Thursday, October 18, 2007

Notre Dame vs. Southern California

Every college football program goes through rough stretches. For Notre
Dame, the past 14 seasons comprise one of the lowest stretches the
program has reached in its 119 seasons of college football. The 2007
season puts the icing on the cake perhaps, complete with the worst
start through seven games in the history of the program, tied with the
1956 and 1960 teams, both of which also started 1-6 en route to 2-8
final records. Still, even during this down period in the past 14
seasons, there have been some highlights. It is perhaps symbolic of
Notre Dame's struggles that one of its signature moments in recent
years was not a win but a loss.

Two years ago, Southern Cal came to Notre Dame ranked #1 and riding
high, having won 27 straight games. The Trojans were a team, then as
now, stacked with talent, led by luminaries such as QB Matt Leinart and
RB Reggie Bush. The Irish that season were experiencing a bit of a
resurgence under first-year coach Charlie Weis. With a 4-1 record,
they had impressed most everyone with their improbable turnaround from
the previous season. Entering the game, Southern Cal had beaten Notre
Dame three consecutive years, each time by 31 points. In 2004,
Southern Cal's head coach, Pete Carroll, left in his starters late into
the fourth quarter to run up the score; in 2005 the Irish had payback
on their minds.

What ensued was one of the most exciting college football games anyone
had seen in quite a while. The plucky Irish gave the Trojans all they
could handle throughout the game, and Notre Dame Stadium was as loud as
it had been for the #1 vs. #2 match-up between Florida State and the
Irish in 1993. Notre Dame led the game, 31-28, late in the fourth
quarter. Then, Southern Cal pulled off a series of improbable plays.
With the ball deep in their own territory and facing a fourth down and
nine, Leinart completed a beautiful pass to WR Dwayne Jarrett, who very
nearly broke free for the go-ahead touchdown, but still managed to
scamper 61 yards down the field before being stopped. A few plays
later, it appeared as though Southern Cal's streak had come to an end,
as Leinart was stopped short of the goal line inbounds. Luckily for
the Trojans, the ball popped loose and fell out of bounds, giving
Southern Cal one last chance at victory. On the final play of the
game, Leinart executed a QB sneak to the left side of the line, aided
by a push from teammate Bush. Southern Cal prevailed, 34-31, in one of
the most memorable endings in this long series.

With a number of traditional opponents and schedule regulars on this
season's slate of games, there has been a great deal of talk about
rivalries this season. For Notre Dame, there is but one true rival,
however, and that is Southern California. Since 1926, this game has
defined both programs. That season, in a game played at the Coliseum,
Notre Dame's ambidextrous fourth-string QB Art Parisien, inserted into
the contest late in the fourth quarter with Notre Dame trailing, 12-7,
completed a touchdown pass to Butch Niemiec, giving N.D. an improbable
13-12 win, setting the tone for so many great future meetings between
the schools. The two "Founding Fathers" of this series, Knute Rockne
and Southern Cal's Howard Jones, were legendary coaches who understood
the interest that an annual intersectional meeting between the schools
would foster. Between 1928 and 1932, for example, the winner of the
Notre Dame-Southern Cal game ended up as that season's national
champion. Southern Cal was the last opponent against which Rockne
would ever coach; a 27-0 victory at Southern Cal in 1930 capped Notre
Dame's second straight national title season and a nineteenth
consecutive win for Rockne, who would be killed in a plane crash the
following spring.

Every year since 1926 (with the exception of 1943-45, when wartime
travel restrictions prohibited the teams from meeting), Notre Dame and
Southern Cal have met on the gridiron. This Saturday will mark the
79th meeting of the schools, as well as the 62nd straight season in
which they will meet. Overall, the Irish hold a 42-31-5 record against
the Trojans. No team has beaten Southern Cal more often than Notre
Dame and no team has beaten Notre Dame more often than Southern Cal.

Given the emotions that accompany games in this series, the underdog
often wins. In 1963, defending national champion Southern Cal traveled
to South Bend to play the Irish. In the midst of a woeful 2-7 season,
the Irish managed to defeat their rivals, marking one bright spot in a
season of misery. In more recent times, Notre Dame has seen seasons
spoiled by the Trojans. In 1998, for example, Notre Dame only needed a
win at lowly regarded Southern Cal to earn a trip to a major bowl game.
Instead, the Trojans gave the Irish a tough game, beating them, 10-0.

Recent times have been unkind to the Irish in this series. Since 2002,
Southern Cal has won five straight against Notre Dame by an average of
23 points. Last season, the Irish ventured out to the Coliseum with
hopes of an 11-1 finish to their regular season, but the Trojans
whipped them, 44-24. That loss started a seven-game losing streak that
the Irish finally stopped earlier this month at UCLA.

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

Other notes:

-The Irish have never started a season 1-7.

-Notre Dame is 23-11-1 (.671) against Southern Cal at Notre Dame
Stadium all-time. Since 1983, Notre Dame is 9-3-0 against the Trojans
at home. Southern Cal has won two straight at Notre Dame, and three of
the last five. Prior to 1997, the Trojans had lost seven straight at
Notre Dame Stadium.

-Southern Cal has never won three consecutive games at Notre Dame.

-At least one team has been ranked in 60 of the 68 games played in this
series since the advent of the Associated Press poll in 1936. In 29 of
those 68 games, both teams were ranked.

-The Irish have never lost to the Trojans six straight times. The only
programs to defeat Notre Dame more than five consecutive times are
Michigan (eight times between 1887 and 1908), and Michigan State (eight
times between 1955 and 1963).

-Notre Dame and Southern Cal rank #2 and #8 in all-time winning
percentage, and #2 and #10 in all-time wins, respectively.

-The Irish are 10-6 (.625) in home games under Charlie Weis.

-The winner of this game receives the Shillelagh Trophy, presented by
the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles. The original trophy was purportedly
flown from Ireland by the pilot of billionaire-recluse Howard Hughes
for the 1952 game. Irish wins are represented by emerald shamrocks;
Trojan wins are represented by ruby Trojan heads. The original trophy
was retired after the 1989 game and is permanently displayed at Notre
Dame. The current trophy dates from 1990.

-These teams will continue to meet annually, as they have each year
since 1946.

Michigan's lead has swelled to six games, so I will discontinue updates
on the UM-ND competition until a later time

The game kicks off at 3:30 E.D.T. on NBC.

Go Irish! Beat Trojans!
Big Mike

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