2008 Woodie Awards
Notre Dame's Heartbreaking Loss
USC's victory "one of the greatest finishes in the history of college football."
Adrian Wojnarowski
Issue date: 10/21/05 Section: Sports
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The Southern Cal marching band was thundering up the runway, leaving Charlie Weis to swig his bottle of water, reduced to watching that Trojan parade march past him. Here in the concrete gallows of Notre Dame Stadium, Weis had one final speech to make Saturday night.
"Yo ... yo ... shut up," one USC Trojan yelled to his teammates when the Notre Dame coach came walking into the visiting locker room.
"Hey fellas," Weis blurted into celebratory scene, and suddenly the noise started to settle down, because no one could believe what they were seeing here. Yo, yo. Shut up. The Notre Dame coach is here.
"That was a (bleeping) hard-fought battle," Weis barked in a tired, gravely voice. "You're a great football team. I hope you win out."
Weis turned around, walked out the door, one more coach in America unable to beat one of the greatest college football teams in history, one more great football mind on the hard end of USC's historic glory, 34-31.
What Weis and his Notre Dame Fighting Irish were leaving now had been one of the best college football games in years, a masterpiece that wouldn't be done until USC's Matt Leinart had twisted and contorted his body, until Reggie Bush pushed his quarterback over the goal line with three seconds left, grabbing that pot of gold at the end of Notre Dame's rainbow.
It wasn't over until a 6-foot-6, 365-pound Trojan tackle, Taitusi Lutui, laying on his back, could see the line judge coming running toward him, arms in the air, signaling touchdown and started crying his eyes out.
"My God," Lutui said later, "I couldn't get up. I couldn't move. And I couldn't stop crying. I mean, `What did we just do out there?'" The Trojans made history. Again. USC won its 28th consecutive game, staying on course for a third straight national title.
Most of all, this core of Trojan champions, Leinart, Reggie Bush and now New Brunswick's Dwayne Jarrett are going down as one of the great offenses in the history of the sport. This wasn't one of the Trojans' best games, but it turned out to be one of its finest hours.
"Yo ... yo ... shut up," one USC Trojan yelled to his teammates when the Notre Dame coach came walking into the visiting locker room.
"Hey fellas," Weis blurted into celebratory scene, and suddenly the noise started to settle down, because no one could believe what they were seeing here. Yo, yo. Shut up. The Notre Dame coach is here.
"That was a (bleeping) hard-fought battle," Weis barked in a tired, gravely voice. "You're a great football team. I hope you win out."
Weis turned around, walked out the door, one more coach in America unable to beat one of the greatest college football teams in history, one more great football mind on the hard end of USC's historic glory, 34-31.
What Weis and his Notre Dame Fighting Irish were leaving now had been one of the best college football games in years, a masterpiece that wouldn't be done until USC's Matt Leinart had twisted and contorted his body, until Reggie Bush pushed his quarterback over the goal line with three seconds left, grabbing that pot of gold at the end of Notre Dame's rainbow.
It wasn't over until a 6-foot-6, 365-pound Trojan tackle, Taitusi Lutui, laying on his back, could see the line judge coming running toward him, arms in the air, signaling touchdown and started crying his eyes out.
"My God," Lutui said later, "I couldn't get up. I couldn't move. And I couldn't stop crying. I mean, `What did we just do out there?'" The Trojans made history. Again. USC won its 28th consecutive game, staying on course for a third straight national title.
Most of all, this core of Trojan champions, Leinart, Reggie Bush and now New Brunswick's Dwayne Jarrett are going down as one of the great offenses in the history of the sport. This wasn't one of the Trojans' best games, but it turned out to be one of its finest hours.