Forget the stuffing, ND made Thanksgiving special.

It's kind of hard to recap, a game like that. It's three days later, and I'm still riding high. Notre Dame made tons of mistakes, to be sure, but they stepped it up when they needed to, and pulled off the moderate shocker. I don't think enough good things can be said about Tommy Rees, Robert Hughes, Duval Kamara, the defense, or the amazing rain (which helped to break up two possible SC TD passes late). This is one that we won't soon forget.

8 years of suffering at the hands of those pretty boy SC fans has come to a close. We all watched the game, so I'll try and keep my thoughts as interesting/brief as possible. How amazing was the ND defense? They kept us in the game by thwarting the USC red zone offense turnover after turnover. It would have been an obvious Irish loss if not for the likes of Manti Te'o, Darius Flemming, and company. They were amazing out there. SC was held to just 80 rushing yards. The Trojans did their best to choke after every chance we gave them. Not only did we hand them four turnovers (to their one) that they did little with, but they got flagged for eight penalties (to our one), and of course saw Ronald Johnson drop the potential game winning TD pass as time ticked down. Blame it on the rain, whoa, whoa. It was so enjoyable for me to watch Lane Kiffin look so lost on the side line. I tried to expose Trojan fan's fake faith in him, and I think it shined like a lighthouse on Saturday. He's a joke, and now they're all left to try and come to terms with it. 

We may have seen a sign that shows Brian Kelly will be an amazing ND coach. The last Irish coach to beat USC on his first try? Lou Holtz in 1986. You've got to be kidding me. Now, let's take a very brief moment to be realistic. Notre Dame hit USC at the right time. They are having a down year, their starting QB was out (probably a cry that most Trojan apologists will throw at you), and their coach is a bum. However, the win isn't diminished by any of these excuses. Look at us! We are having another down year (Tulsa beat us), our starting QB was out (but was next year's surprise starter was in?), and our coach would have been considered a bum in his first year if he wouldn't have beaten USC.

USC's streak of 19 straight non-conference victories has ended. Their streak of 15 straight home wins has ended. Their streak of 8 straight wins over the Irish has ended. Unbelievable.

The funny thing was that Tommy Rees has flat out bad, especially stats-wisw 20/32 for 149, 2 TDs, and 3 INTs. However, the freshman QB held his ground. He didn't let his mistakes send him into a tail spin a la John Lackey. He kept his head on straight, and marched a 77 yard game winning drive down the field. Throwing 3 picks doesn't define a QB. It's what he does after throwing 3 picks that makes a QB. Cierre Wood was flashy, making huge yards on shotgun draw plays, for 89 yards. Meanwhile, Robert Hughes was a work horse, running 11 times for 69 yards (including a TD). Michael Floyd had 86 yards in the air, and a whole mess of blocks that don't show up on the box score. Meanwhile, Duval Kamara had 1 catch for 1 yard, but it sure was a big one. 

So, at the end of this whole roller coaster of a regular season, we finish 7-5. 2 games off of my 9-3 predictions. We're not headed to the BCS like I hoped, but we are Bowl eligible, and after Saturday's win, I'm pumped as heck about it. Champ's Sports Bowl, here we come. According to multiple source, this seems to be our most likely bowl destination. The bad guys in the Orlando clash would be the #3 team from the ACC. It looks like that could end up being either NC State or Maryland. There are other options floating around, as the Las Vegas Bowl sent a scout to watch Notre Dame play, and a crazy PAC-10 mess scenario could send the Irish to Holiday Bowl or the Sun Bowl (due to a possible lack of bowl eligible teams after Oregon and Stanford from the PAC-10).

So what do you want? Orlando? Las Vegas? El Paso? San Diego?

Let's make the trip!

-- Sent from my Palm Prē