Déjà vu as Ohio State breaks Notre Dame football's heart, similar to how USC did in 2005

SOUTH BEND — As the final 86 seconds unfolded at Notre Dame Stadium late Saturday night, it felt strangely like a sequel, specifically a rewrite from 2005. Only this time, it seemed, Notre Dame football would get the ending it wanted and always felt it deserved. 

Well, revisionist history will have to wait.

Much like the famed “Bush Push” game in 2005 — a 34-31 survival of the ninth-ranked Irish by No. 1 and two-time defending national champion USC — Notre Dame fell seconds short of what would have been one of its most storied victories.

What the Irish got instead Saturday was another storied loss as No. 6 Ohio State’s Chip Trayanum willed his way to a 1-yard touchdown run with a second left for a 17-14 win over No. 9 Notre Dame. 

Eighteen years ago it was Notre Dame leading the Trojans 31-28 with 1:25 left when Matt Leinart completed a fourth-and-10 pass to DeWayne Jarrett to the Irish 12. It would eventually lead to a 2-yard QB sneak for Leinart at 0:03.

Famously, Leinart was initially stopped by Notre Dame's defensive surge, but was pushed in for the winning score by running back Reggie Bush. 

With déjà vu in the crisp September air Saturday, the Buckeyes drove 65 yards on 15 plays in the final 1:26. Along the way Ohio State converted a third-and-10 for 23 yards, a fourth-and-7 for 7 yards and a third-and-19 for 21 yards to the Irish 1-yard line at 0:07.

While Leinart got an assist from his fellow Heisman-winning teammate, Trayanum benefited from Notre Dame’s temporary lapse in math acumen. The Irish defense, with just 10 players on the field, momentarily stood up the 233-pound Trayanum before he stretched over the goal just before his knee hit the turf. Game over.

It was the same south endzone — practically the same spot — as Leinart's plunge 18 years ago.

More: How did Notre Dame football grade out in last-second loss to Ohio State?

While the build-up Saturday, as well as the game itself, rivaled and resembled that of 2005, the wake of it somehow feels different.

The USC game, even in gut-wrenching defeat for the Irish, seemed to signify an ascent at the time — a team that was pulling itself above its recent doldrums to an altitude of new possibility. And that’s pretty much where Notre Dame lived the next year and half until it unraveled down the stretch of the 2006 season.

Irish head coach Charlie Weis was never able to tie it back together and was fired at the end of the 2009 season. It's almost as if Weis’ greatest win in five years at Notre Dame was that loss to the Trojans.

Saturday’s defeat in eerily similar style, however, feels stagnant and more debilitating. Maybe that’s because this Notre Dame team started from a much higher base camp with the summit in clear and obtainable sight before this latest fog rolled in.

This was supposed to be the victory to plant Notre Dame’s flag on the College Football Playoff landscape again.

This was supposed to be the show of strength — and statistically speaking it did look that way — to prove the Irish are done flexing in the mirror when it comes to marquee matchups.

Most of all, this was supposed to be Marcus Freeman’s moment as Notre Dame’s head coach, exorcising last season’s growing-pain losses to Marshall and Stanford in his own climb toward the rarified air of Golden Dome coaching lore.

It wasn’t. Instead, the rope slipped through the coaching staff’s fingers at the game’s most pivotal moment by failing to have all 11 defenders on the field for the game’s final TWO plays from scrimmage at the 1-yard line. And this was after Notre Dame called its final timeout with 0:07 left to set its defense.

This is the type of slip up that keeps great teams from becoming elite teams, that turns a special season into just another season.

Notre Dame played too well in the second half — scoring on back-to-back touchdowns on drives of 75 and 96 yards with a combined elapsed time of 14:07 to take a 14-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter — to lose this way at the end.

And with 4:12 left in the game there was a sigh of Irish relief when Javontae Jean-Baptiste and Jack Kizer stopped Ohio State WR Emeka Egbuka at the ND 11 on fourth-and-1 forcing a turnover on downs. Notre Dame's offense could have put the game away then, but the Buckeyes forced a punt to set up its game-winning drive.

A 5-0 record and likely rise into the Top 5 evaporated into a green sea of disbelief, second-guessing and frustration.

So now what?

Sitting at 4-1, Notre Dame’s next three opponents are a combined 12-0. The Irish play at Duke, at Louisville and host USC along with its defending Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. Then there’s still very dangerous Clemson (2-2) at Death Valley on Nov. 4.

Would those wins be enough to get the Irish back up the College Football Playoff mountain, even without a conference championship to play for? Maybe. Would a couple losses be enough to throw this team and fan base sideways when it had such high expectations? Definitely.

More: Analysis: How could Notre Dame football defense repeat the same inexcusable mistake?

For this season, anyway, Freeman has lost a foot hold, not because of Saturday’s loss to the Buckeyes, but the reason for it. The optics of that last 1:26 of a game that Notre Dame was in position to win — should have won — draws an unquestionable focus on Freeman and his game management abilities, especially under the spotlight against a premier opponent like the Buckeyes.

“It hurts,” Freeman said after the loss. “But, we got to own it and we got to learn from it. …"

Ultimately, he has to correct it. And there could very well be enough fire power in that remaining schedule to still reach the mountaintop, but there can't be anymore slips.

If the Irish are going to be big boys on the field again beyond its brand, image and likeness, these are the mistakes that must go away. Notre Dame played well enough to win Saturday. Notre Dame was not physically inferior. And Notre Dame’s coaches were NOT outmatched against Ryan Day and his staff. At least not until the final four minutes.

The makings for greatness are there. The tools are sharper. The moments are getting bigger. The path forward is clearer. Coaching cannot be the downfall at this point, and not at the goal line with just 10 men on the field.

As Freeman insists, it is time to own it. This isn't layaway anymore. No payment plans. The title to Notre Dame football's national championship hopes can't get lost in the mail.

“We’re always chasing,” Freeman said he told his team. “... (We got) to use the pain of a loss to help us find a way to get better.”

The Notre Dame nation is counting on it. Onward and upward is the only direction they're looking.

Michael Wanbaugh is sports editor of the South Bend (Ind.) and Midwest Sports Group editor for Gannett's Center of Community Journalism.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre dame football: comparing 2005 USC 'Bush Push' loss to Ohio State