November 27, 2004 Week 14 · Regular Season Belt defended

USC defends the belt, 41–10, at home over Notre Dame.

Home · Defending Holder

USCAP No. 1 41

Away · Challenger

Notre Dame 10

AP poll, week 14: Notre Dame unranked at USC No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Wisconsin. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

USC came in 331 days into reign #258, which began with a win over Michigan, with 10 defenses already behind it; this was its 11th defense. USC went on to defend it 14 more times before Texas took it on January 4, 2006, 734 days after the reign began.

For Notre Dame this was its 18th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 8 times before.

It was the 8th of 9 belt games between the two; going in, USC led the belt series 4–2–1; all-time USC leads 6–2–1. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Notre Dame struck first with a Brady Quinn touchdown pass to Billy Palmer in the opening quarter, but USC methodically took over the game with Matt Leinart orchestrating a devastating offensive performance. After Ryan Killeen's opening field goal, USC scored three touchdowns in the second quarter alone, including a 57-yard strike to Dwayne Jarrett that essentially put the game away. Notre Dame's defense had no answer for Leinart and the Trojan receivers, as USC added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to cruise to a 41-10 victory and retain the belt. The domination was complete on both sides of the ball, with USC holding Notre Dame to just 118 passing yards while Leinart carved up the Irish secondary for 408 yards through the air.

Billy Palmer's 2-yard TD reception gave Notre Dame an early 7-3 lead but proved to be the last time they would threaten
Dwayne Jarrett's 57-yard TD reception in Q2 broke open the game and shifted all momentum to USC
Reggie Bush's 70-yard TD reception in Q3 put the game completely out of reach
Matt Leinart's four total touchdown passes showcased USC's offensive superiority and earning the belt defense

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

USCNotre Dame

Total yards488300

Rushing yards83195

Passing yards408118

First downs2316

3rd down conv.6/134/15

Turnovers00

Penalties–yards0–00–0

Time of possession17:1019:29

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 11:00	Notre Dame	+20 yd	Brady Quinn (ND) pass right side complete to Anthony Fasano (ND) for 20 yards.
Q1 6:55	Notre Dame	+2 yd	Brady Quinn (ND) pass left side complete to Billy Palmer (ND) for a 2 yard touchdown.
Q1 6:55	Notre Dame	+0 yd	Extra point by D.J. Fitzpatrick (ND) is good.
Q1 1:30	USC	+39 yd	39 yard field goal by Ryan Killeen (USC) is good.
Q1 1:15	Notre Dame	+31 yd	Ryan Grant (ND) rushed left side for 31 yards.
Q2 11:54	Notre Dame	+28 yd	28 yard field goal by D.J. Fitzpatrick (ND) is good.
Q2 13:13	Notre Dame	+22 yd	Brady Quinn (ND) rushed left side for 22 yards.
Q2 6:19	USC	+12 yd	Matt Leinart (USC) pass across the middle complete to Dwayne Jarrett (USC) for a 12 yard touchdown.
Q2 6:19	USC	+0 yd	Extra point by Ryan Killeen (USC) is good.
Q2 6:49	USC	+41 yd	Matt Leinart (USC) pass left side complete to Steve Smith (USC) for 41 yards.
Q2 5:53	USC	+24 yd	Kickoff returned by Chase Anastasio (ND) for 24 yards.
Q2 2:41	USC	+57 yd	Matt Leinart (USC) pass left side complete to Dwayne Jarrett (USC) for a 57 yard touchdown.
Q2 2:41	USC	+0 yd	Extra point by Ryan Killeen (USC) is good.
Q2 2:06	USC	+26 yd	Kickoff returned by Chase Anastasio (ND) for 26 yards.
Q3 12:09	USC	+21 yd	Matt Leinart (USC) pass left side complete to Alex Holmes (USC) for 21 yards.
Q3 9:40	USC	+42 yd	42 yard field goal by Ryan Killeen (USC) is good.
Q3 5:26	Notre Dame	+39 yd	39 yard field goal by D.J. Fitzpatrick (ND) is no good.
Q3 8:38	Notre Dame	+21 yd	Darius Walker (ND) rushed right side for 21 yards.
Q3 3:16	USC	+70 yd	Matt Leinart (USC) pass right side complete to Reggie Bush (USC) for a 70 yard touchdown.
Q3 3:16	USC	+0 yd	Extra point by Ryan Killeen (USC) is good.
Q4 12:40	USC	+0 yd	Extra point by Ryan Killeen (USC) is good.
Q4 12:40	USC	+35 yd	Matt Leinart (USC) pass across the middle complete to Steve Smith (USC) for a 35 yard touchdown.
Q4 7:05	USC	+23 yd	Matt Leinart (USC) pass across the middle complete to Jason Mitchell (USC) for a 23 yard touchdown.
Q4 7:05	USC	+0 yd	Extra point by Ryan Killeen (USC) is good.
Q4 6:57	USC	+21 yd	Kickoff returned by Carlos Campbell (ND) for 21 yards.
Q4 6:52	Notre Dame	+0 yd	Fighting Irish fumble by Carlos Campbell (ND), recovered by Carlos Campbell (ND), advanced for no gain.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

USC

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Matt Leinart	24/34	400	11.8	5	0	93.0
Matt Cassel	1/1	5	5.0	0	0	11.3

Notre Dame

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Brady Quinn	15/29	105	3.6	1	0	45.3
Carlyle Holiday	0/1	0	0.0	0	0	0.2

Rushing

USC

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
LenDale White	14	51	3.6	9
Reggie Bush	8	25	3.1	18
Matt Leinart	3	7	2.3	7
Desmond Reed	1	2	2.0	2
Hershel Dennis	1	-1	-1.0	0

Notre Dame

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Ryan Grant	15	94	6.3	32
Darius Walker	11	64	5.8	20
Brady Quinn	8	30	3.8	22
Travis Thomas	1	2	2.0	2
Carlyle Holiday	1	0	0.0	0

Receiving

USC

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Dwayne Jarrett	6	102	17.0	2	57
Steve Smith	4	96	24.0	1	42
Reggie Bush	1	69	69.0	1	69
Alex Holmes	4	44	11.0	0	20
Jason Mitchell	2	38	19.0	1	23
Dominique Byrd	4	23	5.8	0	11
Chris McFoy	1	18	18.0	0	18
Lee Webb	1	8	8.0	0	8
William Buchanon	1	5	5.0	0	5
David Kirtman	1	2	2.0	0	2

Notre Dame

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Anthony Fasano	2	25	12.5	0	20
Maurice Stovall	1	17	17.0	0	17
Matt Shelton	2	13	6.5	0	9
Darius Walker	3	10	3.3	0	8
Rhema McKnight	1	9	9.0	0	9
Jerome Collins	2	9	4.5	0	5
Carlyle Holiday	1	4	4.0	0	4
Brad Palmer	1	1	1.0	1	1

Show more stats (3 more categories)

Kicking

USC

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Ryan Killeen	2/2	100.0	42	5/5	11

Notre Dame

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
D.J. Fitzpatrick	1/2	50.0	28	1/1	4

Punt Returns

USC

No recorded stats in this category.

Notre Dame

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Carlyle Holiday	1	9	9.0	9	0

Punting

USC

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Tom Malone	2	86	43.0	0	0	45

Notre Dame

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
D.J. Fitzpatrick	8	351	43.9	0	0	59

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 243320030) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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