This weekend, a tale as old as time will unfold when the USC Trojans take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. As it has always been, the Trojans visit South Bend in mid-October, while when the Irish hit the road it’s Thanksgiving weekend in sunny Southern California. Oh by the way these two blue blood rivals are both ranked in the top twenty. The amount of history between these two is unmatched as USC holds the record with eight Heisman winners, most in history, and Notre Dame is right behind them at second with seven. These schools also share the record for most players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with 14. This seems like college football at its finest. Two historic programs that are rivals and are ranked teams who’ve been playing forever. Who wouldn’t want it to continue? Well USC and Notre Dame.
As of now, there are no future games scheduled between USC and Notre Dame and it shouldn’t just be USC fans saying that’s a “Notre shame”. The only things that have stopped this game from being played are WWII and COVID . Other than that these teams have met each year since 1926. There have been countless great games in series history. Not to mention the countless legends within the sport. Notre Dame has coaches like Knute Rockne and Ara Parseghian with players like Hornung and Montana. USC with coaches like John McKay and Pete Carroll, countless elite running backs like Marcus Allen and Charles White who both won the Heisman. Notre Dame has their 1977 win when they pummeled the Trojans on their way to a national championship and dido in 1988 when they matched up as the top two teams in the country. USC has their 2005 win the “Bush Push” game to keep the Trojans’ 28 game winning streak alive and the unranked Trojans also upset the top ranked Irish in 1964 spoiling Notre Dame’s hopes for a national title thanks to future Heisman trophy winning USC running back Mike Garrett.
Undoubtedly though, the most famous game between these two teams was “The Comeback”.
In 1974, in a top six battle, Notre Dame stunned the sold out LA Memorial Coliseum by racing out to a 24-0 lead over the Trojans. Just before halftime though, USC running back Anthony Davis caught a TD pass from quarterback Pat Haden to make it 24-6, it was a sign of things to come. Davis would open the second half with a kick return touchdown before USC would force a three and out which would lead Davis to score again. The Trojans would force a fumble and Davis would add another touchdown, his fourth and a two point conversion to flip the script and stun Notre Dame with USC leading 27-24. Haden threw another three touchdowns and Charles Phillips got his third interception of the game and took it back for six making after all of this 55-24 USC. What makes this all the more amazing is the Trojans scored 55 in only 17 minutes of gametime. This victory also helped secure a USC national championship that year. Believe it or not this wasn’t even Anthony Davis’s best game against Notre Dame as he scored six touchdowns against them in 1972 and still holds the career record for most touchdowns scored against the Irish with 11.
When The Battle for the Jewel Shillelagh began it was a first for college football. A Midwest team heading out West to play a game was unheard of, (outside of the “Grandaddy of Them All” in the Rose Bowl). It was a big deal as Notre Dame vs. USC represented an extension of the Rose Bowl in the rivalry between the West and Midwest styles of life. Nowadays though USC regularly plays games out there thanks to joining the Big Ten and Notre Dame has scheduled other marquee teams like Clemson frequently more recently. College football has changed tremendously since 1926 but one thing remains the same: rivalries are the lifeblood of the sport. USC and Notre Dame represent the best of what college football has become and what it once was. Where you have two titans of the sport playing a big nonconference non-regional game representing the new wave of conference changes, while still representing the old: by playing a rivalry staple for almost a century. USC and Notre Dame should put aside all external factors and focus on what the alumni and the college football world wants as a whole and continue playing this rivalry.