Irish find it hard to escape memories of Southern Cal

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame is finding it difficult to escape last month's embarrassing loss to Southern California.

"It's just the last memory," offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick said. "Even in game-planning, you have a tendency to forget the first 11 weeks because everything is the last taste, the last game."

The Irish gave up 425 yards passing and 610 total yards against the Trojans, both Notre Dame records, while the Irish offense was held to 109 yards in the 44-13 defeat in Los Angeles on Nov. 30. The defeat cost the Irish a berth in a Bowl Championship Series game.

"It wasn't really one person, one play, one player. It just kind of snowballed," Diedrick said. "We didn't make any plays. When you go back and look at the film, you just shake your head and say, 'Who was that?' That was not our team, even in its worst outing of the year. We weren't even close. Who knows why?"

Coach Tyrone Willingham insists he's not worried about the loss as the 11th-ranked Irish (10-2) prepare for their Jan. 1 game against No. 17 North Carolina State (10-3) in the Gator Bowl, sponsored by Toyota.

"What happened in the past doesn't have any bearing on this game, unless you let it. So that's not our focus. Our focus will be North Carolina State," Willingham said. "We've had a chance to purge our system of that."

The last time Notre Dame was beaten that badly by USC was 55-24 in 1974. The Irish bounced back to defeat No. 2 Alabama 13-11 in the Orange Bowl.

"I don't think you can let it consume you, but there's some very valuable lessons to be learned," Irish center Jeff Faine said.

The pain of the loss still festers, though.

"Are we talking about SC or are we talking about North Carolina State?" defensive coordinator Kent Baer asked during a Gator Bowl conference call Friday. "Everyone wants to talk about that last game. I'd like to talk about the next game."

The Irish are trying to post just the sixth 11-win season in school history, the first since they went 11-1 and finished No. 2 in 1993. Notre Dame also is trying to finish the season ranked in the Top 10 for the first time since 1993, the longest such drought in school history.

"This is our national championship, this is our final note to the 2002 season," tight end Gary Godsey said. "We're looking to get 11 wins. We're looking to put our mark on history. The big thing is the 11 wins, and start coach Willingham's career off with a great note."