SOUTH BEND — There is not another scheduled meeting between USC and Notre Dame, but there is guarded optimism the two blueblood programs will find a way to continue the last great intersectional rivalry in college football. It’s just a matter of how much they sully it along the way to a new plan.
Playing in Week Zero or on Labor Day weekend would be lousy. It beats not playing, but it’s still lousy. October in the Midwest, Thanksgiving weekend in SoCal—that’s the sweet spot, same as it ever was. As Rockne and McKay intended.
Playing in Week Zero or on Labor Day weekend at a neutral site—an antiseptic NFL venue, or in a foreign country—would be worse yet. When the options are the L.A. Coliseum and Notre Dame Stadium, two of the most hallowed addresses in the sport, why would you ever go somewhere else?
So there was a sense that Saturday night’s waterlogged, 96th meeting might be the last of its kind. If so, it at least delivered on a number of fronts. Thirteenth-ranked Notre Dame’s 34–24 victory over No. 20 USC checked a few meaningful boxes.
The game was played in the elements, with a soaking rain falling for most of the second half. You won’t get that in Las Vegas or Arlington, Texas. Nobody melted.
Coming halfway through the season, the game carried significant stakes. With two early losses, the Fighting Irish could not afford another defeat and still remain in College Football Playoff contention. With a loss at Illinois, the Trojans were playing with fire as at-large playoff contenders themselves.
And there were epic individual performances. Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love ran for 228 yards, the sixth-most in a game in school history and the most ever by a Fighting Irish player in Notre Dame Stadium—a span of 512 games over 95 years. Love finished with 265 all-purpose yards and his backfield mate, Jadarian Price, had 209—highlighted by a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown. When two players who share the same position can combine for 474 yards, that’s a pretty stacked position room.
This wasn’t a taut, tense classic between top 10 teams. But it was another worthy chapter in the history of a rivalry that is too important to kill.
“I told the guys and I reminded myself, you remember rivalry games,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “I remember my rivalry games, from pee-wee to high school to college, and the ones I’ve been a part of as a coach. Those are games that mean more and you remember, obviously, the outcome, but hopefully remember some things you did in that game that led to the outcome.
“So they mean just a little bit more because of what it represents for the university, what it represents for your fans, the players before us and the players to come. And I reminded our guys of the responsibility we had to go perform the way we did.”
The Irish (5–2) performed like a team that would be a danger to the rest of the 12-team playoff field if they got in. Don’t crack the door open for them to make another run like last year, when they went all the way to the national championship game.
There is a lot of work still to do, but the comeback pay to playoff contention is steadily clearing. It was a slaughterhouse Saturday in the rankings, with five of the 12 ranked ahead of Notre Dame going down. The most losses there are, the more it enhances the Irish’s chances.
Still, it’s a tricky equation. Miami losing at home to unranked Louisville doesn’t help Notre Dame’s strength of record—the Irish lost to the Hurricanes to open the season. The Irish need Miami to resume its winning ways, and they’d also benefit from USC getting back on task to make this victory resonate.
Notre Dame has won five in a row, all by double digits. Given the attrition elsewhere, a 10–2 team would have a real chance of getting one of seven at-large bids.
As for USC’s playoff chances? The 5–2 Trojans’ best route into the bracket at this point would be making the Big Ten championship game. With only one league loss, that’s still viable—but not likely. USC would likely have to win out, which would include a victory at Oregon on Nov. 22, while somehow moving ahead of either Ohio State or Indiana—both of which are currently undefeated and playing extremely well.
Just getting to Indianapolis with a 10–2 record might not be enough. USC would perhaps need to get there and win the automatic bid.
This would require a couple of things that the Trojans currently don’t do well: winning games in the Midwest and showing some physical fortitude.
USC had lost 15 straight games in the Central or Eastern time zones before beating Big Ten cellar-dweller Purdue last month. Then it lost at Illinois, and now this loss to Notre Dame. The long travel is the Trojans’ primary reason for wanting to mess with this series, because they’re now making several other long trips as Big Ten members—a money grab they willingly signed up for.
They’re clearly not good at it. Nor are they tough enough to hang with Notre Dame.
Last week, USC thought it had turned a corner in that area by beating Michigan in L.A. and outrushing the Wolverines, 244–109. “I think it says we’re a tough-ass, physical team,” coach Lincoln Riley said afterward.
We have this update: Notre Dame had 306 rushing yards to USC’s 68. This was an utter mauling in the trenches, as Love and Price slashed for more yards on the ground than anyone has had against the Trojans since eventual national runner-up Washington went for 316 in 2023.
USC was sufficiently routed up front that it resorted to foolhardy trickery early in the fourth quarter. With a first down on the Notre Dame 37 after a long pass, Riley dialed up a reverse pass by receiver Makai Lemon—in the pouring rain. Lemon took the ball running to his right, found everyone covered and instead of taking a sack or throwing the ball away, he wound up fumbling. Notre Dame recovered and scored the clinching final touchdown not long thereafter.
Riley acknowledged that it was a dumb play call after the game. Notre Dame didn’t have to try any gimmicks to move the ball, because it was busy shoving it down the Trojans’ throats.
“We never strayed away from that foundation,” Freeman said of his team’s prowess at the line of scrimmage. “You’re not rushing for those type of yards unless your O-line blocks.”
Blocking for Love and Price is a privilege. Both have the speed to take a small crease and turn it into long touchdowns, and the power to break tackles.
Love ripped off a 63-yard run on his first touch of the game Saturday—his seventh run from scrimmage of 40 yards or longer in the last two seasons. Price had the kickoff return that put Notre Dame ahead for good—his second return touchdown in the last two meetings with the Trojans here (he went 99 yards to the house in 2023).
The two junior backs have been content to share carries and the spotlight the past two seasons. They’re the archetype teammates coaches hope to have.
“That’s not very common,” Freeman said. “To see two guys that are so talented that deserve the ball in your hands every snap, but choose to put the team in front of themselves and then make the most of their opportunities. That’s what you want your team to be a reflection of—great players that make great plays when you have the ball but continue to put team first.
“That might be one of the hardest things we ask our players to do is put team before me, because everything outside of here says, ‘No, you come before team.’ For those guys to embrace team, that’s what I want this program to be about.”
Notre Dame wants to keep playing this rivalry more than USC does. Perhaps because the Irish have now won three in a row, seven of the last eight and seven straight in South Bend.
Hopefully the dainty Trojans keep trying to catch up to the Irish instead of pulling the plug.
