In the history of Notre Dame-USC, who is the biggest USC villain in the eyes of Notre Dame fans?
Nick Shepkowski of Fighting Irish Wire: There are no wrong answers here but I’ll give you both a player and a coach to cover my bases.
As great as Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart both were and as much as they dominated Notre Dame from 2003-2005, there was a bigger thorn in the side of the Irish in the seventies in the form of tailback Anthony Davis.
Davis ran back two kickoffs for touchdowns and rushed for another four scores in the 1972 game that USC won, 45-23. In 1974 it was his touchdown with 10 seconds left in the first half that set up the epic USC comeback from down 24-0 to win, 55-24. Davis “only” scored four times that afternoon, including on the second half’s opening kickoff.
I’d be remised if I didn’t mention Pete Carroll. He perfectly represented what the “LA Lifestyle” that most Notre Dame fans view USC as to having and couldn’t have been more opposite than the three Notre Dame coaches he opposed from 2001-2009 – Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weis.
It also doesn’t hurt his case that he went 8-1 against Notre Dame, winning each game from 2002-2009 by an average score of 39-15.
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