Notre Dame solved the triple option offense last week and in doing so completely dominated Army, 27-3. The win makes the Irish bowl eligible.

Today the Irish face their number one rival, Southern California, in Los Angeles, and a win would give coach Brian Kelly three straight wins and move the Irish to 7-5, which would mean their pick of a bowl game would increase substantially.As I mentioned, the Irish solved the Army version of the triple option attack with a few defensive changes.Kelly and his staff have a golden opportunity tonight with USC. First, the Irish have not beaten the Trojans in eight straight tries. The series is a long one and has had streaks. ND won 13 in a row in the series, mostly during the Lou Holtz era. ND has ruined USC chances for a national title on occasions during the series and the Trojans returned the favor to the Irish on occasions.USC enters at 7-4 losing last week to Oregon State, 36-7. The seven Trojan wins have been over Hawaii, 49-36; Virginia, 17-14; Minnesota, 32-21; Washington State, 50-16; California, 48-14; Arizona State, 34-33; and Arizona, 24-21. The other three losses were to Washington, 32-31; Stanford, 37-35; and Oregon, 53-32.The Trojans are led by QB Matt Barkley, who has completed 221 passes on 351 attempts for 25 TDs and 10 interceptions. Barkley played only in the first half last week due to a ankle injury and is questionable for tonight. If he can't go, the Trojans' quarterback will be Mitch Mustain. Top rushers are Marc Tyler with 833 yards on 146 carries and nine TDs, Allen Bradford with 601-82 and four, and Dillon Baxter, 254-57 and one. Top receivers are Robert Wood with 648 yards on 53 catches and six TDs, Ronald Johns, 616-53 and eight scores, and Stanley Havili, 361-29 and one.ND leads the series, 42-34-5. As I mentioned, USC has won the last eight while ND won 13 straight (1983-95). In between the series is split up.The game will be televised by ABC-TV on a regional basis with a 8 p.m. EST kickoff.IRISH NOTES ... Last week's win in which the Irish held Army to just a field goal marked the first time since November of the 1988 national title season that ND has held consecutive opponents without a touchdown....Army threw as many interceptiosn as completions in the game, two, in eight attempts and got just 96 total yards on 34 plays in the game after rolling up 78 on 17 plays in the first series of the game....The resurgence of the defense is the key to the success of the Irish the last two weeks. I mentioned recently in this space that Holtz was in South Bend for a fundraising event for his foundation and met with Kelly a few weeks ago. He told the media that one thing he told Kelly and feels strongly about is if a team is going to be successful they must have a good defense. Based on the last two games it appears Kelly listened....QB Tommy Rees, just a freshman, continues to slowly improve. He threw for 214 yards on 13-for-20 with one touchdown and one interception....The total yardage was lopsided in ND's favor. The Irish outgained Army, 369-174, the fewest yards ND's defense has allowed this season. The 135 yards rushing for Army was well below their 270-plus per game average....The win was the 14th straight by ND over Army....Sophomore LB Manti Te'o had a team high nine tackles in the game and ranked 13th in the nation. He suffered a broken nose in the game but Kelly said he will be able to play tonight....Notre Dame is the No. 37 team in the country this week according to the Sagarin computer ratings. USC is 19th....Saturday's game captains, Michael Floyd and Harrison Smith, are the team leaders in the lockerroom. Floyd's selection last week was his fourth time as captain and it was the third time for Smith....Ten freshman made the road roster including QB Andrew Hendrix for the first time. Others frosh making the trip were Rees, WRs TJ Jones, Daniel Smith, Bennett Jackson and Austin Collinsworth; LBs Danny Spond and Prince Shembo; OT Christian Lombard and DE Kona Schwenke....ND's marching band, all 434 members, arrived at Yankee Stadium via subway....ND's playing in New York resulted in a lot of big numbers. First off, the game was a sellout at 54,251; there were 6,000 fans for the pep rally at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts; standing-room-only (2,400) for Saturday morning Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral with ND President Rev. John I. Jenkins the celebrant; and a crowd of 1,000 filled the ballroom at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square for the Friday pregame luncheon headlined by ND grad Regis Philbin....Floyd's 56 receiving yards in the first half pushed him past Thom Gatewood into fifth place on ND's career list in that category....Former Heisman Trophy winners for ND and Army were on field for the coin toss. John Lujack for ND and Pete Dawkins for Army....A Play Like A Champion Today sign was installed at the entrance to the back of the New York Yankees dugout, where the Irish made the entrance onto the field....Kelly does something Charlie Weis seldom did, he takes injured players on road trips. Center Dan Wenger, out for the season, was in New York along with TE Kyle Rudolph and NG Ian Williams. QB Dayne Crist did not because his knee injury and resulting surgery will not permit him to sit for long periods of time, meaning air flights are out. Also, RB Armando Allen could not go for the same reason, air flights are too long for his hip injury. Kelly said Crist still attends all team meetings and is kept up to date on all offensive moves despite being loss for the season....ND has lost another recruit. RB recruit Justice Hayes of Grand Blanc High School in Michigan is re-thinking his commitment to the Irish, he announced over the weekend. He says he has not ruled out the Irish but wants to look at other schools. Three other recruits have decommitted. They are OL Jordan Prestwood, DE Aaron Lynch and DE/OLB Clay Burton. ND now has 16 total recruits still in the fold....Two other ND players who have not played in a while have practiced this week and will be available to play tonight. WRs Theo Riddick and TJ Jones. Riddick has been out with an ankle injury. He is the second leading receiver on the team with 38 catches, 406 yards and three TDs. Ian Williams will not play today but should be back for the bowl game....Kicker David Ruffer is not only 20-for-20 in field goals in his career at ND, including 15-of-15 this year, but he's pretty good in the classroom. The Lou Groza Award finalist has a 3.90 grade-point average which helped him make the ESPN Academic All-American football team. Ruffer, a senior walk-on for the Irish, is a economics major. He can apply for a fifth year of eligibility but has not made up his mind. He said he will talk with Kelly after the season is over....Tonight's game is an important one for the Kelly and his staff for a couple of reasons. A win would give them three in a row, the best November record for an Irish team in years; a win will give his program a big boost showing it can win against a big time program like USC. The USC program, of course, took a major hit by the NCAA for numerous infractions of the rules under former coach Pete Carroll. But the Trojans won't really feel the affect of the sanctions imposed by the NCAA until next year and a few years after do lost scholarships and no bowl games. But the ND-USC rivalry is always intense. A 7-5 Irish team going into a bowl game would be a real plus for Kelly considering all that has happened this year on and off the field. Injuries to some very important players, the accidental death of a ND student while filming a practice and a recent investigation into an alleged sexual assault of a St. Mary's student by a football player have all made it a troublesome first year for Kelly. My preseason pick was USC. I still will have to go with the Trojans with a nod towards home field advantage, but if the Irish defense comes up strong again this week, ND can win this one. This is the last column until the bowl game. Thanks for your support in reading it weekly.