October 15, 2005. Simply the most amazing football game I’ve ever seen (on television).
One of the greatest football rivalries ever - USC vs. Notre Dame.
“Irish quarterback Brady Quinn had given Notre Dame a 31-28 lead with 2:02 left, dashing around right end for a 5-yard touchdown, extending his right arm across the goal line with the ball.”
With just 2 minutes remaining, they showed a long list of winning streaks that were ended in South Bend.
For a moment the Irish, dressed for success in kelly green jerseys, thought they had added another stunning upset to their illustrious history. Leinart scrambled from inside the 5, launched himself toward the end zone but was stopped short and the ball was sent flying out of bounds.
The clock kept ticking down to 0:00. Notre Dame’s fans rushed the field
We saw Notre Dame winning, 31-28, and time was up: 0:00.
but after the officials huddled, 7 seconds was put back on the clock and the ball was spotted inside the 1. …
Leinart pushed and spun his way into the end zone with 3 seconds left to cap a chaotic finish and No. 1 USC escaped with its 28th straight victory, a back-and-forth 34-31 win Saturday over No. 9 Notre Dame in a game that lived up to the hype.
Three seconds. Final score: USC 34, Notre Dame 31.
I was never into football before. But football really makes things awesome when you come to USC.
Fight on!
Uh…let me just say that ND had the game one, and ya they should’ve stopped USC. But I find it kinda funny that USC had to cheat to win…let’s see. Ya, I believe that aiding the run is illegal. Also, what about Leinert’s progress being stopped. I guess all of you just let that stuff slip your mind. It doesn’t matter what any of you say in reply. You are all a bunch of guys who think you know everything about football and that you’re so right about it all. Well get over it b/c all of your replies are opinions b/c you’re USC fans. Until you find a neutral person you’ll all disagree with me. Notre Dame wins that game if there is a decent crew of refs..over and out!
Once and for all, Leinart fumbled the ball in mid-air while in bounds, due to helmet-to-ball contact from an ND player. The ball sailed directly out of bounds even before Leinart landed on the ground, so the official clock should have - and did - stop. The clock that you see on the scoreboard is not the official game clock, and the referees were so busy spotting the ball correctly they did not signal to the scoreboard keeper to stop the clock. Furthermore, calling a timeout when you do not have any is not a penalty in college football.
Sorry if you ND fans feel “robbed” on this one, but you and I both know that wasn’t the case. You should have stopped us on 4th and 9, not whine about the refs giving away the game on the 1 yard line.
Question: Was Matt Leinart knocked out of bounds at the one yard line in which his fumble was already out of bounds; or did Matt Leinart fall within bounds and then fumble causing the ball to go out of bounds? If the latter, do NCAA rules state that a ball fumbled in bounds and then goes out of bounds a reason to stop the clock?
The argument was simple and that is why the officials had a problem with it. And as a matter of fact even added too much time to the clock. The officials I was sitting with had no problem with it. The game was over! Period! Lets be real and admit it….People make mistakes and officials are not perfect. That is why some hold their jobs and others dont. Because of poor calls….You will never hear about it but look for them in the seasons to come.
Take Care and with love…..
When a ball goes out of bounds the clock must stop. It’s pretty simple. How can those “key individuals” call it any other way? I’d love to hear thier arguments.