USC 31, Notre Dame 17.
After two games, Notre Dame‘s 2011 season had already come to an inner, existential struggle between two competing teams. Team A was averaging more than 500 yards per game and had outgained its first two opponents by more than 300 total yards. Team B was 0-2 with five turnovers in each loss, six of them inside the opponents’ 10-yard line. Unless they ripped off ten consecutive wins to finish the regular season, neither team was going to a BCS bowl game.

Which, frankly, was beginning to seem like a very real possibility as the next month broke definitely in favor of “Team A.” The Irish thumped Michigan State, slipped past Pitt, blew out Purdue and hung more points on Air Force than any Notre Dame team has scored on anyone in 15 years. They were installed as 8½-point favorites over USC, at home, the first time they’d been favored to beat the Trojans in a decade. Coach Brian Kelly went out of his way to mark USC — as opposed to, say, Michigan State, Purdue or anyone else who targets the Irish — as “our rival.” And with said rival on hand Saturday night, his team proceeded to lay a fat, nationally televised egg.

And a very familiar one, at that. After being driven into a 17-0 hole in a lopsided first half, “Team B” emerged from the locker room like the hideous Mr. Hyde emerging from the house of Dr. Jekyll. On their first possession of the half, the Irish strung together a 20-play, 72-yard drive that drained more than six minutes from the clock… only to end with a fumble returned 80 yards for a touchdown by USC’s Jawanza Starling, a direct callback to the 96-yard fumble return by South Florida in the season opener. After reviving hopes again with a quick touchdown in response to open the fourth quarter, Notre Dame’s final two possessions ended in a second fumble and an interception, respectively, that set up a short field for USC’s final touchdown and a clock-killing drive consisting entirely of runs by a 180-pound tailback to end the game.

The Irish held the ball for all of one minute, 22 seconds in the fourth quarter, and a little over 20 minutes for the game, en route to season lows in total yards and yards per play. USC players mocked them as quitters. Kelly himself channeled his inner Weis and called out players after the game who “didn’t raise their level of play” to the occasion. They still wake up today in the same place that they were on Sept. 11: At the bottom of the national rankings in turnover margin, smarting in the wake of a loss to an annual rival and soberly deferring BCS expectations for yet another year. The only difference today is that they can’t claim they should have won, if not for those fluky turnovers.

For that, USC deserves credit for turning in its most complete game under Lane Kiffin. The Trojans jumped on Notre Dame early, didn’t turn the ball over, took advantage of the turnovers they got and discovered a consistent running game for the first time this year, just in time to send the Irish off to dreamland in the fourth quarter. If not for a 10-point swing in Notre Dame’s favor on special teams — seven via a first-half kickoff return by ND’s George Atkinson, three on a missed USC field goal early in the fourth — it would have been a straight-up blowout. For a probation-addled team that’s gotten used to squeaking by the likes of Utah and Arizona, it was a statement, and next week’s visit from undefeated Stanford suddenly looks a lot more interesting.

Given the opportunity to make its own statement, Notre Dame reconciled the competing versions of its season in favor of the grim reality of the first two games. At some point, flukes cease to be flukes and become who you are. With another month to go before their next nationally relevant game — also against Stanford — the Irish have officially crossed that line.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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The season’s biggest surprises at midseason.

• THE GOOD. Teams that have come out of nowhere…

Clemson (7-0). Initially, the Tigers’ fast start seemed like a bit of a fluke because they hadn’t left home, but after beating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg to go 5-0 and capture their third consecutive win over a ranked team, Clemson officially cemented its place as one of the nation’s surprise teams. And the legend has continued to grow. Even after struggling with Maryland last week, the Tigers are 4-0 and firmly atop the ACC Atlantic with just a few more roadblocks in the way of a perfect season.

Kansas State (7-0). No one could have predicted Kansas State standing shoulder-to-shoulder atop of the Big 12 standings with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, but the ageless Bill Snyder has the Wildcats calling on their late-nineties selves. And he’s done so by getting the Wildcats back to their roots and doing the little things like having the third-fewest penalties in the Big 12 and the fewest turnovers in the conference. A win against Kansas this weekend sets up a defining visit from Oklahoma that will either put the Wildcats in their place or in the thick of the Big 12 championship race.

Illinois (6-1). Ron Zook was thrown a life preserver after last year’s bowl win, and he’s done more than just stay afloat: The Illini are off to their first 6-1 season since 2001 when they played in the Sugar Bowl. However, their ineffectiveness against an Ohio Sate team that completed just one pass is a little troublesome, especially with Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin still ahead.

Louisiana-Lafayette (6-1). While the Sun Belt isn’t exactly the toughest league in college football, Lafayette‘s turnaround under first-year head coach Mark Hudspeth is actually quite remarkable. The Ragin’ Cajuns are coming off a 3-9 campaign and haven’t have a winning season since 2005. In fact, they haven’t won more than six games since 1993. They’ve already beaten the preseason favorites Florida International and Troy and have just Arkansas State standing between them and the school’s first Sun Belt title and first bowl game as an FBS team.

Arkansas State (5-2). Similar to Louisiana-Lafayette, the winning seasons have been few and far between for the Red Wolves. They’ve won four games in each of the past two seasons and haven’t had a winning season since going 6-5 in 1995. Arkansas State did play in a bowl game in 2005 and figure to be en route to their second as a member of the Sun Belt if the season continues to go as well as it has.

Washington (5-1). Jake Locker‘s replacement — and budding superstar — Keith Price has the Huskies chasing down Stanford and Oregon in the Pac-12 North standings with games against those teams still to play in the next few weeks (Stanford is this weekend). Price is currently completing 69.4 percent of his passes, ranks fifth nationally in quarterback rating and has thrown at least three touchdown passes in every game. Could the Pac-12 have another future Heisman candidate in its midst?

Rutgers (5-1). On paper, the Scarlet Knights are a 3-3 team at best. They’re one of the worst rushing offenses in the country and their total offense produces a meager 332-83 yards per game. Passing efficiency is bad and special teams are pretty terrible, too. Still, Rutgers is a mere two points from being undefeated this season and they’ve accomplished this feat by being fantastic defensively. The Scarlet Knights rank first nationally in turnover margin, second in sacks, fourth in tackles for loss and are holding opponents to just 16 points per game.

• THE BAD. Teams that have made us ashamed…

Central Florida (3-3). The Knights were widely picked to repeat as Conference USA champs, but instead have fallen uncharacteristically flat. After last season, it looked like coach George O’Leary’s team had turned a corner and finally had the potent offense to match their dominating defense, but that offense and special teams have let the team down and consequently, the Knights have suffered losses to Florida International, BYU and SMU last week. Luckily for UCF, Conference USA East is weak and with an opportunity to get back on track with games against East Carolina and Southern Miss, the Knights could find themselves back playing for the title again.

TCU (4-2). The Horned Frogs are proof that a good thing can’t last forever. After having the nation’s top defense for each of the past three seasons, TCU has been woefully bad on that side of the ball and consequently, it has lost more games already this season than it had in the previous two seasons combined. The Horned Frogs are coming off a bye week, which has given them a chance to sort some things out as they head into the thick of the conference season, but winning the Mountain West in its final season in the conference might be a stretch.

Utah (3-3). Moving to the Pac-12 has not been an easy transition for the Utes, who are 0-3 in conference play. Fortunately for Utah, it’s in the weaker half of the conference and will have an opportunity to right the ship as the schedule gets a little easier from here on out. In fact, none of the teams remaining on the Utes schedule have winning overall records.

Mississippi State (3-4). Remember when Mississippi State was ranked and talking all sorts of noise to in-state rival Ole Miss after two straight wins in the Egg Bowl? Those were good times. And while the Bulldogs can still talk mess to Ole Miss, the national ranking ship has sailed. From preseason No. 20 to one of the biggest flops this season, Mississippi State has lost to every ranked team it’s faced, Auburn and needed extra time to beat Louisiana Tech. The next three weeks are a welcome respite with a bye, Kentucky and Tennessee-Martin on the slate. That should give the Bulldogs a little confidence before it faces Alabama and Arkansas ahead of the Egg Bowl.

Florida State (3-3). Every season we embrace Florida State as one of the nation’s elite, only to realize a few weeks into the season that we were duped — again. The Seminoles were perched in everyone’s top 10 this summer with a legitimate shot at playing for a national championship, but, like they have in many recent seasons, they failed to live up to expectations and are now below .500 in conference play. The Seminoles do have the good fortune of playing the three worst teams in the Atlantic during the next three weeks, but catching up to Clemson, or even Wake Forest, will be a big challenge.

• AND THE UGLY. Break out the paper bags…

Ole Miss (2-4). No one had Ole Miss blowing the doors off their competition this year, but few thought the year would be worse than last year’s 4-8 debacle. It’s been worse: The Rebels’ only wins have come against an FCS cupcake (Southern Illinois) and a lackluster edition of Fresno State, and there aren’t many wins in sight down the stretch. After a couple nine-win seasons, the Ole Miss seems to be trending downward, which could mean the end for coach Houston Nutt.

Hawaii (3-3). The WAC was wide open this season with the departure of Boise State to the Mountain West, leaving the Warriors with a golden opportunity to end their final season in the WAC on a high note. Instead, Hawaii fallen flat on its face with losses against some of the nation’s worst teams (UNLV, San Jose State). It’s especially disappointing because the Warriors were touting quarterback Bryant Moniz as a Heisman hopeful and he looked every bit the part in the opening game against Colorado and at times against other inferior competition. Overall, though, Hawaii has lacked the consistency to be considered the WAC favorite anymore. And let’s be honest: Sans Boise State and former Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the entire conference leaves a lot to be desired.

Colorado (1-6): While fans thought the Dan Hawkins years were the worst, it turns out the first year cleaning up after him might be the absolute low point in the school’s history. Colorado could be 3-4, but end-of-game losses to Cal and Washington State sunk this team into a bigger pit and as injuries to key players begin to mount, it’s getting more difficult to get out of it. While there are a couple winnable games remaining on the schedule, the next three weeks against Oregon, Arizona State and USC could get pretty ugly.

Oregon State (1-5): Mike Riley’s team went into this season with a lot of players either returning or not quite back from major injuries. And even though a lot of those players have been folded back into the starting lineup, the team hasn’t quite gelled the way many had hoped. Even the fans are turning on their team, keying players’ cars and leaving them nasty notes. Oregon State hasn’t had many low points during Riley’s tenure, but the last two seasons have not been pretty.

Minnesota (1-5): Nothing has gone quite right for the Golden Gophers this season. The team has been terrible — really terrible — it’s coach has spent a great deal of time in the hospital and when he’s been out, he’s criticized the lack of athleticism he inherited. And things won’t be getting better anytime soon. Coach Jerry Kill has a long way to go to get this team to where it needs to be to be a competitive. Kill may have been a rehabilitator at Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois, but he’s definitely not a miracle worker.

Boston College (1-5): Boston College doesn’t know much about losing seasons, because it hasn’t suffered through one since 1998. In fact, the Eagles have won at least eight games in all but two seasons in that span. So it’s hard to for the B.C. faithful to wrap their brains around how absolutely terrible the Eagles have been this season. They’re not even competitive. The Eagles’ only win came against UMass and its closest loss was a one-point decision against Duke. (Duke!) Otherwise, the Eagles have lost by an average of 16 points. And there aren’t many opportunities left to make things better. It’s very possible Boston College is plummeting toward its worst season since going 0-11 in 1978.

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.

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Instead, it was a 6-foot-3, 191-pound combo guard who had already scored 1,051 career points in college as one of his team’s best players.

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Les Miles can sympathize with Steve Spurrier.

Earlier this week, Spurrier had to kick quarterback Stephen Garcia off the team after Garcia failed an alcohol test. Spurrier had given Garcia multiple chances to stay on the team, but the failed test was a violation of his fifth reinstatement and Spurrier couldn’t give him any more chances.

Miles has been there.

In 2008, he went through something similar with quarterback Ryan Perrilloux. Perrilloux was the MVP of the 2007 SEC championship game, but in May 2008, after three suspensions, Miles had to do what was best for the team and let Perrilloux walk, leaving the Tigers with little experience at quarterback.

“It’s a difficult decision,” Miles told Gannett reporter Glenn Guilbeau when asked about Spurrier’s decision to part ways with Garcia. “It’s not one that I look forward to in any way. You’re hammering wishes and goals and dreams. You’re hammering futures. And it’s a miserable event whether it’s a quarterback or anybody in your program.”

Perrilloux was able to play two seasons at Jacksonville State and had a short stint with the NFL’s New York Giants. Garcia might not be so lucky. He’s a fifth-year senior and while he’ll get a chance to work out for NFL scouts, his trouble at South Carolina will definitely be a concern.

Spurrier said on his radio show Thursday that he hoped someone gave Garcia a chance.

“Heck, I hope he has a chance to play pro football somewhere,” Spurrier said.

While of course Spurrier wants the best for Garcia, he had no choice in his decision to boot him from the team. After multiple chances, Garcia continued to break team rules and in order for the team to move forward, it had to do so without its starting quarterback.

Miles knows this all too well. Perrilloux had been suspended three times and gone through another incident in May before Miles had to weight the good of the team over trying to rehabilitate one player.

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.
“At some point in time, the player is who he is or he adjusts and complies and becomes a greater part of your team,” Miles said. “It becomes clear at some point, and then you have to make the decision. I have no magic there, I promise you. I’m no better equipped to make those decisions.”

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If The State newspaper columnist Ron Morris is waiting for an apology from Steve Spurrier, he might be waiting a long time.

Spurrier said on his weekly Thursday night call-in radio show that he had no regrets about refusing to do his weekly press conference while Morris was in the room.

“I’m not proud of what I did,” Spurrier said. “I’m not apologizing for it. I don’t know if I was right. I don’t know if I was wrong. But I can assure you this. It won’t happen again. Once is enough. That won’t happen again as long as I’m at South Carolina.”

Spurrier was miffed at Morris for a story he wrote back in the spring regarding Spurrier recruiting then-South Carolina point guard Bruce Ellington, who is now a Gamecock receiver, away from the basketball team. So Spurrier called Morris out in front of his peers and told other reporters he would meet with them in another room, or after Morris had left:

“I’m not gonna talk when [Morris] is in here. That’s my right as a head coach. I don’t have to talk to him, and I don’t have to talk to him when he’s in here. So what we’re gonna do, all you TV guys, I’m gonna do a personal interview with you in this other room. And the writers that are still left in here, I’ll come back here and talk with you right after that.

“OK? Everybody for that? What room we got? Media room? OK! Bring your cameras down there and let’s do some one-on-one.”

From the sound of Spurrier’s comments on his radio show, it doesn’t look like he and Morris have kissed and made up, which should make for an interesting postgame after Mississippi State on Saturday.

Will Spurrier continue to postpone press conference’s until Morris is removed from the room or what that just a one-time deal? Not sure what point Spurrier was trying to get across with his stunt, but it’s probably not going to stop reporters who cover his team from writing controversial things, especially since the team continues to give reporters ample ammunition.

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.

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