SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- There are just too many recurring themes at this point to ignore the trend or think it's changing anytime soon.

Too many missed opportunities in the red zone. Too many costly penalties. Too many breakdowns in protection. Too many defensive collapses. Too many disjointed moments in general.

And, ultimately, too many lopsided losses in which USC falls behind by more than 20 points in the second half before taking its best shot at narrowing the gap.

The Trojans' 31-16 loss at No. 13 Notre Dame on Saturday night was the fourth of that kind, as USC was down 24-3 entering the fourth quarter before briefly making things interesting.

Just like these Trojans were down 29 points in the fourth quarter to Stanford before ultimately losing 42-28. Just like they were down 25 in the fourth quarter to Oregon State before losing 45-27. And just like they trailed Utah by 24 in the fourth before settling for a 42-26 defeat.

The main difference Saturday night was that this was a road game against a highly-ranked opponent, and it was briefly an 8-point game midway through the fourth quarter after a nice flurry from USC, but ultimately it was just more of the same.

"Truth be told, I still don't feel like we lost that game. I feel like we ran out of time. I feel like if we had another quarter no telling what could have happened," USC interim coach Donte Williams said. "At the same time, that's a great football team out there we just played. You've got to respect the rivalry, got to respect the tradition of both programs, and we made way too many mistakes against a really, really good football team. Way too many mistakes from all facets."

That latter point sums it up well, but the Trojans didn't run out of time.

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They made a commendable rally over three series in the fourth quarter with two long touchdown drives and a big Chris Steele interception to cut it to 24-16 with 8:51 to play, but they just as quickly gave up a 75-yard touchdown drive over the next four minutes. Notre Dame (6-1) would later run out of the clock from inside the USC 10-yard line rather than try to score again to potentially make it a three-touchdown margin.

No, time was not the Trojans' obstacle Saturday night.

There's no need to beat up on Williams for the comment, though, even if it did sound eerily like something former coach Clay Helton might have said to try to spin the narrative after a loss. No, Williams inherited a runaway train and is merely trying to keep it on the tracks as best he can -- trying to keep this team believing that it can finish this season on a better note while any such optimism is dissipating quickly from outside the program.

Really, the only way in which the Trojans are running out of time is on any of their remaining goals. At 3-4, they now have to win three of their final five games to even become bowl eligible, and that's going to be tough considering -- again -- they've lost by double-digits to each of the four best teams they've played, and Arizona State, BYU and UCLA should all be favored to beat this team.

Then again, a bowl game in a lost season doesn't much matter in the big picture anyway -- especially with a new coach set to be hired at some point.

The best thing USC fans can do is look beyond the present and think about the long-overdue fresh start that is finally coming soon.

Because the present has become merely a replay reel running on a numbing loop, as this latest example had all the familiar hallmarks.

Not to belabor it all, but ...

The coaches across the board made an emphasis on how the Trojans' struggles at the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third quarter had previously been a pivotal gut punch and how they needed to tighten up there.

So what happened Saturday night? USC took over at its own 23-yard line with 4:07 left in the first half and mounted one of its best drives to that point, getting across midfield before facing a fourth-and-2 from the Irish 47. Notre Dame stopped the clock with 39 seconds left as it saw USC was trying to draw an offsides call, after letting more than 20 seconds bleed. USC then tried again to draw the Irish offsides, letting the play clock run all the way down before calling its own timeout -- its last of the half after squandering two earlier (including one when the defense couldn't get lined up right).

The Trojans then went for it on the fourth down anyway and got the conversion on a 10-yard Keaontay Ingram run, which raised the question of why not just have a play call ready there so as to not use of the final timeout which could have been useful after the first down?

"I think they just wanted to change the call up -- they didn't like what they saw and they just wanted to switch the play call," center Brett Neilon said.

Very well.

The clock then stopped for the first down with 32 seconds left and the Trojans chose to run again. This time Ingram got 6 yards down to the 31, but time was ticking and instead of spiking the ball they ... ran another play.

Worse, QB Kedon Slovis chose to scramble with the ball, picking up the first down to briefly pause the clock at 3 seconds, but as it restarted when the ball was set the offense couldn't get the shotgun snap off in time to spike it for a field goal try as the half ended. Williams was visibly irate walking off the field.

"I wanted the ball spiked the play before," he would say later. "They was trying to hurry up ... and call the play and he scrambled and thought he [could] come back later and spike the ball. But at the same time that play you've got receivers way down the field so it's hard to get everybody back so you can spike the ball."

Said Slovis: "Some miscommunication from the sideline -- it was my fault. And I thought we would get the first down and the clock would stop, we would have 3 seconds left, we should be able to spike it. The chains weren't set at all either, but I guess they ran it when the ball got down -- I didn't hear a whistle or anything but that's on me again. Again, some miscommunication, but that's my fault as a quarterback. I've got to get everyone on the right page."

The Trojans rarely landed on that page Saturday night.

To start the third quarter, they received the kickoff and immediately began moving down the field, including a big 30-yard pass from Slovis to tight end Malcolm Epps. But on third-and-10 from the Notre Dame 25, Slovis threw a perfect pass to Epps just in front of the goal line and the big target couldn't make the catch. Instead of going for a touchdown, USC settled for a 42-yard Parker Lewis field goal attempt that missed.

That swing could have produced 10 points in what was at the time a 17-3 game, but instead the Trojans got none.

"Shoot, that's where we keep having our Achilles heel at," Williams acknowledged later.

But as he said earlier, there were plenty of mistakes all across the board to explain away this loss.

USC had gotten to the Notre Dame 14-yard line on its second drive of the game only to give up a 9-yard sack and soon a 79-yard interception return to Bo Bauer after Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa hit Slovis' arm as he was trying to get rid of a pass. Give Slovis credit -- he immediately took off sprinting down the field and was the one who tackled Bauer at the 4-yard line to prevent the touchdown, which really made a difference when the USC defense held firm at the goal line to force Notre Dame to settle for a field goal.

The Trojans weren't the only ones giving away opportunities -- the Irish had earlier missed out on another scoring opportunity on their opening drive when Kevin Austin had a third down pass go off his hands and Jonathan Doerer then missed a 36-yard field goal.

It was just that USC was more consistent in its self sabotage.

The Trojans' first three trips to the red zone all resulted in disappointment. There was the Slovis interception under pressure; a series in the second quarter in which USC got to the 10-yard line before a false start penalty, 3 passes and a 33-yard field goal; and the missed field goal in the third quarter after the Epps drop (not to mention the clock management issue just outside the red zone at the end of the first half).

Meanwhile, the defense had few answers overall. Notre Dame came in averaging a lowly 97.33 rushing yards per game and rumbled for 170 Saturday night with Kyren Williams (25 carries for 138 yards) finishing off long drives in the second and third quarters with short touchdown runs to stake the hosts to that 24-3 lead.

It wasn't until the fourth quarter that the Trojans finally punched in their first touchdown on a 4-yard Ingram run.

"It's almost that we're allergic to the end zone," Neilon said bluntly. "It's just real frustrating. Three trips, potential to score 21 points, and we have 3 points to show for it. If we score a few touchdowns there it's a completely different game. It's just frustration and something we've got to work on in practice. I can't tell you exactly what it is, but for sure we've got to work on it because it's been all of our losses, almost all of our games back to San Jose State, we're kicking field goals instead of points."

That fourth quarter, meanwhile, is when things got briefly interesting, as Steele intercepted Jack Coan at the USC 14 following the Ingram to keep hope alive, and Slovis immediately hit Drake London for 44 yards to spur another touchdown drive, capped by Darwin Barlow's 3-yard run. Lewis missed the extra point to keep it at 24-16, but there was life.

Ever so briefly.

Notre Dame moved easily down the field as Williams rushed 6 times for 35 yards, Steele was flagged for a questionable pass interference call and QB Tyler Buchner ran in for a 3-yard score. The ensuing USC drive ended when Slovis was sacked for a 17-yard loss on fourth down -- a fitting punctuation to the evening as he was under duress for so much of the game.

No, more time wouldn't have helped USC on this night, nor will it probably do anything to change the tenor of this season.

"It sucks to say, but you sometimes see the results and you shouldn't see the same results from the same people, from the same program, organization," Williams said. "Once again, we have to make those corrections."

That's been the refrain after each of these losses. At a certain point, it just is what it is -- and it sure feels like the Trojans are at that point.

But the true fresh start is coming soon enough. That's what USC fans need to keep reminding themselves. That's when the clock truly resets for this program.