The 86th meeting between USC and Notre Dame will take place November 29. (ND leads the series, 45-35-5, and has won the last two meetings). As the two programs progress toward rivalry week, we'll take a weekly look at current trends, and the current state of hostilities, between the Trojans and the Fighting Irish.
Days until game: 81
2014 Notre Dame-USC power index: 1. USC (2-0) 2. Notre Dame (2-0)
Last week: Notre Dame defeated Michigan (31-0); USC defeated Stanford (13-10)
Notre Dame this week: vs. Purdue (Indianapolis), Saturday, 7:30 (Notre Dame -28)
USC this week: at Boston College, Saturday, 8:00 (USC -17)
Notre Dame storyline:When you humiliate a fierce rival as thoroughly as Notre Dame did Michigan last Saturday, the world notices. Could this team be equal to the one that reached the national title game two years ago? We probably won't find out until October, since Purdue (blown out by Central Michigan last week) and Syracuse (deserved to lose to FCS Villanova in Week 1) are next up on the Irish schedule. ND fans will be looking for style points this week against their in-state non-rival, and maybe for defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder to keep the shutout streak intact and give us one of these:
USC storyline: Like Notre Dame, USC comes off a statement-making win. Like Notre Dame, the schedule over the next two weeks (at Boston College, Oregon State) gives the appearance that this team should be inching toward the Top 5 when the calendar flips to October. Trojan fans will be hoping to see strides out of Cody Kessler and an offense that was not spectacular (135 passing yards, 291 total yards) against a good Stanford defense. The rest of the world will be looking for Steve Sarkisian to fight his own battles with the officals and not call daddy down to the school to have a word with the mean teacher.
Moment in hatestory: October 20, 2007
This is kind of how Michigan felt fans last week, although in USC's 38-0 romp over Notre Dame in 2007, there was the added indignity of having to watch the whole thing play out at home in South Bend. The loss dropped the Irish to 1-7 (they'd also been shut out by Michigan earlier in the year) and marked the coming out party of Mark Sanchez, who threw four TDs in his second career start for the Trojans. This was around the time when major stormclouds were forming around Charlie Weis, though he'd stick around for one more USC loss -- a 38-3 rout in LA the next season.
Hate tweets:
@ADHadenUSC Pat, your years calling Notre Dame games hurt my family and I. I wish you would address that some day.
— hmmm (@yesper8231) September 8, 2014
Pat Haden was insufferable when he was on the NBC Notre Dame broadcasts. The bs he pulled yesterday...kick him off the selection committee.
— gunans (@gunans) September 7, 2014
Pat Haden should go back to his real love Notre Dame football. Lol
— Jerry Boese (@JerryBoese) September 7, 2014
Give us your thoughts on the USC/Notre Dame rivalry below, or @EyeonCFB. If your tweet is selected for "Countdown to Notre Dame at USC" next week, you will be the lucky recipient of some retaliatory anger from strangers on the internet.
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