It has been 22 years since this game actually mattered.
Today, it is a battle of mediocrity.
What the hell happened to Notre Dame vs. USC?
What happened is that this rivalry has not really mattered in a generation.
It might have mattered to the fans, but not to the polls, where it really counts.
Never mind it’s one-loss record in 2002 entering the final game, Notre Dame was a joke of a squad. And the Carson-Palmer-led Trojans proved that point rather quickly.
The Irish have not defeated USC since Pete Carroll’s inaugural season in 2001. Recently, only the 2005 match-up proved to be an engaging game. Though USC did cheat to win that game (re: the “Bush Push”), no Notre Dame squad has been able to challenge the Trojans in a decade.
By Brian McCabe
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