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Fighting Irish take title-game stance

— The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are headed to Miami.

Theo Riddick rushed for 146 yards and a touchdown, Kyle Brindza kicked five field goals, and No. 1 Notre Dame secured a spot in the BCS Championship Game with a 22-13 victory over Southern California on Saturday night.

Everett Golson passed for 217 yards as the Irish (12-0) completed their first undefeated regular season since 1988, earning a trip to south Florida on Jan. 7 to play for the storied program’s first national title in 24 years.

Notre Dame’s hard-nosed defense made the decisive stand in the final minutes, keeping USC (7-5) out of the end zone on four plays from the Irish 1 with 2:33 to play.

“Well, that’s who we are,” Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly said. “It’s been our defense all year. Our offense is able to manage enough points.”

After spending more than a decade looking up at the Trojans, the Irish are back on top of this rivalry with two consecutive victories in Los Angeles. The school of Knute Rockne, the Four Horsemen and Paul Hornung has new stars now, from linebacker Manti Te’o to Kelly, who took the Irish from unranked to start the season to a No. 1 ranking for the first time in 19 years.

Te’o, the Heisman Trophy hopeful, had a key interception against USC and became the second Irish defender with three 100-tackle seasons — and he took particular pride in that last defensive stand, which included three consecutive Trojans runs resulting in nothing.

“It doesn’t matter where the ball is,” Te’o said. “We’re going to protect the end zone at all costs.”

After Brindza’s school record-tying fifth field goal put the Irish up by nine points with 5:58 left, Marqise Lee caught a 53-yard pass from USC freshman Max Wittek at the Notre Dame 2.

But after USC failed to run it in against a defense that has allowed just 11 rushing touchdowns in 30 games, Wittek threw incomplete to fullback Soma Vainuku, setting off a leaping, chestbumping celebration on the Notre Dame sideline and in the Irish sections of the soldout Coliseum.

“They’ve had a great goal-line defense all year,” USC Coach Lane Kiffin said. “They’ve done that to everybody down on the goal line. ... It’s just so hard to score touchdowns versus them. When the ball is on the 2-inch line, you’d think you could score touchdowns.”

The grind-it-out victory highlighted an unforgettable season for the Irish, who began the year with questions about their relevancy and survived some uninspiring performances and nail-biting finishes with their unbeaten record intact.

Notre Dame is likely to face an SEC opponent in Miami. Alabama and Georgia play in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta next Saturday.

Sports, Pages 25 on 11/25/2012

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