After another slow start by the defense, Notre Dame regrouped at halftime and came out in the second half to dominate Navy and breeze to a 41-24 win last Saturday. Navy helped the Irish with some key turnovers, returning the favor ND gave Clemson the week before.

Now the Irish face arch rival Southern California tonight in a key game for both schools. More on that later.The Irish win brings them to 5-1 at the halfway point of the season.It was another outstanding day for running back C.J. Prosise, who rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback DeShone Kizer was again steady and showed more improvement. Defensively, the Irish handled the triple-option Navy attack in the second half, allowing the Middies to get just 79 yards and three points. The win also stopped Navy's eight-game winning streak and denied it a chance to have a ninth straight win for the first time since 1959-60.One bright spot in the win over Navy was the lack of injuries for the Irish. ND has suffered some key injuries over the years in the Navy game because of their style of blocking on offense.In the last eight years, Notre Dame is 2-6 in the game after Navy. The only wins were narrow ones.Today, the Irish face USC in the 87th meeting between the two schools. The Trojans enter the game a disappointment for their fans and in some kind of trouble. Their head coach, Steve Sarkisian, was suspended on Sunday and fired on Monday. Reports indicate he has an alcohol problem, which he is having a hard time controlling. The Trojans offensive coordinator, Clay Helton, is coaching the team for the remainder of the season.USC enters at 3-2 with wins over Arkansas State, 55-6; Idaho, 59-9; and Arizona State, 42-14. The losses have been to Stanford, 41-31; and an upset loss last week to Washington, 17-12.The Trojans like to throw the ball and have Cody Kessler back this year. Kessler picked ND apart last year en route to a 49-14 win over the Irish. If Sarkisian hadn't called off the troops in the second half it could have been worst. Kessler has completed 105 of 151 passes with three interceptions and 15 touchdowns so far this season. Top receivers are JuJu Schuster Smith and Adoree Jackson. The running attack is led by Tre Madden and Ronald Jones. Top defensive players are linebackers Cameron Smith and Su'a Carvens.ND leads the series, 45-36-5, but USC has won 10 of the last 13.The game will be televised nationally by NBC-TV with a 7:40 p.m. kickoff.IRISH NOTES ... Kizer finished the game completing 22 of 30 passes with one interception and 281 yards passing. He also ran for 14 yards on nine carriers and a score. Freshman Josh Adams, getting more touches each week, had 38 yards on eight carries as head coach Brian Kelly tries to give Prosise some rest during the game. On the receiving side, Will Fuller had five catches for 80 yards; Chris Brown four for 56; Amir Carlisle three for 16 and Torri Hunter, one for 28 .... It was a weird game with no less than eight plays reviewed by the officials …. ND held Navy, fourth nationally in third-down conversion percentage to 2-for-11, but the Middies converted all four of their fourth down attempts …. Former ND Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lujack tossed the coin at the pre game coin toss. Another ND Heisman winner, Paul Hornung was at the game …. Navy came into the game allowing only one rushing TD all season but gave up four to the Irish …. Prosise's three rushing TDs ties him with Frank Lonergan (1902) and Reggie Brooks (1992) as the only running backs to have a pair of three-rushing TD games for the Irish in the same season …. Fuller's TD catch was the 23rd of his career and moved him into sole possession of fourth place on the ND all-time list , breaking a tie with Rhema McKnight (2002-06) and Derrick Mayes (1992-95) …. ND has outscored opponents 65-13 in the third quarter. Under Kelly, ND has allowed just 3.34 points per third quarter, which ranks as the best in the FBS since 2010 …. ND has been doing well in the recruiting wars. A recent commitment is Donte Vaughn, a 6-3, 195-pound cornerback from Memphis, Tennessee, Whitehaven High. He is ranked a four-star recruit. He is the 16th verbal commitment for the Irish class of 2016. Vaughn had offers from Tennessee, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, Missouri and Mississippi State .... Temple announced its home game with the Irish on Oct. 31 at Lincoln Financial Field is a sellout. All 69,176 tickets have been sold. The kickoff time for that game has yet to be decided and probably won't until six days before the game .... The Irish are ranked 14th nationally in total offense at 502.7 yards per game. Notre Dame has not averaged over 500 yards per game since 1970 .... Kizer has both run and passed for a TD is each of Notre Dame's last three games. It is the longest such streak since Rick Mirer did it in four consecutive games in 1991 .... Many feel that Southern California will enter tonight's game as a team without direction because of all that has happened over last week with the firing of their coach, the fourth USC coach in as many years. But I feel the Trojans will rally behind their new coach, and let their fans know they will not let this latest distraction interfere with their job to play football. In my preseason picks I have USC winning tonight. I will stay with that prediction figuring USC will be out tonight to prove something to the rest of college football, that they can handle the adversity.