Notre Dame Fighting Irish football rivalries
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[edit] USC
The Notre Dame-USC rivalry has been played annually since 1926, except for a brief repose from 1943 to 1945. The winner of the annual rivalry game is awarded the coveted Jeweled Shillelagh, a war club adorned with emerald-emblazoned clovers signifying Irish victories and Ruby-emblazoned Trojan warrior heads for Trojan wins. Through the 2006 season, Notre Dame leads the rivalry series 42-31-5.
According to the 2006 USC Trojan Football media guide, the USC-Notre Dame rivalry began with a conversation between wives. In 1925 USC was looking for a national rival and dispatched graduate manager Gwynn Wilson (akin to the modern day athletic director) and his wife to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Notre Dame was playing Nebraska on Thanksgiving Day. On that day (Nebraska 17, Notre Dame 0) Knute Rockne was cool to 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. Mrs. Rockne spoke to her husband and shortly thereafter Notre Dame became an annual fixture on USC’s schedule.
In recent years, the game alternates between South Bend in mid-October and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, USC's home field, in late November. Originally the game was played in both locations in late November, but because the poor weather during that time of the year at South Bend, USC insisted on having the game moved to October in 1961.
There have been many memorable games in the annual series.
1931 - USC 16, Notre Dame 14 More than 300,000 fans welcomed the Trojans home from this thrilling victory in South Bend--a victory clinched by what sportswriter Maxwell Stiles called “Johnny Baker’s 10 little toes and three BIG points.” USC trailed 14-0 at the outset of the final stanza, but stormed back behind the running of Gus Shaver and the passing of Orv Mohler. Baker’s 33-yard field goal with one minute remaining made the difference. The win snapped Notre Dame’s 26-game unbeaten string and was the Trojans’ first win in South Bend. Called “...the biggest upset since Mrs. O’Leary’s cow knocked over that lantern” by El Rodeo, USC’s student yearbook, it clinched USC’s second national title.
1938 - USC 13, Notre Dame 0 Played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Notre Dame was undefeated and ranked number 1 in the nation. USC was ranked 8th with a 7-2 record. Notre Dame fell to a number 5 ranking the following week.
1948 - USC 14, Notre Dame 14 The Irish was undefeated before losing this game on Dec. 2.
1950 - USC 9, Notre Dame 7 USC's 300th victory
1959 - Notre Dame 16, USC 6 This was the last game played between the two teams in South Bend in November. The freezing cold affected the Trojans so much that Athletic Director Jess Hill proposed moving USC’s games at Notre Dame Stadium to October, while continuing to play the Coliseum games in late November. Notre Dame agreed and it has been that way ever since.
1964 - USC 20, Notre Dame 17 Notre Dame was ranked number 1, undefeated and heavily favored going into the game at USC's Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC was unranked and was 6-3 on the season. After trailing 17-0 at halftime, the Trojans won the game 20-17 to ruin the Irish's hopes of a National Championship. Notre Dame fell to number 3 in the ranking the following week.
1966 - Notre Dame 51, USC 0 Undefeated Notre Dame, following its controversial 10-10 tie with Michigan State, beat the Trojans 51-0 which was enough to impress voters to give the Irish the number one ranking. It was and still stands as the Trojans' worst loss ever.
1967 - USC 24, Notre Dame 7 The 1967 USC-UCLA game is the game most USC fans recall from this season, but it never would have had the same importance if the Trojans hadn’t first defeated defending national champion and number 5 ranked Notre Dame on a sunny October day in South Bend. The previous year, the Irish handed the Trojans their worst defeat ever, 51-0, and despite USC’s number 1 rank in the 1967 polls, Notre Dame was a heavy favorite. Weighing heavy on the oddsmakers’ minds was the fact that USC had not won in South Bend since 1939. It was on this day that most of the country first heard of a tailback named O.J. Simpson. The junior from San Francisco rushed for 160 yards on 38 carries and tacked on all three USC touchdowns. The Trojan defense intercepted seven passes (four by a true Irishman, Adrian Young) and recovered two fumbles. USC trailed at the half, 7-0, but came back in the second half to win the game. The victory solidified USC's place at the top of the final rankings.
1974 - USC 55, Notre Dame 24 In one of the most notable comebacks in college football history, the 1974 Trojans erased a 24-point deficit to beat defending national champion Notre Dame, 55-24, in the Coliseum. In 1998, SPORT magazine listed the game as the No. 6 top college football greatest moment of the 20th century. The Trojans trailed the Irish and the nation’s top-ranked 24-0. With 10 seconds remaining before halftime, Anthony Davis scored on a 7-yard pass from Pat Haden. Davis then took the opening kickoff of the second half and raced 102 yards for a score, opening the floodgates as USC rallied for 35 points in the third quarter. Davis scored 2 more touchdowns that quarter, and Haden threw two TD passes to Johnny McKay (USC Coach John McKay's son). Before 2 minutes had elapsed in the fourth quarter, Haden hit Shelton Diggs for a TD pass and Charles Phillips returned an interception 58 yards for a touchdown. In all, USC scored 55 points in under 17 minutes. The victory propelled USC to the national championship after it defeated Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
1977 - Notre Dame 49, USC 19 During Pregame warmups, the Irish players wore their traditional navy blue jerseys. Following the warmups, they went into the locker room and discovered that head coach, Dan Devine, had placed green jerseys in their lockers. The players quickly changed into the new jerseys and returned to the field, followed by a Trojan Horse, containing the team captains, being dragged by the Notre Dame cheerleaders. The sight of the team wearing green sent the crowd at Notre Dame Stadium into a frenzy that would carry on through the entire game. Notre Dame went on to win the game and kept wearing the green jerseys all the way to a victory over Texas in the Cotton Bowl and captured the National Championship.
1988 - Notre Dame 27, USC 10 Both teams entered the game undefeated ranked number one/two respectively. Notre Dame emerged emerged victorious and captured the National Championship that year.
1983 Notre Dame began an undefeated streak against USC which did not end until 1996.
1985 Notre Dame head coach Gerry Faust had his team switched to green jerseys during halftime.
1996 - USC 27, Notre Dame 20 After 13 years of losses to Notre Dame, the Trojans finally defeated the Irish. USC was struggling at 5-6 after a wild double-overtime loss to UCLA the previous week while Notre Dame was standing tall with an 8-2 record and a New Year’s Day bowl bid in the works. The Trojans managed to stay in the game despite playing without starting quarterback Brad Otton for large portions of the game due to injury. When Notre Dame scored a touchdown to go ahead 20-12 (with the PAT pending) in the fourth quarter, things looked bleak for USC. But Irish kicker Jim Sanson missed the extra point and the margin stayed at eight. The Trojans responded with an eight-play, 67-yard drive culminating in Delon Washington’s 15-yard touchdown run. Washington also ran in the two-point conversion and the score was tied at 20. Neither team could score before the end of regulation and overtime ensued. On USC’s first drive, Otton passed to Rodney Sermons for a five-yard touchdown pass and the Trojans went ahead for the first time, 27-20. Jubilation erupted in the Coliseum when Mark Cusano batted down Ron Powlus’ fourth-down pass for a Trojan victory.
2002 - USC 44, Notre Dame 13 This game reestablished USC on a national level after a decade-long absence from the elite ranks. The Trojans had not played in such a highstakes game since the 1988 No. 1 vs. No. 2 loss to the Irish. 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—both Notre Dame opponent records. Palmer led the Trojan offense to 610 total yards, the most yards ever against the Irish. 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 44 points were the most against the Irish by a USC team since Troy's 1974 55-24 victory.
2005 - USC 34, Notre Dame 31 After beating the Irish by 31 points each of the past 3 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 again putting the crowd into a frenzy. 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 Leinert to DeWayne Jarrett that brought the ball within the 5 yard line. As the Trojans tried to run it in, the ball flew up, and off the field. The clock hit zero, and the Irish fans begin to storm the field. However, after seven seconds were put back on the clock, Trojan running back Reggie Bush pushed Matt Leinert into the endzone (in the rulebooks, it says it is illegal to push a teammate running with the ball) to secure a victory propelling them to a second consecutive BCS championship game berth. This play is commonly called the "Bush Push."
[edit] Series factoids
- Several years ago, when Kathie Lee Gifford still co-hosted Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, it often had become a point of discussion on the show. Co-host Regis Philbin is a Notre Dame graduate, while former co-host Kathie Lee Gifford is married to Frank Gifford, a USC football legend who went on to play for the New York Giants and become one of the sport's great broadcasters. The show is now co-hosted by Kelly Ripa instead of Gifford, but Philbin still often invokes Notre Dame football on the show, especially during the season.
[edit] Michigan, Purdue and the Big Ten
Notre Dame and Michigan first played in 1887 in Notre Dame's introduction to football. Through the 2006 season, Michigan leads the overall series 19-14-1. The rivalry is heightened by the two schools' competitive leadership atop the college football all-time winning percentage board, with Michigan holding a slim lead after the 2005 season.
In addition, the Shillelagh Trophy is a trophy exchanged between Notre Dame and their Nothern Indiana rival, Purdue. The trophy was first presented in 1957. Current Notre Dame Quarterback Brady Quinn, made his first college start for the Fighting Irish, in the 2003 edition of this rivalry in West Lafayette.
Notre Dame has traditionally played Division I-A football independent from any conference affiliation. In its early years joining a conference, in particular the geographically-contiguous Big Ten Conference, would have provided stability and scheduling opportunities. Conferences have periodically approached Notre Dame about joining, most notably the Big Ten in 1999. Many Notre Dame fans and alumni, however, fiercely support its independent stance, feeling that it has contributed to Notre Dame's unique place in college football lore. However, many Big Ten teams still appear on the Irish schedule: in 2006, Notre Dame played Michigan and Purdue as well as Michigan State and Penn State.
[edit] Pittsburgh
Notre Dame is one of the handful of schools that has a longstanding rivalry with the University of Pittsburgh. Notre Dame has played Pitt on a semi-regular basis since 1899, with never more than three years passing between contests since 1943. The two universities recently signed a contract to play eight games between 2006 and 2015.
[edit] Navy
The Notre Dame-Navy series has been played annually since 1931, with Notre Dame holding a 70-9-1 series edge including a current 43-win streak that is the longest series win streak in Division 1-A football. Navy's last win came in 1963, 35-10 with future Heisman Trophy winner and NFL QB Roger Staubach at the helm. Navy has come close to winning on numerous occasions since, including in 1999 when Notre Dame needed a controversial first down call on 4th and 9 with 1:37 left to escape with a 28-21 win and in 2003 when a last-second Irish field goal kept the game from going to overtime and gave Notre Dame a 27-24 victory.
This rivalry is particularly intresting due to the fact that many games have been played at a soccer stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
Despite the one-sided result the last few decades, most Notre Dame and Navy fans consider the series a sacred tradition for historical reasons. Notre Dame, like many colleges, faced severe financial difficulties during World War II. The US Navy made Notre Dame a training center and paid enough for usage of the facilities, with federal tax money, to keep the University afloat. Notre Dame has since extended an open invitation for Navy to play the Irish in football and considers the game annual repayment on a debt of honor. The series is marked by mutual respect, as evidenced by the Notre Dame team's standing at attention during the playing of Navy's alma mater after the 2005 game. Navy's athletic director, on renewing the series through 2016, remarked "...it is of great interest to our collective national audience of Irish fans, Naval Academy alumni, and the Navy family at large. Two institutions with similar values rekindling a lengthy and well-respected relationship make this game a special rivalry.
