Notre Dame and USC don’t like each other. It’s not just that the two schools have been rivals for decades and that the rivalry has been passed down from generation to generation. The two programs do not like each other. That dislike is shown on the field and in some truly strange social media fights.
When the dislike has been demonstrated on the field, sometimes it's shown up as one team or another making sure the opponent remembers a big loss for years. There have been plenty of games in the Notre Dame - USC series that have come down to the wire. That have been decided in the final seconds. That’s why it’s been such a fun rivalry over the years.
While the rivalry officially played its last annual matchup in 2025, there’s always hope it will one day return. If it doesn’t, then several games stand out for being lopsided either for Notre Dame or to the detriment of the Fighting Irish.
The 3 most lopsided wins in the history of Notre Dame’s rivalry series against USC
The Top 10 blowout (Notre Dame: 51, USC: 0)
In 1966, Notre Dame entered its game against No. 10 USC ranked as the top team in the country. The Irish had just come off a tie in a contest that was billed as “the game of the century” against another rival in Michigan State. The expectations were this would be a barnburner of a showdown against two Top 10 teams.
However, the Golden Domers were apparently still very mad about kissing their sister the week before and took out their aggression on the Trojans. When the smoke cleared, they were winners of a 51-0 blowout. Not only is that the largest margin of victory in the 92-game series, but it’s impressive because this was expected to be a much closer affair.
The Comeback (USC: 55, Notre Dame: 24)
In 1974, Notre Dame took a 24-0 lead in the first half and looked like it might roll to a completely different kind of lopsided win. With the Fighting Irish going into halftime up 24-6, it’s unlikely anyone saw what happened in the second half coming.
Not only did the Trojans’ defense shut the Golden Domers out, but USC scored a whopping 49 points in the 3rd and 4th quarter. USC head coach John McKay, who is perhaps more famously known as the wisecracking head coach of some terrible Tampa Bay teams, reportedly gave a succinct halftime speech that apparently worked.
“Gentlemen, you know that we can play better than that. Right now there are millions of people watching this game that think you’re pretty bad. They are wrong. There is no law preventing you from blocking, tackling, and running hard. We start the second half with the ball. We are going to score. We will win this game. Let’s pray.”
It’s also worth pointing out that more than a few USC coaches and members of the program pointed to the 51-0 loss to Notre Dame as a motivating factor to really pour it on when they had the chance.
Ground and Pound vs Air Attack (Notre Dame 49, USC 14)
The third game on this list also saw the Irish take a commanding first-half lead, 28-0 in 2017. However, this time the squad didn’t decide they won at halftime and went on to continue to win. USC did stage at least a fight in the third quarter, but Notre Dame then closed the door in the fourth.
This game was the tale of two offensive approaches. Notre Dame was all about running the ball, which it did very successfully to the tune of 377 yards, compared to USC’s 76. The Trojans had some success throwing the ball as future NFL quarterback Sam Darnold completed 20 of 28 passes for 229 yards while Brandon Wimbush had just 119 through the air. On this day, the ground game simply proved to be too hard for Darnold and his buddies to overcome.
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