No. 11 USC entered Friday’s contest against No. 24 Notre Dame as the favorites, but the Fighting Irish protected homecourt, winning 61-59. It was a close game throughout, with eight lead changes and nine ties. Down the stretch, Notre Dame—and specifically Hannah Hidalgo—were too much for USC to handle.

Now 9-2 after its ninth straight win, Notre Dame football closes out the regular season on Saturday at Stanford (4-7).

Miami, as the committee's highest-ranked ACC team last week, was eliminated from reaching the league title game after SMU steamrolled Louisville and Duke toppled North Carolina. Now, Pat Narduzzi's Panthers have kickstarted a possible doomsday scenario for a conference that could be excluded from the playoff altogether in two weeks.

The No. 15 USC Trojans' aspirations of reaching the College Football Playoff came to a close on Saturday, as they fell 42-27 to the No. 7 Oregon Ducks in Eugene

Hannah Hidalgo scores 22 points and hits the go-ahead jumper with 1.9 seconds left to power Notre Dame women's basketball to a 61-59 comeback win over USC.

Three questions and one prediction as Notre Dame looks to make another CFP statement against Syracuse, a program that’s lost seven straight.

To make for the most advantageous playoff scenario for the Irish, they also need some things to go their way outside of their performance. Notre Dame isn't the only team that Irish fans should be rooting for this weekend.