Just some historical context going into the game....in graph form!
As you can quickly see, the ND-USC series is a rivalry just soaked in momentum.
Early in the series, things were pretty even, but then ND took the upper hand in meetings #15 through #39, as ND went 18-5-1 during that period. ND fans must have started to think of USC as a fairly weak rival during this period.
Then after a few years of back and forth, USC gained the upper hand, taking it to ND to the tune of 11-2 over 13 meetings. Towards the end of that period, I'm guessing that USC thought that ND had fallen apart, and just couldn't hang with the Trojans anymore.
But, lo and behold, ND came firing back, going 12-0-1 over a 13-meeting period. I wasn't a big fan of ND during most of those years, but I was at the school for the end of that period, and I remember distinctly thinking "THIS is our rival? Really?" after yet another ND shellacking of USC.
And today? Obviously USC has a clear upper hand, going 7-0 the past 7 years. (How I miss that feeling I had when I was in school.) And a lot of fans and a lot of the CFB world are writing ND off.
What's the point? The point is that anyone who thinks that USC's dominance over ND will last forever has no clue about this rivalry.
What goes up, must come down, in the ND-USC rivalry.
I'm hoping that it comes back around again starting this Saturday.
Go Irish.
Source
By FightingSonOfNotreDame October 16, 2009 - 10:55 pm
Thanks for posting this! I’ve been meaning to respond the SoCal arrogance claiming this isn’t a rivalry. When I was a kid in the 80′s I never understood why USC was a rival since we spanked them every time. Holtz absolutely owned the trojans, I believe he won 9 out of 10 games against them.
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By trey October 16, 2009 - 11:37 pm
I think this trend of dominance is what makes this such a nasty rivalry. Each team has had multiple times to tease and poke the other for tanking it so bad for so long in stretches and it just breeds animosity and anger. Then, in the in-between years where it’s fairly close and back and forth, we’re usually both right there for the NC and top bowls, so there’s tons riding on the game. Funny, none of those idiots who were here during Purdue week are here any longer. Only a complete retard or massive bandwagon fan would insult this rivalry and claim that either side just doesn’t care about the other.
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By OC Domer October 17, 2009 - 1:25 am
Nice work! Mad graphics skills!
Gotta flip that chart tomorrow.
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