Notre Dame-USC Week Countdown, Part I
This weekend’s Notre Dame-USC showdown will be the 89th between the two schools, dating back to 1926, with the Fighting Irish holding a 46-37-5 advantage.
The only time the series was interrupted since 1926 was 1943-45, when World War II helped preempt cross country travel. It will be the 72nd consecutive meeting since 1946 between the No. 11-ranked Trojans and No. 13 Fighting Irish — and the first since 2006 in which both teams are ranked in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll.
The bar in this series is about as high as it comes because there has been no rivalry in college football history where a meeting between two programs has had the national title on the line with such frequency, although Miami-Florida State since 1983 has come a little closer.
The peak of the Notre Dame-USC series was from 1964-80, when one or both programs were legitimately in the hunt for the national title at the time of the game virtually every years. In those 17 seasons, those two programs won outright or had a share of the national title nine times (five for USC, four for Notre Dame).
Our five-part series this week reviews Notre Dame top-5 most memorable or watershed victories in “The Game.” There is no “right answer” regarding these contests, and they also are based more on personal memory.
No. 5: Nov. 26, 1966 — History Doesn’t Repeat
Two years after No. 1 Notre Dame held a 17-0 halftime lead at USC — only to lose in the closing minute (20-17) to cost it a consensus national title under first-year head coach Ara Parseghian — the Irish were No. 1 once again and had built a 17-0 cushion in the closing minutes of the second quarter against Pac 8 champion and Rose-Bowl bound USC.
“My God,” hollered Irish linebackers coach John Ray from the sidelines while fully recalling 1964, “We just have to get another score before the half!”
Indeed, with 58 seconds left until the intermission, backup sophomore quarterback Coley O’Brien, subbing for an injured Terry Hanratty, found split end Jim Seymour on a 13-yard tally to make it 24-0.
Then, after partially blocking a Trojan punt, Notre Dame struck again when O’Brien found Seymour on a 39-yard strike with eight seconds left to up the halftime advantage to 31-0.
There was no let-up in the second half while Notre Dame posted a 51-0 win, which to this day remains the largest margin of defeat by a Trojans team (almost topped in the 2016 opener when Alabama trounced USC 52-6).
Especially impressive was that the Irish achieved the blowout with the backup O’Brien, who completed 21 of his 31 pass attempts for 255 yards and three touchdowns, earning him Sports Illustrated’s Offensive Player of the Week award nationally. Seymour nabbed 11 of the aerials for 150 yards and the two scores, and the Irish defense also scored twice on interception returns by safety Tom Schoen and linebacker Dave Martin.
“I told our players that there were 700 million Chinese people in the world who didn't even know the game was played,” USC head coach John McKay would say later. “The next week, I got five letters from China asking, ‘What happened?’ ”
Of greater significance, the whitewashing of the Trojans on their home field clinched the consensus national title for Notre Dame one week after the famous 10-10 tie with No. 2 Michigan State.
In fact, the UPI had dropped Notre Dame to No. 2 after the tie, prompting Notre Dame to drape a banner over the back of its bench at USC that read: "To Hell With UPI, We're No. 1."
By the end of the day, everyone agreed. Back then, the voting of the national champion by both AP and UPI (coaches poll) were finalized at the end of the regular season, rendering bowl games inconsequential.
The 56-man AP gave 41 of the first-place ballots to Notre Dame, while Michigan State had eight and 10-0 Alabama seven.
In the 35-man UPI, the Irish received 20 first-place votes, Michigan State 10, Alabama four and 9-1 UCLA one.
It was Notre Dame’s first consensus national title in 17 years —the longest drought at the school since winning their first in 1924.
Today, one can better appreciate how short that drought actually was.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne's Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.
• Like us on Facebook