Except that the ball went out of bounds at the three, possibly four yard line on the fumble. The ball should have been placed there with maybe three ticks remaining. They would have had to kick the FG there. I heard that USC's head coach made the call NOT to utilize instant replay for this game. Looks like he chose wisely! I enjoyed the game immensely but was pulling for the underdog just a bit. And I've never been a huge ND fan.
I'm not a fan of either team.
You're right, the spot seemed too generous to me too, and 7 seconds seemed like a long time. But USC did deserve the ball with a few seconds left on the clock.