Notre Dame's victory over Southern California last week was a telling one for the 7th weekend of the season. The Irish offense continues to improve and showed it can rally and come back and score points.

On the other side of the ball, the Irish defense again showed inconsistencies, stepping up when it had to to preserve the win and also giving up big plays and big yardage despite having the most experience of a defensive unit under Brian Kelly since he came to South Bend.After giving up 503 yards to the Trojans in the first three quarters, the defense limited USC to 87 yards in the fourth quarter. The defense also recorded its only two sacks of the game and limited USC to zero third-down conversions in four tries. ND also managed two interceptions from the Trojans experienced QB Cody Kessler, who is USC's all-time leader in passing-efficiency and was 4th in the nation coming into last week's game.Offensively, the Irish attack continues to improve and become more explosive. DeShone Kizer continues to improve, as I have mentioned each week since he took over the job. ND's running game is another big plus for the offense. With the problems the defense is having, ND has to be able to score a lot of points.Kizer finished with 15 completions in 24 attempts for 227 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. C.J. Prosise ran for 143 yards on 19 carries and two scores and had 32 yards on five receptions. Josh Adams had one carry for 26 yards. Receiving, Will Fuller had three catches for 131 yards and a score; Chris Brown, 38 on three catches and tight end Alize Jones 42 yards on three catches. Of course we can't forget Corey Robinson's 10-yard catch in the end zone for what turned out to be the winning score against USC. ND rushed for 214 yards and had total offense of 476 yards. Defensively KeiVarae Rusell had nine tackles and Jaylon Smith eight .ND has some tough games ahead of it as it continues to try and get into the championship tournament. The first rankings for the tournament will be released by the committee next week. The Irish are off today and face unbeaten Temple next week then travel to dangerous Pittsburgh, who Kelly has a tough time beating. The Irish then return home for Wake Forest and the final home game of the season. They then play Boston College at Fenway Park in Boston in a Shamrock Series game which is ND's home game away from home, before finishing the regular season at ever-improving Stanford.IRISH NOTES ... The Temple game will have an 8 p.m. start and will be nationally televised by ABC-TV....ND lost another player to season-ending injury. Sophomore left guard Alex Bars suffered a broken left ankle during the USC game and had surgery earlier this week. He was replaced in the lineup by fellow sophomore Quention Nelson. Bars is the seventh Irish regular to be lost for the season since August. The list includes QB Malika Zaire, RB Tarean Folston, safety Doug Tranquill, NG Jarron Jones, DB Shaun Crawford and TE Durham Smythe .... Kelly moved up to the No. 2 spot on the winningest active coaches list when South Carolina's Steve Spurrier abruptly quit last week. Kelly has 222 career victories after last week's win. Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer ranks first with 276 .... Former ND All-Americans and recent Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Tim Brown and Jerome Bettis were honored on the field before the game .... Kizer is on track to have the best pass efficiency ranking of any ND quarterback as a first-year starter. He is now 16th in the nation overall in pass efficiency. If he keeps the current pace he will finish with a 156.9 rating and that would move him past 1964 Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte's first and only season as a starter. Only two are ahead of him overall, Jimmy Clausen in 2009 and Brady Quinn in 2005, both were third-year starters .... Freshman wide receiver Equanimeous Brown, who is a Southern California native, blocked a USC punt and USC transfer Amir Carlisle picked it up and ran it in for a score .... The Irish rank 14th nationally in total offense at 502.7 yards per game. Notre Dame has not averaged over 500 yards per game since 1970 .... Notre Dame ranks No. 13 nationally at 238.0 rushing yards per game. It is on pace to be the best average since 1996 .... Notre Dame is tied for ninth among contract bowl eligible schools by winning 34 games over the 2012-15 seasons combined. Notre Dame's .750 winning percentage over that span ranks 10th among its contract bowl eligible peers .... Notre Dame has 11 scoring drives of at least 80 yards this fall, including three of at least 90 yards .... A week off for the Irish at this time of the season should be a big plus. After big wins over Navy and arch-rival USC, the Irish players have time to rest any health problems that have cropped up during the first seven games. This is also a important time for Kelly and his staff in the recruiting process. ND coaches were out all of last week visiting recruits.