Brian Kelly excited to renew Notre Dame rivalry with USC

The story out of South Bend this weekend is a rivalry renewed, as Brian Kelly and the No. 13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish play host to the USC Trojans, a program against which Notre Dame holds a 47-36-5 all-time record dating back to 1926.

“Now we get back to it and play our rival USC. Obviously didn’t play them last year. Excited to get this going again, especially back here at home,” Kelly said of the Notre Dame-USC rivalry, adding that USC is “a talented football team every year.”

As Kelly pointed out, last year, Notre Dame didn’t face USC due to the COVID-19 pandemic. USC was forced to play a conference-only schedule, and while the Trojans only faced Pac-12 teams, Notre Dame had to temporarily join the ACC in order to even put together a schedule. As a result, 2020 marked the first year since World War II that the two programs didn’t meet.

“USC is going through a coaching change,” Kelly noted. “We understand that, but this team plays extremely well against Notre Dame. It’s a rivalry game, and they play very well on the road, and I’m sure that’s because they can get away from the distractions that they’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis. We expect to get the best version of USC, which will be a very good football team.”

While the skidding USC Trojans deal with the ramifications of firing Clay Helton after Week 2, the 5-1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish will look to add another Power Five win to their belt. In order to get past USC and claim the Jeweled Shillelagh — the longtime trophy of their rivalry — Notre Dame will have to find a way to stop star wide receiver Drake London, a top-tier receiver at USC that hasn’t been held in check in quite some time.

“If your name is London, you’re really good,” Kelly said, reflecting on London’s performance to date. “So, having said that, this will be a great challenge for us, as I said, from a defensive standpoint. … This is a veteran team. They’ve got a lot of starters back on both sides of the ball, the return game is really good and Slovis and London, obviously, are an outstanding duo.”

Through six games, London has tallied 832 receiving yards on 64 receptions, averaging a whopping 13.0 yards per reception, and he’s scored five touchdowns as well. It hardly seems to matter who’s under center, as London has thrived alongside both USC quarterbacks in Kedon Slovis and Jaxson Dart. Notre Dame will have its hands full this weekend, as Kelly is tasked with stopping the potent deep-ball threat — and the Notre Dame head coach understands just how tall a task it may be.

Kelly has full faith in the Irish’s ability to stop London and emerge from Saturday’s game victorious.

“I think in these kinds of games, it’s a tough trip across the country,” Kelly said of the trip from USC to Notre Dame, adding, “again, it’s a rivalry game. So, our guys get up for the game, their guys get up for the game and I think it’s going to be one where they want to get out of LA. They want to get away from the distractions. So, I think this will be a heck of a football game.”