USC, IRISH WAGE RECRUITING WAR.

Byline: SCOTT WOLF  College football

It's only the halfway mark of the season, still early in recruiting terms. But Saturday's USC-Notre Dame game in South Bend will be an interesting showcase because at least four highly-regarded recruits that both schools are looking at will be attendance.

It's a huge recruiting weekend for Notre Dame, which chose to fly in 11 players, at least four of whom are being considered by both schools:

--Long Beach Poly receiver Terrence Austin.

--Colton linebacker Allen Bradford.

--Offensive lineman Butch Lewis of Aurora, Colo.

--Defensive lineman Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma City. Okla.

During their current run of success of back-to-back national titles, USC offers scholarships later than most schools, so it's hard to say the Trojans want every one of those players. But the Irish, who have 19 commitments, might be taking a risk by flying players to South Bend, considering USC beat the Irish by 31 points two years ago.

Remember, USC tailback Reggie Bush, who nearly went to Notre Dame, visited during USC's 44-13 victory over the Irish in 2002.

USC tailback LenDale White and receiver Steve Smith also visited that weekend, although neither considered Notre Dame.

If new Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis upsets the Trojans, though, it could be a magical recruiting weekend with fans storming the field.

Weis seems to want to wrap up recruiting as quickly as possible. One example is asking kicker Kai Forbath from Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks to make an early decision. Forbath chose UCLA instead.

Sometimes, it doesn't really matter what game the recruit is watching, however. Four years ago, Notre Dame flew in quarterback Gavin Dickey, who also considered USC. Dickey eventually signed with Florida.

--Otherwise, how do you feel? Tennessee quarterback Rick Clausen (Taft of Woodland Hills) played last week against Georgia with a bruised shoulder and elbow, two dislocated fingers and an Achilles' strain.

And he almost got pulled from the 27-14 loss to Georgia.

``Rick didn't do bad,'' offensive coordinator Randy Sanders said. ``Rick is playing pretty well. I don't know if we have all 11 guys on offense playing to the same level he is right now. Rick's doing what he can do, and he doesn't have the ability for us to overcome some limitations at other places.''

--Stat of the week: Cal is 5-1 but its victories are over teams with a combined 3-16 record against Division I-A opponents - and those wins are against San Jose State, Idaho and Rutgers.

--Streaky series: Oregon State plays Cal this week in one of the more consistent series in the country.

Before Cal won last year, the Beavers won five straight. Before that, Cal won six straight. Before that, Oregon State won five in a row. And before that, it was Cal winning six straight.

--Player of the week: Northwestern linebacker Tim McGarigle recorded 25 tackles, one shy of the NCAA single-game record in the Wildcats' upset of Wisconsin. He had 15 unassisted tackles, 3 1/2 tackles for loss and two sacks.

--Zook struggles: New Illinois coach Ron Zook is going through a rough first season.

The Illini have been outscored 132-34 in three Big Ten games, rank 110th out of 117 Division I-A teams in points allowed (36 per game) and are 88th in scoring with 21.2 points per game.

``These guys have to understand that they're not as bad as we're playing,'' Zook told the Chicago Sun-Times. ``And we're playing awfully bad right now.''

Zook played 15 freshmen and 17 sophomores against Iowa two weeks ago and isn't worried about offending upperclassmen.

``I don't think I have to be sensitive to anybody,'' Zook said. ``Those guys know we need everybody to play. If the older guys aren't playing, that's their fault. They understand that.''

--Be happy with the jug: Michigan took offense to Minnesota's first victory over the Wolverines since 1986, or at least the Golden Gophers' behavior.

It wasn't enough to win the Little Brown Jug. Gopher players rushed the field after the game and planted a Minnesota flag on Michigan's block ``M'' at midfield.

``I thought they were better than that,'' Michigan tailback Mike Hart told the Detroit News. ``They should have gotten the jug and it should have ended at that.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

USC coach Pete Carroll is hoping to win the battle against Notre Dame on and off the field.

Kirby Lee/Special to the Daily News

Box:

(1) ON CAMPUS

(2) DAILY NEWS/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS