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Notre Dame-USC: Is The Anatomy Of A Stunning Upset In Place?

Notre Dame players celebrate 2014 Music City Bowl win over LSU to end a four-game losing streak.
Notre Dame players celebrate 2014 Music City Bowl win over LSU to end a four-game losing streak. (USA TODAY Sports)

On paper, 17-point underdog Notre Dame appears to be in a hopeless situation heading into USC to play a red-hot Trojans program that has won seven straight, highlighted by a 26-13 victory at No. 4 Washington on Nov. 12.

The 4-7 Fighting Irish have been reeling all season, are only 3-9 in their last 12 games against an opponent at its on-campus site, and whether head coach Brian Kelly returns for an eighth season at Notre Dame in 2017 is uncertain.

In other words, the Fighting Irish just might have the Trojans right where they want them. The four-part “formula” is there:

1) The Irish are required to struggle the previous week (or weeks) casting a huge specter of doubt upon them as a team ripe to be mauled.

2) The opponent must whip their opponent(s) in prior weeks, giving them a look of supremacy.

3) The regular season game needs to be on the road — we don’t include bowls — although we made a few exceptions.

4) The Notre Dame head coach usually is beleaguered at that point in his career.

It wasn’t too long that Kelly and Co. did follow this formula in a bowl. With a four-game losing streak, most recently a 49-14 loss at USC, the Irish pulled off a 31-28 win versus LSU in the 2014 Music City Bowl. When it is most idiotic to think the Irish can win — so often that’s what they end up doing.

We provide a top 10 example of Irish teams who were either under .500 and/or unranked or unheralded. Will USC 2016 join this list?


1. 1957: Notre Dame 7, Oklahoma 0

Notre Dame Coming In: After a 2-8 season in 1956, the Irish headed into Norman with back-to-back losses to Navy (20-6) and Michigan State (34-6).

Oklahoma Coming In: The Sooners sported a 47-game winning streak, including a 40-0 win at Notre Dame the year prior, and had just made the cover of Sports Illustrated as “unbeatable.” Its most recent win was 39-14 at No. 19 Missouri.

Outcome: The three-touchdown underdog Fighting Irish had no business winning at Oklahoma — but they did.


2. 1933: Notre Dame 13, Army 12

Notre Dame Coming In: The 2-5-1 Irish had scored only 19 points all season, and before this season finale the rumor was that head coach Hunk Anderson would be fired after this game.

Army Coming In: The 9-0 Cadets had out-scored their foes 215-13 and needed this win to clinch a national title.

Outcome: Army held a 12-0 lead over the Irish in the fourth quarter, but blocked punts by Ed “Moose” Krause and Wayne Millner enabled the Irish to rally for a stunning victory.


3. 1913: Notre Dame 35, Army 13

Notre Dame Coming In: Although 3-0, the fledgling program under Jesse Harper was considered no match for the superpower of the East.

Army Coming In: Other than Notre Dame, the Cadets would win their nine other games this year by a 240-22 margin.

Outcome: Quarterback Gus Dorais shocked the East with his prolific passing (14 of 17, 243), including finding Knute Rockne on one of his touchdowns.


4. 1909: Notre Dame 11, Michigan 3

Notre Dame Heading In: The Irish were 0-8 all time versus the perpetual “Champions of the West.”

Michigan Coming In: Since 1901 under Fielding Yost, Michigan was 73-5-2 and had just crushed Syracuse, 44-0.

Outcome: A former Michigan player, Frank “Shorty” Longman coached the Irish to their first major upset, in Ann Arbor, no less. It so infuriated Yost that he never scheduled Notre Dame again.


5. 1928: Notre Dame 12, Army 6

Notre Dame Heading In: This would be Rockne’s worst Notre Dame team with a 5-4 finish.

Army Coming In: The Cadets had won 11 straight, including handing Rockne’s Irish an 18-0 loss the year prior. They were on their way to a national title after defeating Ivy League powers Harvard and Yale by a combined 33-6 margin.

Outcome: In Yankee Stadium Rockne implores his troops to “Win One For The Gipper,” referring to his former All-America halfback George Gipp, who in 1920 purportedly on his deathbed told his coach to win one for him at a time “when the breaks are beating the boys.”


6. 1982: Notre Dame 31, Pitt 16

Notre Dame Heading In: The unranked Irish, 5-6 the year prior under first-year coach Gerry Faust, had to battle for four quarters before beating Navy, 27-10, after being fortunate to tie a weak Oregon team (13-13) and losing at home to Arizona (16-13) the previous weeks.

Pitt A Week Earlier: The No. 1 Panthers with quarterback Dan Marino had just pounded Louisville, 63-14, and were double digit favorites against the Irish.

Outcome: Notre Dame exploded with a 21-point fourth-quarter for a 31-16 victory, highlighted by a 54-yard flea flicker from Blair Kiel to Joe Howard and a 76-yard scoring run by Allen Pinkett.


7. 1984: Notre Dame 30, LSU 22

Notre Dame Coming In: The Irish lost their third straight home game, 36-32 at South Carolina, to drop to 3-4. It awaited annihilation at No. 6 LSU, which would win the SEC this year.

LSU Coming In: The Tigers improved to 5-0-1 with an impressive 36-10 romp at Kentucky.

Outcome: LSU took a quick 7-0 lead in “Death Valley” — and then the Irish out-scored them 30-7 the rest of the way before another Tigers score in the closing seconds made the final 30-22. Faust became the Sports Illustrated cover story that week.


8. 1997: Notre Dame 24, LSU 6

Notre Dame Coming In: The sputtering 4-5 Irish were inches short of losing to Navy after a controversial measurement in a 21-17 win at home.

LSU Coming In: After already beating No 1 Florida, the Tigers recorded a 27-0 shutout of Alabama — in Tuscaloosa.

Outcome: For the only time in its history, Notre Dame plays a game where it commits neither a turnover nor a penalty in the stunning 24-6 win. The score was 24-0 after three quarters, and “Death Valley” was half empty by the end of the third quarter.


9. 1963: Notre Dame 17, USC 14

Notre Dame Coming In: After going 17-23 under Joe Kuharich from 1959-62, interim coach Hugh Devore’s Irish hosted No. 7 USC.

USC Coming In: The defending national champs had whipped the Irish 25-0 the year prior in the season finale. It would also crush No. 4 Ohio State 32-3 the week after playing the Irish.

Outcome: Ken Ivan’s 36-yard field goal with 6:28 remaining in the game broke a 14-14 tie and lifted Notre Dame to an improbable win. A teary-eyed athletics director Moose Krause presented the game ball to good friend Devore, who would finish the year 2-7.


10 (tie). 2004 Notre Dame 28, Michigan 20 & Notre Dame 17, Tennessee 13

Notre Dame Coming In: Under head coach Tyrone Willingham, the Irish opened the season with a devastating 20-17 loss at BYU with no rushing attack minus injured Ryan Grant.

Later it dropped to 5-3 with a 24-23 home loss to Boston College.

Michigan/Tennessee Coming In: The No. 8 Wolverines were heavy favorites against an Irish team they destroyed 38-0 the previous year.

The No. 9 Volunteers were one of the nation’s hottest teams, winning four straight — on the road against Georgia, Ole Miss and South Carolina, and at home versus Alabama.

Outcomes: Against Michigan, the Irish trailed 9-0 at halftime, but after freshman running back Darius Walker is inserted for the first time, his 115 yards rushing lead a 28-20 victory.

At Tennessee, Mike Goolsby’s interception return for a score in the second half propelled the Irish to a 17-13 upset in Rocky Top.

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