Bigger Notre Dame Football Rival: Michigan or USC?
By Chase Eyrich
There are some games where you can throw out the record book. No matter what, it’s on. Michigan and USC are two Notre Dame football opponents who meet that criteria.
Some Notre Dame football games are part of the greatest rivalries we’ve ever seen. These are not just your average “battle for the (insert trophy name here)”, it’s pure hate. A successful season is measured by who wins these types of games.
For Notre Dame, it seems like almost every game is a rivalry. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, they bring their best because every team wants to say that they beat Notre Dame.
History has molded some classics around Notre Dame football games.
We’ve seen the Holy Wars with Boston College and the Catholics versus Convicts. Notre Dame and Florida State share hatred from the “Game of the Century” in 1993. Of course, their bad blood was brought back to life in 2014 with a controversial flag that took away Notre Dame’s winning touchdown, subsequently derailing the season for the Irish.
You can also go closer to South Bend and find some hate with Purdue and Michigan State. While the long-lasting annual relationships have been temporarily put to a halt, there are plenty of classics with the two programs.
Two rivalries have always stood outside the rest in Notre Dame’s history. Two games that have always drawn in absurd amounts of attention and are always circled on every Notre Dame football fan’s schedule — Michigan and USC.
The last three years just haven’t seemed quite right without playing Michigan. But — that all changes September 1st.
On the opposite end of the schedule, the Irish end the season at USC. Nothing better than ending the regular season with the prime match-up.
Both games hold an immense amount of significance, but we have to ask ourselves, who’s the bigger rival?
Michigan or USC?