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 and on the second or third Saturday of October when the game is in Notre Dame, Indiana. The series is scheduled to resume in the 2030 season through the 2033 season.
The rivalry began in 1926 and is considered one of the fiercest in college football. The game has been played every year from 1926 to the present with the exception of 1943 to 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. 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 Indiana, 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 22 national championships and 15 Heisman Trophies (8 for USC—the most in college football—and 7 for Notre Dame) through the 2023 season. Moreover, both schools have fielded a significant number of Consensus All-Americans (102 for Notre Dame—the most in college football—and 82 for USC), College Football Hall of Famers (46 from Notre Dame and 43 from USC) and Pro Football Hall of Famers (13 from each). The rivals account for the highest numbers of players selected in the NFL draft of any school; Notre Dame has had 546 players taken, and USC has had 530. No other rivalry in college football accounts for as many combined honors.
The teams play for the Jeweled Shillelagh, a trophy that goes to the winning team each year. As of 2025, Notre Dame leads the all-time series 51–37–5 and also leads 36–30–3 since the introduction of the trophy. Despite many close games, the series has had dominant runs by both sides: USC went 12–2–2 from 1967 through 1982, Notre Dame went 11–0–1 from 1983 through 1995, and USC went 8–0 from 2002 through 2009. From 2010 to 2025, Notre Dame has gone 11-4 on the field, although 2 Irish wins in 2012 and 2013 against USC and USC's 2005 win over Notre Dame were vacated for NCAA rules violations. However, while Notre Dame and USC have played 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.
A No. 1 undefeated Notre Dame beat No. 2 undefeated USC in the Coliseum en route to the national title in 1988. The Irish also spoiled Trojan title campaigns by handing them their first loss in the last game of the season in 1947 and 1952, as well as beating them in 1927, 1973 and 1995. The Irish also tied No. 1 ranked USC in 1968 21–21, knocking them down to No. 2 behind Ohio State, who then beat USC in a No. 1 vs. No. 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.
USC spoiled Irish title hopes in 1938, 1964, 1970, 1980 and tied them in 1948 after Michigan already had been voted No. 1 by the AP Poll. Each game came in the final week of the season. USC also spoiled Irish campaigns in 1931 and 1971.
Although the game is played in Los Angeles in even numbered years, it was not part of Fox's Pac-12 Conference football package. Currently the games played in Los Angeles fall under the TV contract of the Big Ten Conference and could air on CBS, NBC, FS1, Peacock or BTN. Although Fox Sports holds primary TV rights to the Big Ten Conference, it does not have the opportunity to air this game since Fox has chosen to air the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry game usually played on the same date instead. In odd-numbered years when the game is played in Indiana, it is broadcast on NBC as part of its coverage of Notre Dame's home schedule.
Series history Origins Conversation between wives The origin of the series is often referred to as a "conversation between wives" of Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne and USC athletic director Gwynn Wilson. The rivalry began with USC looking for a nationally prominent opponent. USC dispatched Wilson and his wife to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Notre Dame was playing the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Thanksgiving Day. Following Notre Dame's 17–0 loss, 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 Southern California was better than one to snowy, hostile Nebraska. Mrs. Rockne spoke to her husband and on December 4, 1926, USC became an annual fixture on Notre Dame's schedule.
Another tale While the "wives story" remains the classic explanation for starting the series, college football historian Murray Sperber in his book Shake Down the Thunder on the early days of Notre Dame football uncovered a different explanation for the creation of the series that somewhat contradicts that story. Sperber documents that the series was created primarily for financial and political reasons and that Rockne's resistance to the series is misstated. 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.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame had difficulty scheduling local Western Conference opponents because of a ban placed on member schools from playing them. The Irish were initially forced to seek out opponents nationally to fill its schedule, often traveling far away to do so. After the Irish started winning landmark games against elite programs such as Georgia Tech and Army, the team started to grow in popularity and could command more money for games it scheduled. Notre Dame attracted interest from the Rose Bowl Committee to come and play a Pacific Coast Conference opponent for the 1924 football season. Coach Rockne and the Notre Dame administration realized how lucrative an annual trip to Los Angeles would be for the football program. Notre Dame's West Coast alumni began lobbying Rockne to bring the team to the Rose Bowl as a season finale every year. The Rose Bowl Committee favored this arrangement, and at the time there was no tie in with the Big Ten; however, the Pacific Coast Conference had reservations. Specifically, two members schools, Stanford and California refused to play Notre Dame "on account of Notre Dame's low [sic] scholastic standards." Since Notre Dame was a Catholic university, its academics were considered by some as inferior at the time. 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." While Rockne favored playing USC, Stanford (which won the Pacific Coast Conference title that year) had first choice and eventually realized that playing Notre Dame would be lucrative, and the two played in the 1925 Rose Bowl.
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 alumni, earn a large payout, and create an opportunity as well to recruit West Coast high school players. 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 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. The creation of the series was also influenced by the USC hiring of Howard Jones, who knew Rockne from coaching against him at Iowa. To the Notre Dame administration, playing USC in Los Angeles every other year was preferable to making further trips to the Rose Bowl game. Notre Dame would not agree to play in another bowl game until the 1970 Cotton Bowl.
Knute Rockne–Howard Jones connection 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. 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. While Rockne ultimately turned down the offer, he recommended that USC look at his friend Jones. Barry LeBrock, author of The Trojan Ten, also confirms that Rockne lent the Trojans a helping hand in recommending that they consider hiring Jones after firing "Gloomy Gus" Henderson. The creation of the series was likely also influenced by Jones' desire to take USC to Notre Dame's elite level.
1920s
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. 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 one of the largest attended games in NCAA history. USC's first win in the series also came during the same year that 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. During this period, there was some talk of canceling the series due to the long travel time it took by train from Indiana to Los Angeles. Rockne argued for the series against the Notre Dame faculty board and its chair the Rev. Michael Mulcaire, countering that "he saw the day coming when most college teams will be going by air exclusively."
In 1929, Notre Dame defeated USC 13 to 12. This game played at Soldier Field has one of largest verified attendances in the history of NCAA football at 112,912. As of 2008, it still ranked the second-highest verified attendance.
1930s
In 1930, Notre Dame won its second consecutive national championship and third overall and 19th straight game in what turned out to be the last regular season game under coach Knute Rockne.
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." After trailing 14–0, USC won the game with a Johnny Baker 33-yard field goal with one minute remaining. 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. Sports historians cite this come-from-behind victory with Jones as coach that prompted the school from the West to catapult into the same elite circle with ND.
1932 – USC 13, Notre Dame 0 USC shut out Notre Dame on its way to a second consecutive consensus national title, matching Notre Dame's feat in 1929 and 1930.
1938 – USC 13, Notre Dame 0 Notre Dame entered the game ranked No. 1 in the scheduled final AP Poll, released in late November prior to the game. Following their loss, the AP poll was extended for one week due to the "select quality of last Saturday's games, three of which had a direct bearing on the ranking." USC's win dropped the Irish to No. 5 and out of AP national championship consideration.
1940s