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American college football rivalry From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Notre Dame–USC football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team of the University of Notre Dame and USC Trojans football team of the University of Southern California, customarily played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving Day when the game is in Los Angeles or on the second or third Saturday of October when the game is in South Bend, Indiana.
| First meeting | December 4, 1926 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Notre Dame, 13–12 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | October 14, 2023 Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, 48–20 |
| Next meeting | November 30, 2024 at Los Angeles |
| Trophy | Jeweled Shillelagh (1952–present) None (1926–1951) |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 94 |
| All-time series | Notre Dame leads, 49–37–5 (.566)[a][1] |
| Trophy series | Notre Dame leads, 34–30–3 (.530) |
| Largest victory | Notre Dame, 51–0 (1966) |
| Longest win streak | Notre Dame, 11 (1983–1993) |
| Longest unbeaten streak | Notre Dame, 13 (1983–1995) |
| Current win streak | Notre Dame, 1 (2023) |
The rivalry began in 1926 and is considered one of the fiercest in college football.[2][3] The rivalry game has been played every year from 1926 to the present, with the exception of 1943–1945 when the game was cancelled during World War II and in 2020 when the Pac-12 Conference cancelled all non-conference games in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] The pandemic therefore interrupted a streak of 73 consecutive years in which the game had been played. The 2021 matchup marked the first time in series history that two consecutive games between the rivals were played in South Bend, although the games were not played in consecutive years.
Notre Dame and USC have been among the most successful programs in college football, with the schools having won a combined 24 national championships and 15 Heisman Trophies (8 for USC—the most in college football—and 7 for Notre Dame) through the 2023 season.[5] Moreover, both schools have fielded a high number of Consensus All-Americans (102 for Notre Dame—the most in college football—and 82 for USC),[6] College Football Hall of Famers (46 from Notre Dame and 43 from USC), and Pro Football Hall of Famers (13 from each).[7] The rivals account for the highest numbers of players selected in the NFL Draft of any school; Notre Dame has had 546 players taken,[8] and USC has had 530.[9] No rivalry in college football accounts for as many combined honors.
The teams play for the Jeweled Shillelagh, a trophy that goes home with the winning team each year. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 49–37–5 and also leads 34–30–3 since the introduction of the trophy. Despite many close games, the series has seen dominant runs by both sides: USC went 12–2–2 from 1967 through 1982, Notre Dame went undefeated (11–0–1) from 1983 through 1995, and USC went undefeated (8–0) from 2002 through 2009. However, while Notre Dame and USC have defeated the other in landmark games enabling one of them to move on to a national title, the two teams have also played spoiler to each other several times:
Notre Dame – #1 undefeated Notre Dame beat #2 undefeated USC in the Coliseum en route to the national title in 1988. The Irish also spoiled Trojan title campaigns by giving them their first loss in the last game of the season in 1947 and 1952, as well as handing them a first loss in 1927, 1973 and 1995. They also tied #1 ranked USC in 1968, 21–21, knocking them down to #2 behind Ohio State (who then beat USC in a 1 vs. 2 matchup in the Rose Bowl). The Irish tied the Trojans again in 1969, 14–14, the only blemish in USC's 10–0–1 season.[10]
USC – Spoiled legitimate Irish title hopes in 1938, 1964, 1970, 1980, and tied them in 1948 (after Michigan already had been voted #1 by the AP Poll).[10] Each game came in the final week of the season.[11] USC also spoiled Irish campaigns in 1931 and 1971.[10]
Although the game is played in Los Angeles in even numbered years, it was not part of Fox's Pac-12 Conference football package, nor is it part of CBS' Big Ten Conference package. Instead, the game, like most of Notre Dame's away games, is broadcast on ABC through ESPN on ABC. In odd-numbered years, when the game is played in South Bend, it is broadcast on NBC as part of its coverage of Notre Dame's home schedule.
The origin of the series is quite often recounted as a "conversation between wives"[11] of Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne and USC athletic director Gywnn Wilson. In fact, many sports writers often cite this popular story as the main reason the two schools decided to play one another. As the story goes, the rivalry began with USC looking for a national rival.[11] USC dispatched Wilson and his wife to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Notre Dame was playing Nebraska on Thanksgiving Day.[11] On that day (Nebraska 17, Notre Dame 0) Knute Rockne resisted the idea of a home-and-home series with USC because of the travel involved, but Mrs. Wilson was able to persuade Mrs. Rockne that a trip every two years to sunny Southern California was better than one to snowy, hostile Nebraska.[11] Mrs. Rockne spoke to her husband and on December 4, 1926, USC became an annual fixture on Notre Dame's schedule.[11]
While the "wives story" remains the classic explanation for starting the series, college football historian Murray Sperber, who in researching his book on the early days of Notre Dame football, Shake Down the Thunder, uncovered a different explanation for the creation of the series that somewhat contradicts the story. Sperber documents that the series was created primarily for financial and political reasons,[12] and that Rockne's resistance to the series is misstated.[12] During the 1920s, many college institutions, including the Big Ten (then called the Western Conference), sought to combat the commercialism that was steadily increasing in college athletics. Part of the concern over commercialism stemmed from the large money payouts teams would receive by traveling long distances to play in bowl games.[12]
Meanwhile, Notre Dame had difficulty scheduling local Western Conference opponents because of a ban placed on member schools from playing them.[12] The Irish were initially forced to seek out opponents nationally to fill its schedule, often traveling far away to do so.[12] After the Irish started winning landmark games against elite teams, such as Georgia Tech and Army, the team started to grow in popularity and could command more money for games it scheduled.[12] Notre Dame garnered interest from the Rose Bowl Committee to have Notre Dame come and play a Pacific Coast Conference (now Pac-12) opponent for the 1924 football season.[12] Coach Rockne and the Notre Dame administration realized how lucrative an annual trip to Los Angeles would be for the football program.[12] Notre Dame's West Coast alumni began lobbying Rockne to bring the team to the Rose Bowl as a season finale every year.[12] The Rose Bowl Committee favored this arrangement (at the time there was no tie in with the Big Ten); however, the Pacific Coast Conference had reservations.[12] Specifically, two members schools, Stanford and California refused to play Notre Dame "on account of [Notre Dame's] low scholastic standards."[12] Since Notre Dame was a Catholic school, its academics were considered inferior at the time.[12] USC's coach, Gus Henderson reached out to Rockne through correspondence stating that "USC would welcome the chance to play Notre Dame New Year's Day in Pasadena."[12] While Rockne favored playing USC, Stanford, which won the Pacific Coast Conference title, had first choice and eventually realized that playing Notre Dame would be lucrative, and the two played in the 1925 Rose Bowl.[12]
The series between Notre Dame and USC was created because of the still-existing desire for Notre Dame to travel to Los Angeles to please its alums and earn a large payout, as well as the still-standing invitation to play them from Coach Henderson.[12] While the creation of the series was contradictory to Notre Dame's efforts to follow the Big Ten in combating commercialism (the Big Ten had a 26-year Bowl ban, which Notre Dame followed even longer), Rockne and other administrators justified the game since it was created as a home-and-home series, only to be played in Los Angeles every other year.[12] The creation of the series was also likely influenced by the hiring of Howard Jones, who knew Rockne from coaching against him at Iowa. To the priests who ran Notre Dame, playing USC in Los Angeles every other year was preferable to making further trips to the Rose Bowl game. Notre Dame would not play in another bowl game until the 1970 Cotton Bowl.
Another factor in the creation of the series is the connection between both schools' coaches, Knute Rockne and Howard Jones. Following Notre Dame's 1924 championship season, Rockne was approached by USC to take over its football program.[10][12][13] Rockne would often entertain such advances and let the news slip out to the Notre Dame administration in order to get a raise and bolster his position internally and nationally.[12] While Rockne ultimately turned down the offer, he recommended that USC look at his friend Howard Jones, whom he knew from taking his Notre Dame teams to play Iowa.[10][12] Barry LeBrock, author of The Trojan Ten, also confirms that Rockne lent the Trojans a helping hand in recommending that they consider hiring Iowa's coach Howard Jones, after USC fired "Gloomy Gus" Henderson.[13] The creation of the series was likely influenced by their friendship, and by Jones' desire to take USC to Notre Dame's elite level.[13]
Notre Dame and USC played their first game in 1926, a 13–12 win for the Irish. Rockne was quoted as saying it was the greatest game he ever saw.[10] The following year, Notre Dame and USC would play a memorable game at Soldier Field in Chicago, a slim 7–6 Irish victory. An estimated 120,000 people were in attendance, a crowd that is considered to be one of the largest attended games in NCAA history.[14] USC's first win in the series also came during the same year they won their first national title in 1928. From 1928 to 1932, USC and Notre Dame combined to win the national title five straight years, with USC winning in 1928, 1931, and 1932, and Notre Dame winning in 1929 and 1930.[15]: 115 During this period, there was some talk of canceling the series due to the long amount of travel time it took by train from South Bend to Los Angeles.[12] Rockne argued for the series against the Notre Dame faculty board and its chair, Father Michael Mulcaire, countering that "he saw the day coming when most college teams will be going by air exclusively."[12]
In 1929, Notre Dame defeated USC 13 to 12. This game played at Soldier Field has the second largest verified attendance in the history of NCAA football at 112,912.[14]
The 1940s were good for the Irish, which earned national titles in 1943, 1946, 1947, and 1949.[15]: 115 Meanwhile, USC was fielding competitive teams, but none that achieved national championship status. Still, this era provided some memorable games, with USC playing spoiler to the Irish in 1948.[11]
The 1960s–1982 period is considered by most fans[who?] to be the golden age of the rivalry, as Notre Dame and USC combined to win eight national titles. Notre Dame won national titles in the 1966, 1973, and 1977 seasons; USC won titles in 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, and 1978.[15]: 116–117 USC also played spoiler to Notre Dame in the 1964 season, costing them a chance at the national title.[11] The rivalry was equally intense between USC coach John McKay and Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian.
From 1983 to 1993, Notre Dame entered an unprecedented run of success in the series, beating USC 11 straight times.[16] Including a 1994 tie, USC did not beat Notre Dame until 1996, going 13 years without a win.[16] Despite the one-sided nature of the series during this time period, the rivalry still produced several memorable games, including the series' first and only #1 vs #2 matchup to date.
For a six-year period, USC and Notre Dame went .500 against each other, with Southern California winning the first three games[20] and Notre Dame winning the last three.[16] The 2001 Notre Dame victory was also their last until their 2010 defeat of the Trojans.[16]
From 2002 – 2009, USC defeated Notre Dame eight straight times, in some games winning in a lopsided fashion unprecedented in the series.[16] Despite the one-sided nature of this stretch, the series still produced a classic game in 2005.[28]
This game reestablished USC on a national level after a decade-long absence from the elite ranks.[20] The Trojans had not played in such a high-stakes game since the 1988 No. 1 vs. No. 2 loss to the Irish.[20] The victory for the Trojans helped them clinch their first-ever BCS bowl berth and established Trojan quarterback Carson Palmer as a Heisman Trophy candidate, which he eventually won. The game culminated USC's most successful season since 1979. A capacity crowd and a national television audience saw USC quarterback Carson Palmer throw for 425 yards and four touchdowns—then Notre Dame opponent records.[23] Palmer led the Trojan offense to 610 total yards, the most yards ever against the Irish.[23] Notre Dame briefly took a 13–10 lead, but Palmer led the Trojans on a 75-yard drive in just over a minute culminating in a pass that sailed over the outstretched hands of two Irish defenders and into the waiting arms of Mike Williams for a 19-yard touchdown. The Trojans sprinted into the locker room with a 17–13 halftime lead and never looked back. USC's 44 points were the most against the Irish by a USC team since Troy's 55–24 victory in 1974.[20]
After beating the Irish by 31 points each of the past three years, the Trojans came into South Bend to meet Notre Dame and first-year head coach Charlie Weis. The Irish players entered the stadium before the game wearing green jerseys, and put the crowd into a frenzy.[29] A close game throughout, the Irish took the lead with two minutes left on a Brady Quinn touchdown run. The Trojans stormed back after a 4th and 9 pass by Matt Leinart to Dwayne Jarrett that brought the ball inside the ND 15-yard line.[30] As Leinart scrambled and tried to dive into the end zone, he was hit hard short of the goal line, and the ball was knocked out of bounds with seven seconds to go.[30] However, the clock continued to count down, and after it hit zero, the Irish fans began to storm the field.[30] There was no replay in this game, at the request of coach Pete Carroll, but after huddling, the officials spotted the ball on the one-yard line and put seven seconds back on the clock.[30] On the next play, instead of spiking the ball and kicking a field goal to secure a tie that would have resulted in overtime, the Trojan offense surprised the Irish by running the ball.[30] Trojan running back Reggie Bush pushed Matt Leinart into the end zone. Although this was against the rules at that time, the referees awarded USC the winning touchdown.[31] Weis said he would hope his running back would make a play like that in a similar situation.[32] The Trojans went on to lose to the Texas Longhorns in the BCS Championship Game.
In 2010, USC was sanctioned by the NCAA for displaying a lack of institutional control for its football, men's basketball and women's tennis programs. As a result, all USC football victories from December 2004 through the 2005 season were vacated, including this classic game.[33] These sanctions have been criticized by some NCAA football writers,[34][35][36][37][38] including ESPN's Ted Miller, who wrote, "It's become an accepted fact among informed college football observers that the NCAA sanctions against USC were a travesty of justice, and the NCAA's refusal to revisit that travesty are a massive act of cowardice on the part of the organization."[39]
This was the largest margin of victory the Trojans have put forth on the Irish.[20] It was also their first shutout against them since 1998.[20] USC came into this game 5–1,[20] while Notre Dame came in 1–6.[40] Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis announced during that summer that his team would wear throwback green jerseys for the matchup, signifying the 30-year anniversary of the Irish beating the Trojans in their green jerseys in 1977, when Weis was a senior at Notre Dame. Because of John David Booty's injured finger, USC backup quarterback Mark Sanchez, was the starter. In his second game as a starter, Sanchez managed to complete 21 of 38 passes with a combined total of 235 yards and 4 touchdown passes.[40] This was the Trojans' 6th consecutive victory over the Irish as well.[20] In the process, they became only the third team to accomplish this feat (Michigan and Michigan State share the record with eight straight wins in non consecutive years).[16]
After eight straight victories by USC, the 2010s were a period of relative dominance by Notre Dame, as the Irish won 7 out of 10 games after Pete Carroll left USC to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. While USC had four different coaches during the 2010s, Brian Kelly was the Irish's head coach for the entire decade.
For the first time since 1941, both teams faced each other with first-year head coaches – who had never met and did not know each other. With the Irish coming off of two stellar performances against #14 Utah and Army (27–3 at Yankee Stadium), Notre Dame was riding high, while USC was one week removed from one of their most one-sided defeats in the last decade, a 36–7 loss to the Oregon State Beavers and would be starting fifth-year senior and backup QB Mitch Mustain for the first time due to an injury to starter Matt Barkley. Three key touchdown drives all taking place in the last three minutes of either half and a dropped pass by Ronald Johnson with a little over a minute remaining in the game led the Irish to their first victory over USC since 2001. They would go on to defeat Miami in the Sun Bowl and finish 8–5 under new coach Brian Kelly.[16]
USC defeated Notre Dame on the road for an unprecedented fifth-straight win in South Bend. It was the first night game played in South Bend in 21 years. The turning point came in the third quarter. Down, 17–10, Notre Dame drove all the way to the USC 1-yard-line and was poised to tie the score when a fumbled snap from center was returned the other way for a touchdown by USC's Jawanza Starling to make it 24–10. For the game, Notre Dame debuted a shiny gold helmet.[41] Nearly 50 recruits attended the game.[42]
Going into the game, the teams found themselves in an unforeseen reversal of preseason expectations. Notre Dame was ranked #1 in the AP poll after being unranked in that poll to start the season, while USC entered the game unranked after starting the season as the preseason #1 team. With a balanced offensive attack and several late goal-line stands on defense, Notre Dame won the game 22–13. The Irish held on to their #1 BCS ranking and propelled themselves to the BCS Championship Game in Miami. With more than 16 million viewers, it was the most-watched regular-season college football game on ABC since 2006 and the most-viewed ABC Saturday night game ever.[43] Notre Dame vacated this win in 2016 after "the NCAA determined that a Notre Dame trainer committed academic misconduct for two football players and provided six other players with extra benefits;" the NCAA identified one player who was ineligible for every game in the 2012 season, and another player who was ineligible for every game in the 2013 season.[44]
Both teams were ranked in the preseason, with USC at #15 in both the AP and Coaches Polls while Notre Dame was #17 in both polls. Going into the game, both teams were unranked with identical 7–4 records. With a 49–14 victory, USC scored its highest points in the series in 40 years (#6 USC's 55–24 victory over #5 Notre Dame in 1974) and the highest score by either team in the series in 37 years (#11 Notre Dame's 49–19 victory over #5 USC in 1977). USC Quarterback Cody Kessler threw six touchdown passes, the first time in Notre Dame history that any team had ever made six touchdown passes against the Irish.[45][46]
Both teams entered the game ranked once again, with USC at #11 and Notre Dame at #13 in the AP. Each team carried a 5-1 record into the primetime TV matchup under the lights in South Bend. The Irish defense would set the tone early by recovering a fumble by quarterback Sam Darnold on the Trojans' 1st play on offense, the first of 3 turnovers committed by USC during the game. The Irish would lean heavily on their running game, rushing for 377 yards and scoring 5 touchdowns. Running back Josh Adams led the way with 191 yards on the ground and 3 touchdowns. Quarterback Brandon Wimbush added 106 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns, in addition to going 9 of 19 passing for 120 yards and 2 passing touchdowns.
The Fighting Irish flew into Los Angeles for this Thanksgiving weekend game undefeated and ranked #3 in the country. The Trojans were 5–6 and still had a chance at a bowl game bid. The underdog Trojan hosts gave their Fighting Irish guests a scare in the early going by taking a 10–0 lead. However, Notre Dame got the offense going late in the second quarter, and quarterback Ian Book led his team to 24 unanswered points. He completed 22 of 39 passes for 352 yards. The Trojans' true freshman quarterback JT Daniels completed 7 out of 10 passes in a late drive which culminated in a 20-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Vaughns with 48 seconds left. But, the subsequent onside kick failed and Notre Dame ran the clock out to complete an undefeated regular season.[47]
The #21 ranked Fighting Irish welcomed an undefeated and #10 ranked USC to South Bend for the team's first home game of the rivalry under Marcus Freeman. The Irish had previously suffered loses to Ohio State and Louisville. In the end, Notre Dame's defense would be too much for USC. Xavier Watts intercepted Caleb Williams twice, along with a fumble which Watts returned for a touchdown. Williams threw one additional interception, and in total the team turned the ball over five times. A late touchdown by the Trojans put the game back within reach, but the Irish quickly responded with a 99-yard return for a touchdown on the kickoff. This was the 5th consecutive loss for USC at Notre Dame Stadium. [48]
The Jeweled Shillelagh (shi-LAY-lee) is the trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Notre Dame–USC football rivalry game. The shillelagh, an Irish club, is made of oak or blackthorn saplings from Ireland. On the end of the club is engraved the following: From the Emerald Isle. The trophy was introduced in 1952 to commemorate the first game in the series played on December 4, 1926. The trophy was donated by the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Los Angeles, stating that "this shillelagh will serve to symbolize in part the high tradition, the keen rivalry, and above all the sincere respect which these two great universities have for each other."
For each victory, a respective jeweled ornament is added to the foot-long club. For each USC victory, a ruby-adorned Trojan head is added, marked with the year and game score; for each Notre Dame victory, a similarly detailed emerald-studded shamrock is added. For tie games, a combined Trojan head/shamrock medallion is used (in 1996 NCAA changed the rules to allow for overtime and thus no more ties are possible). Although the shillelagh was introduced in 1952, the medallions go back to the start of the series in 1926. In 1996, after USC defeated Notre Dame for the first time in 14 years, Notre Dame did not turn over the shillelagh, stating that it had run out of space for the Trojan heads and shamrocks after the 1989 game.[49] The original shillelagh was retired in a 1995 ceremony and is now permanently displayed at Notre Dame. Instead, Jim Gillis, former head of the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles, commissioned a second shillelagh, longer than the original and handcrafted from a blackthorn in County Leitrim with gold and jeweled medallions made by Images Jewelers of Elkhart, Indiana.[50]
| Notre Dame victories | USC victories | Tie games | Vacated wins[b][c] |
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