When Notre Dame and USC are both ranked, the Irish have an all-time series lead, 17-14-2. Not counting Saturday’s meeting, that has happened only twice since 2007. One was in 2009, when an Irish fourth-quarter rally came up just short in a 34-27 loss. The most recent such occurrence before Saturday was in 2017, which was a 49-14 Irish victory to kick off the four-game winning streak that was brought into the 2022 contest.
[autotag]Josh Adams[/autotag] was the star of the show, running for 191 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. [autotag]Brandon Wimbush[/autotag] threw two touchdown passes but also ran in for two scores himself while picking up 106 yards on the ground. [autotag]Te’von Coney[/autotag] paced the Irish’s defense with 11 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
The Irish went on to win the Citrus Bowl over future Brian Kelly employer LSU, while the Trojans fell to Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Perhaps this game was an omen of how both programs’ season would end. In any case, here are some memories of that night at Notre Dame Stadium: