Onward Notre Dame: The USC Rivalry

there are two ingredients to a great football rivalry history and hate across half a continent more than 1500 miles apart something profound bruised in the soil it might be best described as determined restlessness a deep-seated distaste a blood thirst to proclaim yourself and leave no questions you see on these two university campuses lay the breeding ground of the longest continuous intersectional rivalry in the country unarguably the greatest intersectional rivalry in the college game the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame the Trojans of Southern Cal make no mistake when these teams play is for real it is a series that started back in 1926 but it has never been more dramatic than it is today 18 USC one of the greatest rivalries in college football the Iowa journey to the Los Angeles Coliseum to meet Southern California we beat Southern another epic battle between these two Fame maybe the most celebrated rivalry in college football by Jaylon Smith in us he doesn't like us and we don't really like that but that's just south of me forever the history goes back to the early 20th century at a time many schools in the Midwest would not play this small Catholic school in Indiana Notre Dame was forced to travel by train east to New York for the fateful victory over army in 1913 then south that same year to defeat Texas at Austin the Irish were claiming fame as a railroad team and after star player turned coach Knute Rockne won Notre Dame's first national title with the Rose Bowl championship in 1924 it didn't take long to take his rambling squad West to California as a repeat destination the story that's often told is that it was the coaches wives who first raised the notion of playing each other but they met at an event and hit it off I know that the news wife was tired of not going on vacation and that's what he basically came down to it really didn't have anything to do with football those two ladies that you know thought hey this would be a nice place for you to come out to and see the beauties of California others say it was actually the two institutions saying you know what we got to try this because this would be really good for us and for college football however the story goes the Irish hand of the Trojans the first loss of the series in 1926 and except for a three-year hiatus during World War Two Notre Dame and USC have brought it every year since the Notre Dame USC rivalry is a national rivalry it pits two regions of the country most of the other famous rivalries are within a conference Michigan Ohio State they're bordering Auburn Alabama they're in the same state USC Notre Dame was transformational in that what relegated tore geographical region it's not a proximity battle it's not a state versus State battle this is a university versus a university it's a rivalry born of two coaches with vision deciding they ought to play each other at a time when traveling from South Bend Indiana to Los Angeles and vice versa didn't make a lot of sense so many conferences are born of geography or born of conference or born of convenience this isn't USC and Notre Dame are truly national rivalries this series is good because the two teams are really really good all the quantifiable numbers about talent Notre Dame in USC they are one and two in college football Hall of Famers in Pro Football Hall of Famers all-americans draft picks Heisman Trophy winners famous moments the number of years in which it has had national championship implications it's not just the years in which one of the teams won the national championship in some years the outcome of the game kept one of the teams from winning the national championship when you look at sheer national brand power as well as the pedigree of the players who have competed in the game what they've gone on to achieve not only within the sport but beyond it it's pretty hard to match Notre Dame USC over the last century no other pair of schools comes close to the combined records of these two programs the Irish and the Trojans top virtually every chart of preeminent talent in the college game and the NFL statistics don't disappoint elite teams don't play they battle that's why it hurts so much to not take the W every time and why it feels so damn good to earn it take it from me I was a teenage quarterback from California and I got to lead my beloved Irish to four straight wins and begin a 13 year unbeaten streak against Southern Cal my family couldn't be more proud but no matter how much our numbers compare we could not be more different when you think about the the culture of you know what is USC is definitely polar opposites of what you would think when you think you I think it's the kind of a clash of literally cultures Southern Cal brand is about as far away from South Bend as you can get its glitz and glamour versus lake-effect and gray skies you know I see is you know Southern California pretty boy all that Hollywood they get the guys that you know athletic they gonna like to run around I mean it's funny Sony's USC they weren't as physical as I was used to coming up against brand I represent is lunch-pail blue collar Smash Mouth in your face we just gonna dominate you physically now Notre Dame has a ton of you know pride in who they are strong tough minded it is absolutely sort of glamour versus grit the greatest records the most impactful games the longest duration the most iconic of brands it's hard to not say it's the greatest rivalry in the game USC doesn't like us I think every time you play filling car you gotta be concerned about the opponent when Notre Dame in Southern Cal compete the national title implications are astounding it was true from the very beginning when the winner of the series decided a title for five straight years and the 60s were no different in 1964 when era Parseghian led the Irish to a nine and O start in his first season in South Bend the only obstacle to a championship lay at the Los Angeles Coliseum I get into that intangible thing again about you know the meaning how meaningful that that rivalry is and it in its because there are significant games 64 game was very significant we got up 17 to nothing in the first half and then second half they came back on us and then they got the momentum going and then with a minute and twenty seconds the goal in the game and our season they scored a touchdown and beat us 2017 there weren't too many dry eyes and you know all us macho guys were we're pretty emotional about that that and that was in the waning moments of the game when we knew it got away from us we think that they stole that game from us in 64 for us to go 91 now we you know had a chance again to go back out there in there and make up for the 64 game as well as establish who we are in 66 two years later they returned to LA with another unbeaten team and the results speak for themselves the 66 game was a function of putting a exclamation point on that 66 season I think we all felt that we could win but we'd have to play awfully well having won that game the way we want it one of the most unbelievable games a Notre Dame history 51 and again Southern Cal playing a lot of second team players the Irish stay unbeaten with a 51 nothing rout of USC for that team's worst defeat of history in the 60s and 70s already joined at the hip by the most inspiring intersectional college football relationship on the books the Irish and Trojans created enough history for a century's worth of games these weren't run-of-the-mill football squads these were the best college football had to offer in two decades they amassed together four Heisman Trophy winners and 54 consensus all-americans and when these two powerhouses met one always left disappointed a string of about I think five or six years where Southern Cal just had our number there there were there were taking no prisoners we had it in our hands we just could not do it and it's Mike wanted us most of our lives that was the only thing standing between us and the holy grail for the national championship we wound up losing the football game and that was I think the blemish that we had our senior year we finished I believe third in the nation that year we were we were it was the University of Southern California that sort of held us back in that situation in 1974 the returning champion Irish had their hopes crushed with a surprise Trojan comeback in California and USC would go on to take the national title that year but in 77 in South Bend the Notre Dame USC game will go down in the annals for a different reason the way only a spirited rivalry could inspire that was this the beginning of setting the crowd up to know that there's gonna be something different when that team comes out of the tunnel we'll start the game tomorrow Devine was all talking about green and everybody wearing green and you know no big no big deal because they are eesh you know what the heck we think anything about it when we're getting dressed the unexpected is commonplace in the colorful notre dame of southern cal do it and Dan divine might well be remembered for master matting the cake get a lot of them all you know we weren't up like normal and you were back through the tunnel and I was towards the end and you could hear a commotion in the locker room and it wasn't what's going on so what's happening something's going on in the locker room no one could figure it out so when Dan Devine first gets here I said why don't you wear green jerseys against Southern cow let the team go out in the field and warm up in their blue while they're out there on the field pregame you have the stood managers put those green jerseys in every locker upstairs in the locker room when those kids come upstairs when they see those green jerseys they're gonna be so emotional the whole locker room erupted you thought we won the game and we came out and just electrified the crowd because they never didn't they didn't know it either it was over when Southern Cal saw them coming out of the tunnel into green jerseys and John Robinson it was in his head this is bigger than big that intensity never led up before fourth Montana angles out to the left side they still look runs the football the McAfee [Applause] the Irish went on to win their tenth consensus national title that year I was a happy twelve-year-old my dad and I were thrilled the next decade was around the corner and the rivalry was about to get a whole lot sweeter we don't like that so far we're heading into the final week and a half we got the greatest receivers I've ever seen Martin at the end of my junior season Lou Holtz came to South Bend to lead a new era in Notre Dame football his impact was clear in the locker room and his impact against our opponents would quickly surface it was bizarre because coach Foust was literally saying goodbye to the team they introduced coach Holt said he came down and said you know what I'm speaking you sit up in your chair you look me in the eye listen to what I have to say he set the tone literally from the first 20 seconds that he spoke to the team we knew right away that it was a different set of set of rules that we were gonna be playing by he always tried to kind of keep things down in the beginning that we can kind of build it up but we'd USC especially you know you could see there was a difference there's a different vibe on campus there's a different vibe at practice I'll never forget my my freshman year getting ready for the USC game coach host made us take a test that was the only way you got to travel you had to pass a test so it was significant where we had to know the history how it started and so you you you hear about the history of it and so it becomes more than just a game you know you credit coach Holtz with that because you do things like that and it makes the players more knowledgeable about who they're dealing with and our responsibility to the tradition and to the to the rivalry by secure in another Notre Dame victory all practice everyday is blaring the USC fight song that's all you hear is that stupid fight song it's a nightmare we went out to compete so we didn't have to hear that fight song again it's the motor Dame Fighting Irish versus the USC Trojans lose first game against Southern Cal was the last game of my college career we had lost six games going into Los Angeles but we knew the way we played that afternoon would set the tone for this program and make a statement for this rivalry USC was pretty good and nobody thought we can beat them down of course everybody thought the game was over for Notre Dame fans sought to lead the state in everything when I come back starts Tim Brown who goes on the next year to win the Heisman Trophy returns a punt 56 yards and his time runs out John Carney kicks a field goal [Applause] we just kept fighting and that is directly attributed to him Lou made a comment after that season he said we may have lost six games this year he goes but I guarantee you were not worse than six or seven teams in the country and that said a lot to us the next couple years Lou got that philosophy and that mentality instilled in those players and it paid off and it showed itself for a long time after the cornerstone was laid at the end of the 1986 season with the victory at USC and the foundation is set the foundation for the 1988 national championship has had become the pattern the unbeaten Notre Dame team of 1988 came to Los Angeles to close out the season and prove to the nation who the best team in the country was and there's not a bigger game out there than Notre Dame USC number one number two winner of that game goes for the national championship my senior year you know we're getting our butts handed to us in the first half you know they were a big team they're a well coached team we were 10 and oh they were 10 and oh the whole suspense two key players there's some question well there's no way they're gonna beat USC the team came together and said look you know these guys are gone the next guy up it's got to got to pick up the slack you got to jump higher you got to run faster and we'll walk into town and we get to the tunnel and the USC players and coaches are singing our fight song and mocking us and I mean that that woke us up and that was a bad idea [Music] [Applause] got a touchdown [Applause] [Music] Lu's team did not need more motivation beating Southern Cal that day would propel the Irish to their 11th consensus national title so it has gone on and on this game has always been a measuring stick for the coaches on both sides even when this game doesn't have national championship implications for both teams more often than not it has it from one and certainly in 1995 it did us he came in undefeated they were ranked 5th in the country they were the hotshots from USC you know the weather forecast that day was a little overcast little drizzly it was cold so it was a perfect day for Notre Dame and Notre Dame football you can point to those moments where you say I mean yeah throw out the record book because it's gonna be on this game [Applause] crowd was into it we got off to a great start just continued to push and push and push and I do remember this being an incredibly physical hard-hitting game Notre Dame linebacker Kenan Tatum USC is close to scoring they're down in the goal line he leaps over the defensive line [Applause] he jumped over the top of a blocker and just a lot I mean it was a fumble that really stops the driving turns the game around you know it was just an all-around thorough victory for us that day you talk about home-field advantage they're focused but they feed on that energy and certainly Notre Dame fed on the energy to USC and Notre Dame football rises to one of its highest levels ever in terms of talent and skill and USC is struggling a bit at this time and it got to the point during that period of time where Notre Dame players Notre Dame fans they expected to beat USC even when they fell behind they thought deep in their hearts that by the end of the game they were gonna come out on top it was a remarkable period of time for this series for another day with the Irish victory that day we had completed a streak of 13 unbeaten games against USC and our 39th win in the series a great time to be Irish the Notre Dame USC rivalry speaks for itself history tradition characters high-stakes games controversy heartbreak glory no two schools have traveled so far over two hundred and eighty thousand miles collectively to play each other but to these two schools it's worth every mile rivalries that have this history and this significance never lose their steam at any time you have a great rivalry there have been great games and when those are the case you know that the rivalries tend to keep going when things become too one-sided or or the the games lose their Flair that's when rivalries tend to die down but you've seen over the last however many years that those great games great matchups continue to happen this rivalry I just can't see it ever diminishing no matter how up or down either team is that's the one game that matters I mean you don't remember half the games you play against other teams but you remember that win or that loss when you play USC because of the tradition and the history of the game of the program's of the players that came before you of the players that come after you this is two places which are very far-flung which seem to have almost directly opposing cultures at least from the outside looking in that's why I think the fact that this rivalry has endured and it's been a priority and a crucial game for both teams in both programs they're so deeply invested in its outcome that's what makes it a rivalry to cherish [Applause] first time I was able to come back to campus since I played was the bush bush and I was on the sideline for that game and we had all rushed the field thinking it was over they cleared us back off and then obviously you know the end result at that moment I would say that was a moment that just probably compounded a bunch of just moments that led up to that one that was like yeah I really don't like these guys it was always personal I think it's personal now that's what makes my livers that's why college football's so great the fans feel that too these students feel that and the football players we get to live it out that's what it's all about and that's why we're so blessed to be able to do what we did they say it's not good to hold hatred in your heart but it's Southern Cal this isn't some friendly match on the turf this is where champions are decided and legends are born USC that was a four-letter word in my house growing up so for dad Notre Dame football and the Irish faithful this one is special and it always will be you [Music]

Channel: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Views: 66,100

Rating: 4.8607593 out of 5

Keywords: university of notre dame, fighting irish, college, university, sports, usc

Id: XoXCnRvz6Gw

Length: 22min 22sec (1342 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 19 2017