USC-Notre Dame in the 21st century hasn’t had a lot of special games, but the one really special game was an all-timer.
“The fact that USC’s majestic 2005 season didn’t end the way it hoped — in Pasadena against Vince Young and Texas — should not and cannot wipe away the glorious, gleaming memory of a victory in Notre Dame Stadium which is as theatrical and dramatic as any win USC football has ever produced … If other games are equally as dramatic, they don’t exceed the 2005 Notre Dame game.”
That USC-Notre Dame game was on October 15, 2005. This year’s Trojan-Irish game is on October 14, almost the 18th anniversary.
As you contemplate that fact, look at some great images in the USA TODAY Sports archives which recall the USC-Notre Dame rivalry from the past two decades: