Emotional upsurge and all that noise

The Trojans knocked off the Irish for the eighth consecutive time on Saturday in a game that was, in some regards, a little to close for comfort.

Southern California's players have a lot of good things to take away from this game, especially Anthony McCoy, Jurrell Casey and, more importantly, the young Matt Barkley.

That being said, there were a number of mental mistakes that cost the Trojans and allowed Notre Dame to make things interesting in the closing moments of the game.

“It didn't turn out exactly the way it looked like it was going to, but for some of the people that were watching at home, like Jim Hardy, you know, we rousted him out of his chair a little bit there at the end to get him going...got the juices flowing and made for a big finish,” said Pete Carroll as he reflected on the game at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “Fortunately, we got out of there with the win.”

Turnovers and penalties are two things that can turn a one-sided game upside down in a matter of minutes. Against the Irish, it was the USC defense committing the latter that allowed the Notre Dame offense led by Jimmy Clausen to claw their way back in the closing minutes of the game.

Coaches, fans and the viewing public learned a good deal about the poise and talent that true fresh Matt Barkley possesses after the game on Saturday.

“But we also learned a lot about how you can turn a game by your own mistakes and things as we did in the fourth quarter. We almost gave them a chance to get back into that thing,” explained Coach Carroll.

On the season, the Trojans rank second to last in penalty yards per game in the Pac-10. Through six games USC has committed 47 penalties which have cost them an average of 69.5 ypg.

Limiting mental errors and penalties that accompanying them will play a big part in the second half of the Trojans 2009 season. With great talent on both sides of the ball, the USC players have no excuse for extending opponents drives due to stupid mistakes and giving the opposition added opportunity in games.

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