Notre Dame vs. USC: The Greatest Intersectional Rivalry in College Football, Explained.
Notre Dame and USC have played 96 times since 1926. They have played across every era of college football, through two world wars, through the rise of television, through conference realignment that reorganized almost everything around them. The two programs are 1,800 miles apart. There is no conference connection between them. No geographic logic to the rivalry whatsoever. They play because the rivalry is too good to stop.
The series has been played almost every year since 1926, with the notable exception of World War II cancellations between 1943 and 1945. A four-game series running from 2030 to 2033 has been announced, with the next game scheduled for August 31, 2030, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 53-38-5 and has won eight of the last ten meetings.
This is part of Sideline’s College Rivalries series. The full series kickoff ranks the 12 greatest rivalries in college football. For the fan culture on each side of this rivalry: Fandom of the Week: Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Fandom of the Week: USC Trojans.
— THE ORIGIN —
How Notre Dame vs. USC Started: 1926, Knute Rockne, and a Train Ride to Los Angeles
The rivalry began on December 4, 1926, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Knute Rockne led Notre Dame across the country by train for a game against a USC program that was already building one of the most powerful identities in West Coast football. Notre Dame won 13-12. Both programs were already national brands. The combination produced something that neither conference schedule nor geographic proximity could replicate: a matchup between two schools with massive Catholic and secular fan bases, both claiming national followings, playing on the biggest possible stage.
The series became annual almost immediately. The two programs understood what they had. USC became Notre Dame’s most significant non-conference opponent. Notre Dame became USC’s most significant non-conference opponent. The rivalry grew without a trophy for the first 26 years. The Jeweled Shillelagh was donated in 1952 by the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Los Angeles, an organization that captures the cultural geography of the rivalry precisely: Notre Dame fans living in Los Angeles, in USC’s city, attached to a school 1,800 miles away.
The first Jeweled Shillelagh, a foot-long Irish war club made of oak or blackthorn saplings from Ireland, eventually filled with medallions and was retired in 1995. It is now permanently displayed at Notre Dame. The current shillelagh is longer, with more room for the ruby-adorned Trojan heads that mark USC victories and the emerald-studded shamrocks that mark Notre Dame wins. A combined medallion was used for ties before the NCAA instituted overtime in 1996. There has not been a tie since.
— THE SERIES —
Notre Dame vs. USC All-Time Record: What the Numbers Say and How the Eras Shaped Them
Notre Dame leads the all-time series 53-38-5 across 96 meetings through 2025. The overall record reflects the Irish’s historical dominance, particularly an 11-game winning streak between 1983 and 1993 that represents the longest run by either program in the rivalry’s history. USC’s longest winning streak is five consecutive victories between 1978 and 1982.
The Pete Carroll era and USC dominance
The Pete Carroll era at USC from 2001 to 2009 produced the most sustained period of USC dominance in the modern rivalry. Carroll’s teams won multiple national championships and made the rivalry feel, for a stretch, like a formality in USC’s favor. USC won four straight in the series between 2002 and 2005. Notre Dame’s response, which took time to build, eventually produced one of the great coaching transition stories in college football.
The Marcus Freeman era
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has gone 3-1 against USC, winning the last three meetings by double digits. The 2023 game ended Notre Dame’s home-and-home cycle with a dominant Irish performance. The 2024 meeting continued the trend. The 2025 game, which became the last scheduled meeting for several years, followed the same pattern: USC led 24-21 before Jadarian Price returned a kickoff 100 yards to flip the lead, and Jeremiyah Love rushed for a career-high 228 yards as Notre Dame pulled away 34-24.
“Notre Dame is 3-1 against USC under Marcus Freeman, having defeated the Trojans by double-digits in the past three meetings. Over the last 10 meetings of the series, Notre Dame is 8-2 against USC.”
Notre Dame Athletics | Notre Dame, USC Renew Jeweled Shillelagh Rivalry |
— THE DEFINING MOMENTS —
The Games That Made Notre Dame vs. USC What It Is
The tradition of mutual respect
In the series’ early years, the two programs developed a tradition of mutual respect that was unusual for rivals. USC students and fans met the Notre Dame train at Union Station in Los Angeles and accompanied the team to its hotel. Notre Dame students returned the hospitality in South Bend. The rivalry, for most of its history, was contested with genuine aggression during the game and genuine mutual regard before and after it. That quality, which is rare in college football rivalries, gave the series a character that separated it from geographic rivalries defined purely by animosity.
1966: Notre Dame 51, USC 0
The largest margin of victory in the series’ history. Notre Dame’s 1966 national championship team, considered one of the greatest college football teams of the postwar era, defeated USC by 51 points in what remains the most complete game the Irish have ever played against the Trojans. The result is not characteristic of the rivalry, which has produced competitive games far more often than blowouts, but it marks the upper bound of what Notre Dame has been capable of against USC in a century of meetings.
1988: Notre Dame spoils USC’s title hopes
Notre Dame defeated an undefeated USC team in 1988, ending the Trojans’ national championship aspirations. The rivalry has repeatedly served this function for both programs: the game falls late enough in the season to be a de facto CFP elimination game in years when one or both teams are in contention. Notre Dame has spoiled USC’s title hopes in 1988, as well as in 1927, 1973, and 1995. USC has returned the favor in 1938, 1964, 1970, and 1980.
2025: The last game before the hiatus
The final scheduled meeting of the series, for at least several years, was played on October 18, 2025, at Notre Dame Stadium. USC led 24-21 in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price returned a kickoff 100 yards to give the Irish the lead. Jeremiyah Love rushed for 228 yards, a career high. Notre Dame won 34-24 and claimed the Jeweled Shillelagh for the fifth consecutive time. For USC, the loss ended any realistic College Football Playoff aspirations. Neither team knew, going in, that this would be the last game of the series for years.
“After the 2025 season, USC and Notre Dame issued a joint statement: ‘USC and Notre Dame recognize how special our rivalry is to our fans, our teams, and college football, and our institutions will continue working towards bringing back The Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh.'”
Rally Fuel | The Jeweled Shillelagh: Inside the USC Notre Dame Rivalry |
— THE HIATUS AND THE RETURN —
Where the Series Stands: Schedule, the 2026 Hiatus, and the Return in 2030
After the 2025 meeting, the series entered a temporary hiatus due to scheduling and contract disputes rather than any breakdown in the relationship between the programs. The main disagreement was over the length of the new deal: USC offered a one-year extension to play in Los Angeles in 2026, but Notre Dame was looking for a longer-term commitment. Negotiations dragged through conference realignment decisions, CFP expansion, and Notre Dame’s own independent scheduling calculations. The Irish eventually signed a home-and-home series with BYU for 2026 and 2027.
The announced resolution is a four-game series beginning on August 31, 2030, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The 2031 game will be at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. Games in 2032 and 2033 are also part of the agreement, with exact scheduling to be confirmed. The return date in 2030 aligns with the expiration of NBC’s Notre Dame contract and the current Big Ten media deals, potentially creating a broadcast window that makes the series commercially attractive to both programs and their respective networks.
The hiatus is the first since the World War II cancellations of 1943 to 1945. That context gives it a weight that a typical scheduling gap would not carry. The rivalry produced 96 games across 99 years before stopping. The programs combined for more national championships, Heisman Trophy winners, and NFL draft selections than any other intersectional rivalry in college football. The pause does not erase any of that. It just makes August 31, 2030, a date that both fan bases will be tracking from the moment it was announced.
96 games. 1,800 miles. No conference connection. No geographic logic. Just two programs that understood what they had and kept playing. Knute Rockne on a train to Los Angeles in 1926. The Jeweled Shillelagh filling up with medallions until it ran out of space. The series that has survived two world wars and a century of college football realignment.
The next game is August 31, 2030, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Jeweled Shillelagh waits.
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