LOS ANGELES — In the fourth quarter, as the game tightened and the lead dwindled, it seemed as if all of Notre Dame's national following was holding its collective breath. Every second that ticked off the game clock felt like a minute. Every minute felt like an hour.
At stake: a berth in the national championship game and potentially the first undefeated season for Notre Dame since 1988. Only the best season for the Fighting Irish in more than two decades, the best campaign since the days of Lou Holtz, back when Notre Dame symbolized on-field dominance, not television contracts and 6-5 seasons.
As happened often Saturday, the Fighting Irish turned to Kyle Brindza, he of the steeled nerves and golden right leg, the kicker with "composed" scrawled on his left hand. He glanced there before his fifth field goal silenced the capacity crowd at Memorial Coliseum, which gave him more points in the game than Southern California and led to Notre Dame's 22-13 victory.
Funny how it worked out. When the season started, before all the upsets, before this topsy-turvy November, many pundits tabbed Southern California as the nation's top team. Instead, Notre Dame (12-0) came here undefeated and left that way, too. The next time the Fighting Irish play, it will be in the national championship game in early January in the biggest college football contest of all.
The finish here was not without its anxious moments. After Brindza's fifth field goal, U.S.C. (7-5) went right down the field, right to the 1-yard-line, further proof that perfection would not come easily for Notre Dame.
Southern California ran three times into the teeth of the Notre Dame defense. Each time, the Fighting Irish turned the Trojans back. On fourth down, a pass fell incomplete.
The Notre Dame offense took over with 2 minutes 33 seconds left on the clock, a mere formality, the Bowl Championship Series title game now more than a hope; it is now a reality in Coach Brian Kelly's third season at the helm.
Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame's athletic director, said a season like this first seemed possible this summer. He cannot remember the exact date, or the exact month, but at some point, Kelly told him, "We're going to be very good."
Still, Swarbrick felt like the Fighting Irish were still a ways from national championship contention.
"I thought from Day 1 it was next year," he said after the game, near his entourage, which included Joe Theismann, a former Notre Dame star indicative of past glory years. "So this is cool."
While U.S.C. won 9 of the previous 10 games in this rivalry, a one-sided affair in recent years, Notre Dame assumed control Saturday. There would be no upset, only the visiting team, as expected, celebrating on the Trojans' field.
Before kickoff, the crowd showered each U.S.C. senior with applause. It saved its loudest cheers for Matt Barkley, the injured quarterback who passed on N.F.L. riches to return for this final season, once filled with promise, now empty promises. Barkley hugged Coach Lane Kiffin with tears in his eyes. He would watch his final home game from the sideline.
The rest of Saturday's schedule held true to form. Alabama won big. So did Georgia and Florida and Oregon, the teams that resided behind the Fighting Irish. Perhaps that added to the pressure on Notre Dame, even if it changed little in the grand scheme. Win and get in. That was Notre Dame's directive.
The Fighting Irish offense, the team's presumed weakest unit, moved the ball in the first half, moved it swiftly and easily, at least until it reached the red zone. Quarterback Everett Golson completed 14 passes for 181 yards. The speedster Theo Riddick added 69 rushing yards and a score. Brindza made three field goals, including a 52-yarder at the end of the first half. Each time, he told himself to stay composed, to keep his head down and follow through.
If Notre Dame's offense looked better than expected, its defense, a celebrated unit that had allowed 8 touchdowns in its first 11 games, looked worse than its advanced billing. And it was facing a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first start.
The quarterback's name is Max Wittek, and for what he lacked in experience, he made up for in hubris. His gargantuan task: replace Barkley, a probable first-round N.F.L. draft pick, in perhaps the single most important game of the college football season so far, on national television, in front of a packed Coliseum, against a defense as feared as any in the nation.
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