A Brief History of Notre Dame vs. USC

" The story goes that college football's greatest intersectional rivalry began when Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne's wife convinced her husband to play USC regularly starting in 1926. From 1928-32 the winner of the game won national championships and between 1962 and 1977 each won three national titles (with USC also winning a split title in the coaches poll in 1974).

Top-ranked Notre Dame comes into Saturday's game in Los Angeles leading the series 43-35-5, but the Irish have only beaten Southern California once since 2001.

Here are some of the memorable games:

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1926

First Game: Notre Dame backup quarterback Art Parisien threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to John Niemiec with 2 minutes to go to give the Irish a 13-12 victory in the inaugural game. The game was the first regular-season West Coast trip for the Irish two seasons after playing in the Rose Bowl.

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1927

Big Crowd: An estimated 120,000 fans, including 99,573 paying customers, crowded into Soldier Field in Chicago to see the Trojans face the Irish "

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