No USC fan was surprised by the final result Saturday night in South Bend, Ind., as the Trojans lost 31-16 to No. 13-ranked Notre Dame.

No, this narrative has been rehashed more times than a superhero script in Hollywood.

In all four losses now the Trojans have trailed by at least 20 points in the fourth quarter before settling for a double-digit defeat of some variety.

The stalled offensive drives, the offensive line struggles, the defensive breakdowns, the penalties, etc., are all just part of the USC football experience these days.

But the weekly First-and-10 column tries to keep it as fresh as possible, so here were our 10 most significant thoughts and takeaways from this latest loss.

Keaontay Ingram had his best day in a Trojans uniform on Saturday, racking up 138 rushing yards and a touchdown on an average of nearly 6 yards per carry. The Texas transfer was effective all throughout the game, routinely capitalizing on running lanes with his vision, lateral quickness and physicality. The running game was the only facet of the offense that functioned consistently for the Trojans, and as a result they leaned on it heavily, giving Ingram 24 carries compared to his prior season high of 15.

Ingram has been productive throughout the season, even with the limited touches he’d received in prior weeks. He's topped 70 rushing yards in five out of seven games and is averaging 5.7 yards per carry for the season (557 rushing yards overall).

As the Trojans passing offense struggles to find rhythm week in and week out, the winning formula for USC going forward might be a more concerted and maintained focus on pounding the ball with Ingram.

There’s little to be said about Drake London’s game that I haven’t said here already. The 6-foot-5 loping behemoth of a receiver turned in another performance for the record books, totaling 171 yards on 15 catches, which is the most receptions by any player ever against Notre Dame. As always, London dominated on contested jump balls and YAC opportunities off of short completions, but he also managed to show off a number of the other skills in his bag, winning with some nice releases at the line of scrimmage and creating more separation than we’ve generally seen from him on his cuts. London’s awareness and route running skills have improved noticeably through the season.

Even if he isn’t the most well-rounded receiver at this point, it gets harder and harder to deny him the title of best receiver in the country. He’s now crossed 1,000 yards on the season (79 receptions for 1,003 yards), and he’s done it in only 7 games. Expect London to be squarely in the discussion for the Biletnikoff Award in two months.

Quarterback Kedon Slovis turned in yet another messy game, a performance where he did plenty of things right but not quite enough to carry his team to victory. Slovis finished the night with 299 yards and an interception while completing 27 out of 37 passes, but he was also responsible for a number of head-scratching mistakes that cost the Trojans badly.

His failure to either spike the ball or to heave it to a wide-open London in the end zone at the end of the half cost USC at least 3 points and a good deal of momentum, while his sporadic failures to detect pressures resulted in a number of killed drives for the team. Slovis made too many mental mistakes tonight despite otherwise playing a pretty solid game, and for that I’d mark this down as one of his worse performances on the year so far.

With that said, he was able to throw the football with accuracy throughout the game, making a number of big-time throws that almost kept USC in the game. His 44-yard completion to London on a slant-and-go was on the money, as were another pair of deep balls for No. 15 down the sidelines. He also threw two absolute dimes up the seam to Malcolm Epps, the latter of which would have been a touchdown over three defenders had Epps not dropped the football.

Though Slovis keeps showing flashes of the player he might be at his best, the clock is running out for him to fully reconjure that version of himself before the season's end. He should have the ideal get-right opportunity ahead of him as the Trojans prepare to face a woeful Arizona defense.