M
Moostache
Guest
From 1988 to 1993 (the most recent high point in ND history), we had the following:
Notre Dame
64-9-1
(1 MNC - 1988)
*(legit claims to possibly one other - either 1989 or 1993)
86% win percentage
USC
44-26-3 (0-6 against ND in that period)
60% win percentage
Additionally from 1989 - 2002, USC was 88-64-4 (56% win percentage and the nadir of the historically powerful program, including a 3-8 campaign in 1991 and multiple 6-6, 5-7 years)....in fact in the 25 years between a title in 1978 and the 2003 BCS title, USC was at times decent, at other times awful and largely told they were a thing of the past and "irrelevant" to today's college football (or the college football world of the Miami / FSU / Nebraska of the 1990's and early 2000's)....
Approximately 10 years later....
Now from 2002 to 2007 (YTD - the highest point for USC in recent history) we have this:
USC
65-8
(1 BCS title - 2004)
*(legit claims to possibly one other split in 2003)
89% win percentage
Notre Dame
41-29 (0-6 against USC in that period)
59% win percentage
Additionally from 1994 - 2007, Notre Dame was 99-65-1 (60% win percentage and the nadir of the historically powerful program, including this year's disaster and multiple 6-6, 5-7 years)....in fact in the 19 years between a title in 1988 and this current season of despair, ND was at times decent, at other times awful and largely told they were a thing of the past and "irrelevant" to today's college football (or the college football world of the USC / tOSU / SEC-flavor-o'-month of the mid-2000's)....
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With the constant swirl of rumors of Pete Carroll to the NFL (which may very soon start looking a lot more tempting, especially if there is more fire behind all the smoke in L.A.) and the lingering taint of the Reggie Bush affair (not to mention other less publicized, but equally damning things surrounding the USC program - unsavory sideline 'guests', agents with access to players in eye-brow raising ways, off-field transgressions and under-producing NFL careers for former Trojans - Mike Williams and Dominique Byrd and even Lendale White come to mind pretty quickly); as well as the bizarre tendancy of this year's Trojans to under-perform relative to expectations and talent level on a baffling week-to-week basis, I can't help but think they are on the cusp of seeing something more like Lou's teams from 1994-1996 (23-11-1) playing in L.A. in the very near future....look no further than the recent falls from grace of Miami and FSU for other examples.
I just hope that it does not also mean ND is another 10 years away from a similar positive run - however, once USC hit this point - where recruiting was up again and a coach who many believed was an idiot a short time earlier was hitting his stride, they took off on their current run...history has a funny way of repeating itself, here's hoping that we are about to see it happen again (this time in ND's favor)!!!
Notre Dame
64-9-1
(1 MNC - 1988)
*(legit claims to possibly one other - either 1989 or 1993)
86% win percentage
USC
44-26-3 (0-6 against ND in that period)
60% win percentage
Additionally from 1989 - 2002, USC was 88-64-4 (56% win percentage and the nadir of the historically powerful program, including a 3-8 campaign in 1991 and multiple 6-6, 5-7 years)....in fact in the 25 years between a title in 1978 and the 2003 BCS title, USC was at times decent, at other times awful and largely told they were a thing of the past and "irrelevant" to today's college football (or the college football world of the Miami / FSU / Nebraska of the 1990's and early 2000's)....
Approximately 10 years later....
Now from 2002 to 2007 (YTD - the highest point for USC in recent history) we have this:
USC
65-8
(1 BCS title - 2004)
*(legit claims to possibly one other split in 2003)
89% win percentage
Notre Dame
41-29 (0-6 against USC in that period)
59% win percentage
Additionally from 1994 - 2007, Notre Dame was 99-65-1 (60% win percentage and the nadir of the historically powerful program, including this year's disaster and multiple 6-6, 5-7 years)....in fact in the 19 years between a title in 1988 and this current season of despair, ND was at times decent, at other times awful and largely told they were a thing of the past and "irrelevant" to today's college football (or the college football world of the USC / tOSU / SEC-flavor-o'-month of the mid-2000's)....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With the constant swirl of rumors of Pete Carroll to the NFL (which may very soon start looking a lot more tempting, especially if there is more fire behind all the smoke in L.A.) and the lingering taint of the Reggie Bush affair (not to mention other less publicized, but equally damning things surrounding the USC program - unsavory sideline 'guests', agents with access to players in eye-brow raising ways, off-field transgressions and under-producing NFL careers for former Trojans - Mike Williams and Dominique Byrd and even Lendale White come to mind pretty quickly); as well as the bizarre tendancy of this year's Trojans to under-perform relative to expectations and talent level on a baffling week-to-week basis, I can't help but think they are on the cusp of seeing something more like Lou's teams from 1994-1996 (23-11-1) playing in L.A. in the very near future....look no further than the recent falls from grace of Miami and FSU for other examples.
I just hope that it does not also mean ND is another 10 years away from a similar positive run - however, once USC hit this point - where recruiting was up again and a coach who many believed was an idiot a short time earlier was hitting his stride, they took off on their current run...history has a funny way of repeating itself, here's hoping that we are about to see it happen again (this time in ND's favor)!!!
