College football’s greatest intersectional rivalry is back on NBC and Peacock this Saturday. The No. 21-ranked USC Trojans and the No. 13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish meet up in South Bend to renew acquaintances, and this year, there could be major College Football Playoff ramifications.
The Trojans and Fighting Irish have one of the most distinctive rivalries in college football. From the shared history of success to the elite uniform combination to the nonregional structure, USC vs. Notre Dame is as notable a running series as there is.
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Read on for more information on the history of this vaunted rivalry, from the legend behind their first meeting to the greatest games played between the teams.
USC vs Notre Dame Football head-to-head record
The official record sees Notre Dame holding a 50-37-5 edge in the series all-time. This does not include three vacated games: USC’s famous “Bush Push” win from 2005 was vacated due to improper benefits received by the game’s namesake, Reggie Bush; and two Notre Dame victories in 2012 and 2013 were vacated due to academic misconduct by an athletic trainer.
Notre Dame’s key edge has come at home; the Fighting Irish are 28-13-1 in South Bend, while the Trojans are 24-20-1 in Los Angeles. Notre Dame has also benefitted from extended runs of dominance in the series, winning six of seven matchups in the 1940s, 11 in a row from 1983 to 1993 and seven of the last nine going back to 2017. USC’s longest winning streak in the rivalry immediately preceded Notre Dame’s as the Trojans won five straight from 1978-1982.
When was the first meeting between USC vs Notre Dame Football?
The start of the rivalry is the stuff of wholesome legend.
In 1925, USC was looking for a nationally notable opponent when it sent athletic director Gwynn Wilson and his wife, Marion, to the Notre Dame-Nebraska game in Lincoln. Notre Dame lost that matchup 17-0, and Fighting Irish head coach Knute Rockne was against the idea of a USC rivalry because of Notre Dame’s travel schedule. According to legend, though, Marion Wilson persuaded Rockne’s wife, Bonnie, that a biennial winter trip was better spent in sunny Southern California than freezing Nebraska. Bonnie talked her husband into the game thereafter, creating one of the sport’s great rivalries.
That first game, played in 1926, was a 13-12 Notre Dame win in Los Angeles, and the Fighting Irish won again, 7-6, the next year at Soldier Field in Chicago. USC secured its first win in the series by a score of 27-14 in 1928, the same year the Trojans won their first national championship.
USC vs Notre Dame Football notable matchups
1974, “The Comeback”: No. 6 USC 55, No. 5 Notre Dame 24
USC and Notre Dame had won the 1972 and 1973 national titles, respectively, and met at the L.A. Coliseum as championship contenders again. Notre Dame looked like it was going to send Trojan fans home sad when it jumped out to a 24-0 first-half lead.
That set up one of the greatest single-game runs in college football history. In just under 17 minutes from the final seconds of the first half to the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, USC went on a 55-0 run behind four touchdowns from star running back Anthony Davis and two receiving scores by J.K. McKay, son of head coach John McKay. The Trojans rode that momentum to a Rose Bowl win over Ohio State and a national championship.
1977, “The Green Jersey Game”: No. 11 Notre Dame 49, No. 5 USC 19
The Fighting Irish had only beaten the Trojans once in their last 10 tries coming into this matchup in South Bend. Notre Dame switched it up by coming out behind a Trojan horse and dressed in green jerseys, a locker room surprise for most of the team.
The wardrobe change gave the Irish a shot of energy that USC wasn’t able to match. Joe Montana scored on a pair of QB sneaks, and Notre Dame dominated despite a rash of fumbles. The Irish went on to win the national championship in surprise fashion.
1988, A Battle of Unbeatens: No. 1 Notre Dame 27, No. 2 USC 10
This is the only time these programs have met as the top two teams in the country. The Fighting Irish had scored a program-altering win over rival and defending national champion Miami in the “Catholics vs. Convicts” game, and Notre Dame played like a team that had gotten the monkey off its back.
The Irish only managed eight first downs in the Coliseum but hit on big plays, including a 65-yard touchdown run from QB Tony Rice and a 64-yard pick-six for DB Stan Smagala. Notre Dame finished the job with the national title, the most recent of their 11 national championships.
2005, “The Bush Push”: No. 1 USC 35, No. 9 Notre Dame 31
This is one of the greatest set-ups for a college football game ever. Pete Carroll’s Trojans had won their last 27 games en route to two national championships, and Bush was about to give them a second consecutive Heisman winner alongside Matt Leinart. Notre Dame had rebounded from irrelevance in Year 1 under Charlie Weis and brought back the green jerseys with ESPN’s “College GameDay” in town.
Somehow, the game exceeded the hype. Brady Quinn and the Irish kept coming up with big plays and took a 31-28 lead with two minutes to go, but a masterful USC drive ended with Bush pushing Leinart into the end zone for the winning score – which should have been ruled a penalty under 2005’s rules.
What is the trophy given to the winner of USC vs Notre Dame?
The winner of the game earns possession of the Jeweled Shillelagh, which is an Irish club made of oak or blackthorn saplings, for the next year. The foot-long club includes a jeweled ornament for each game result in the rivalry’s history: a ruby-adorned Trojan head for each USC victory and an emerald-studded shamrock for each Notre Dame victory (and a combination of the two for tie games before the NCAA instituted overtime in 1996).
The trophy tradition started in 1952, when it was donated by the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Los Angeles. The current Jeweled Shillelagh is the second edition; the first was retired in 1995 because it ran out of space for the gems and is now permanently displayed at Notre Dame. The current shillelagh is longer than the original to provide more room.
What is the USC vs Notre Dame rivalry called?
The USC-Notre Dame rivalry does not necessarily have an official nickname. Given the name of the trophy, it is sometimes called “The Jeweled Shillelagh Game” or “The Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh.”
Perhaps the more well-known terminology is “the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football,” and although this isn’t exactly a nickname, it does capture the unique nature of the sport’s top rivalry that isn’t based on geographic proximity.
How to watch No. 21 USC vs. No. 13 Notre Dame
- When: Saturday, October 18
- Where: Notre Dame Stadium - South Bend, Indiana
- Time: 7:30 PM ET
- Live stream: Peacock
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