ND-USC 1964-1980

[GoldenToTheGrave]

My dad, a 1970 Notre Dame grad, brought me up right: root for ND, and despise USC. To this day, he can vividly recall watching Anthony Davis charge toward his end zone seats for touchdown after touchdown, and feeling absolute shell-shock while USC fans blasted 'Fight On' from their car horns in the Coliseum parking lot.

For any Irish fan, USC being the ultimate rival is a bedrock truth, but only in recent years did I fully appreciate the historical context that shaped my father’s fandom. Growing up, I knew about ND’s '66, '73, and '77 titles. It wasn't until recently that I truly grasped USC’s staggering run during that same era and their four national titles. Seven national championships between two rivals in just twelve years—with a few more lost only because one beat the other—has to be one of the greatest dominant stretches between two rivals in college football history.

On a personal note, my brother and I recently took my 78-year-old dad back to South Bend for the USC game—a true bucket-list trip. Watching the Irish pull off a gutsy win in the pouring rain together is now one of my most cherished memories."

 

[Classic Irish]

I grew up an ND fan in southern California in the late 1970s/early1980s. My dad (a Providence College alum) was a diehard ND fan. So was my mother. Both of them grew up as Catholics in Rhode Island. My parents moved to Los Angeles in 1957. My dad started taking us to ND games in the Coliseum every other year. My first ND game was the 1982 game in the Coliseum when we got robbed. I have two brothers and two sisters who graduated from ND. I graduated in 1992. This is a lengthy way of saying that I grew up hating the Trojans. I’ll be in Provo next week. Go Irish! ☘️

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

I grew up an ND fan in southern California in the late 1970s/early1980s. My dad (a Providence College alum) was a diehard ND fan. So was my mother. Both of them grew up as Catholics in Rhode Island. My parents moved to Los Angeles in 1957. My dad started taking us to ND games in the Coliseum every other year. My first ND game was the 1982 game in the Coliseum when we got robbed. I have two brothers and two sisters who graduated from ND. I graduated in 1992. This is a lengthy way of saying that I grew up hating the Trojans. I’ll be in Provo next week. Go Irish! ☘️

The rush on the golden age was an entire generation had to watch ND never win in Southern Cal.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I’m an ND fan b/c of my dad (RIP). We wanted to see SC @ ND in the best seats we could afford. We went in 1999. Both teams sucked. It was Davie’s 3rd year & Paul Hackett’s 2nd year. There was no Stub Hub, Seat Geek, etc. We had no connections so I had to go through a ticket broker. I was naive & didn’t realize how they operated. Still remember the name….Shamrock Seats out of Chicago. Ordered two 50-yd line seats.

Seats ended up being between 35-40 yd line. Game was ugly as ND trailed by 21 at one point. It was raining on & off. Jarious Jackson fumbled going into the EZ but luckily TE Jabari Holloway was there to recover. ND squeaked it out in a season where they had a losing record. This was Carson Palmer‘s sophomore season and he was the starter but broke his collarbone earlier that year so he didn’t face ND. For those familiar w/ Petros Papadakis, he was a captain on that SC team.

 

[BeatSC]

As evidenced by my name “BeatSC” I am a true ND hater. Parents were Northwestern grads and moved to LA in late 50’s. Dad realized how obnoxious USC fans and alum were and it heightened his disdain for them. He would go to many Trojan home games just to look for trouble with them. First game was the Theisman usc 500+ yards game in the pouring rain. Joe was great our D was not. Yes we dominated first half against usc in the AD game and then completely collapsed against AD as he did everything against us and his on his knees TD dance should have been a penalty back then. Have never been able to watch that game although we beat them the year before. They have books written about the rivalry and how it started which are worth a read. For years the game would upset me so much I was unable to watch it. Never saw the Brady Quinn game as I would have stroked out. I watched all of Kelly’s games and he was 8-3 so for that reason alone I don’t hate in Brian Kelly. I see us as the good guys with standards and I know usc has none. I’ve mellowed a skosh over the years but something will be missing without usc in the schedule. Basically a shitload of stress!

 

[BeatSC]

I’m an ND fan b/c of my dad (RIP). We wanted to see SC @ ND in the best seats we could afford. We went in 1999. Both teams sucked. It was Davie’s 3rd year & Paul Hackett’s 2nd year. There was no Stub Hub, Seat Geek, etc. We had no connections so I had to go through a ticket broker. I was naive & didn’t realize how they operated. Still remember the name….Shamrock Seats out of Chicago. Ordered two 50-yd line seats.

Seats ended up being between 35-40 yd line. Game was ugly as ND trailed by 21 at one point. It was raining on & off. Jarious Jackson fumbled going into the EZ but luckily TE Jabari Holloway was there to recover. ND squeaked it out in a season where they had a losing record. This was Carson Palmer‘s sophomore season and he was the starter but broke his collarbone earlier that year so he didn’t face ND. For those familiar w/ Petros Papadakis, he was a captain on that SC team.

That was my first game back there and I didn’t like flying much and I sat there at halftime wondering wtf did I come back here for this?! In the second half the rain came hard and thank God I got a serious ND pancho and never had a better moment in my football life than watching the biggest ND comeback in the history of the rivalry. Lost my voice. Had seat around where you did. It was football viewing at its finest. One of the best days in my life.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

That was my first game back there and I didn’t like flying much and I sat there at halftime wondering wtf did I come back here for this?! In the second half the rain came hard and thank God I got a serious ND pancho and never had a better moment in my football life than watching the biggest ND comeback in the history of the rivalry. Lost my voice. Had seat around where you did. It was football viewing at its finest. One of the best days in my life.

Indeed. I was sitting amongst SC fans but they were all middle aged and friendly.

 

[ACamp1900]

Grew up in so cal with many dodger, raider, Trojan fans stealing everyone’s hub caps and making life generally harder for the rest of us simply due to the fact they were just trashy people. Screw each team super sideways. Go Irish

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

That was my first game back there and I didn’t like flying much and I sat there at halftime wondering wtf did I come back here for this?! In the second half the rain came hard and thank God I got a serious ND pancho and never had a better moment in my football life than watching the biggest ND comeback in the history of the rivalry. Lost my voice. Had seat around where you did. It was football viewing at its finest. One of the best days in my life.

I was unofficially tailgating and discovered Coors Lite. Well, it's "Light" so it must be low in alcohol right? I was so far gone that it never occurred to me that we could lose the game.