looked like a transformed running back against the Trojans.
