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5 Biggest Notre Dame Wins Over USC

By Daniel Morrison

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 22: Members of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defense line up against the offense of the University of Southern California Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 22, 2011 in South Bend, Indiana. USC defeated Notre Dame 31-17. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 22: Members of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defense line up against the offense of the University of Southern California Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 22, 2011 in South Bend, Indiana. USC defeated Notre Dame 31-17. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 26: (Left)Cameron Smith #35 of the USC Trojans tackles (Right)Josh Adams #33 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 26, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images) /

Here’s a look at the best Notre Dame wins over USC throughout the history of this great rivalry.

It’s Notre Dame vs. USC week. I’ll admit it, the Battle for the Jewled Shillelagh snuck up on me this year. Between the Georgia game and frustrations with the offense, other things have been on my mind as a Notre Dame fan.

It hasn’t helped that USC is just average this season. They have some pretty awful injury issues at quarterback, their AD resigned, and most people think their head coach is unlikely to keep his job into next season.

Still, it’s not excusable to forget about USC. Beating USC is on the to-do list every season if you want to have a productive fall.

So, as an exercise in Notre Dame vs. USC prep, let’s take a look at the biggest wins over USC in Notre Dame’s history.

For the sake of clarity, let’s define biggest. I do not mean by the widest margin of victory. You will see the widest margin of victory for any team over USC, but it’s not on the list solely for its margin of victory.

These are also not necessarily the most exciting or competitive match-ups in the series. Again, it doesn’t hurt if the game was close, but that’s not the one major factor in ‘biggest win.’

No, the biggest wins in this series are the ones that blended circumstance and history, along with being a good game from the perspective of a Notre Dame fan.

If the win helped Notre Dame’s season — or hurt USC’s season — it is more likely to be on this list than had both teams been 6-6. From there, those historic meetings were ranked based on how entertaining they were as games.

Notre Dame currently leads the series by a count of 46-36-5. The Irish have also won the past two meetings, including last season’s finale in Los Angeles. That game secured Notre Dame’s spot in the College Football Playoff.

The series’ longest overall winning streak also belongs to Notre Dame at 11 straight games.

Notre Dame will look to add onto their total wins and current streak on Saturday. Hopefully, we get another memorable match-up between these two storied programs.

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