Countdown to kickoff: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State only 93 days away
To preview one of the most anticipated games for Notre Dame this century and the official start of the Marcus Freeman era, BlueandGold.com is counting down the days to the matchup against Ohio State on Sept. 3.
This daily series of 99 stories celebrates some of the most notable names, dates, moments and memories related to the past and present of Notre Dame football.
Today we feature No. 93 with a look at the Notre Dame-USC rivalry, which will be played for the 93rd time when the teams meet in Los Angeles to close the regular season. Including vacated wins on both sides, Notre Dame leads the series 50-37-5 (and 48-36-5 without them).
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This fall’s iteration of college football’s greatest intersectional rivalry is one of its more fascinating chapters. For just the third time in its history, the teams will meet with each breaking in a first-year head coach. Rookie head coach Marcus Freeman will oppose Lincoln Riley, who came to USC after spending the last five years in charge of Oklahoma and leading the Sooners to three College Football Playoff appearances.
Previously, Brian Kelly and Lane Kiffin faced each other in their debut seasons in 2010. Kelly left in November as Notre Dame’s all-time winningest coach. Kiffin, meanwhile, was famously fired on an airport tarmac midway through his fourth season.
The 1941 season pitted first-year leaders Sam Barry and Frank Leahy against each other. Leahy’s name is etched in Notre Dame history, with four national titles and an 87-11-9 record. Barry went 2-6-1 in his lone season. He fared just fine in his other jobs, though, leading USC to a men’s basketball Final Four and a baseball College World Series. He is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Freeman and Riley’s arrivals give the series some buzz it has lacked in recent years. Notre Dame has won the last four meetings and is 54-10 in the last five years. USC has lost at least five games in three of the last four seasons, bottoming out at 4-8 in 2021. The last ranked-on-ranked Notre Dame vs. USC matchup was in 2017, a 49-14 Irish dusting of the Trojans that didn’t meet the moment.
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Freeman is hoping to sustain Notre Dame’s level and even push it further. Riley’s job is no different than recent predecessors: bring USC back to old heights. His Oklahoma track record inspires more hope that he can actually do it than Kiffin’s, Steve Sarkisian’s or Clay Helton’s backgrounds did.
If both teams are anywhere near their high expectations, they should meet in a top-15 matchup Nov. 26. Even if Riley needs a year before the Trojans are CFP contenders and they’re out of the Pac-12 title mix by Thanksgiving weekend, how Notre Dame defends his offense should be a captivating challenge. Riley established himself as one of the game’s premier offensive minds at Oklahoma and brought promising sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams with him from Norman.
Whatever the stakes are on game week, the series starts a sorely needed new chapter in 2022 with meeting No. 93.
