Onward Notre Dame: The USC Rivalry

Stories of the greatest rivalry in college football. Narrated by Steve Beuerlein.

[@donaldschmidt2990]

For a tiny Catholic school in Northern Indiana to become synonymous and inseparable with college football, a larger than life figure must transform it. No coach in the twentieth century approached Knute Kenneth Rockne. In any quantifiable way. Rockne possessed a brilliant intellect that would have foreshadowed success in any endeavor. As a player, Rockne and quarterback Gus Dorais combined to upset the mighty Army in 1913. From his arrival as head coach in 1918, Notre Dame slowly evolved into a brand unrivaled in college football. Rockne was a Carny Huckster, inventing stories about his sick ailing son and even the deathbed "Win one for the Gipper" speech. Its a fact that Rockne lied about the first event. And almost certainly the latter!! His teams were typically undersized, but lightning quick. Utilizing motion and shifts to outmaneuver opponents. Each time a play would be outlawed, Rockne would invent another. He was forever one year ahead of the rules committee. His motivational repertoire was limitless. Yet, his greatest gift was as a promoter. Rockne knew that for Notre Dame and the game to grow, games must span the width of the nation. Notre Dame traveled and beat the best. Soon an entire nation latched onto the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame didnt charge networks for radio rights, which sent stations clamoring to cover them. Most of all, Rockne made friends with sportswriters across the country. This prejudiced them on behalf of Notre Dame. Along with an entire nation of young boys dreaming of playing for them. And Rockne did all this before dying at just 43 years old in a plane crash!! His only equal as a coaching figure is the incomparable Vince Lombardi. Rockne was a mover and shaker that set the tone for everything that followed him. All of his own creation.

[@wingedbuffalo4670]

Hi @donaldschmidt ... Thanks for the WONDERFUL summary of the incomparable Knute Rockne. I also share your view of Lombardi as an undeniably great coach (no brainer there!), but respectfully disagree that Lombardi was "his only equal". The latter point is NOT to suggest that Rockne had another equal, or more than one equal (IMO he didn't); NOR is it to suggest that Lombardi's reputation must "suffer" from what I will opine further below (it shouldn't -- Lombardi's greatness as a coach will always remain intact and deserving of a place on the "Mount Rushmore of Football Coaches"). However, there are some additional important factoid distinctions which ought to preserve Rockne as "the football coaching GOAT" without peer -- even including Lombardi: 1. Rockne was not only the "gold standard" of his profession in his own right/by virtue of his own coaching excellence and success, BUT HE ALSO gifted the game an incredible "coaching tree" legacy that included some 90 coaches, and of those, 32 became eventual head coaches for at least one college/university and/or pro/NFL team (and in the vast majority of cases, those in-demand "head coaches" served in that capacity at more than one place). Sadly, Lombardi can't claim the same ... he only produced @ 8 to 12 follow-on head coaches or attenuated assistant coaches, and NONE of them ever accumulated lifetime winning records (and many of them had dismal career records). So for all of Lombardi's football genius, for whatever reason, it simply didn't rub off or translate to his successors whom he mentored. Rockne, on the other hand, produced MANY successful coaches who learned from his mastry and blazed their own quality path (none "as" good or great as Knute's ... but one of his lads -- the great Frank Leahy -- came close :)) 2. Rockne still had to battle anti-Catholic bigotry by schools and game officials (who could "influence" game outcomes) throughout his career (including the 1920s, the prime of his career). Rockne also had to OVERCOME the incredible VILLAINY of the University of Michigan which added incredible stress and complexity to his job (and outrageous additional travel expense to the University that the frugal priests no doubt chided him about). Michigan's football coach and AD, Fielding Yost, was a virulant anti-Catholic bigot, he HATED Notre Dame, he was incredibly envious of ND's success, and REFUSED to schedule games against ND, he REPEATEDLY "blackballed" (singularly vetoed) ND being allowed to join the Western Conference (the precursor to the Big 10), AND HE COERCED OTHER teams in the Western Conference to REFUSE TO SCHEDULE GAMES AGAINST ND TOO !!! His aim was to "kill" the entire football program at ND by making it "impossible" to put together a credible schedule of opponants to comprise a season schedule. Rockne's "work around" response: ND barnstormed the entire NATION by train and scheduled games with any/all schools ... and thereby transformed ND into "America's College Team" with dedicated fans EVERYWHERE, even in the Deep South !!! Michigan's Yost was furious at having not only been thwarted and checkmated in his MALIGNANT SCHEME to "kill off ND football," BUT ALSO furious and envious that his MALICE indirectly resulted in ND becoming the National "gold standard" of independent success while Michigan remained in the Nation's mindset merely a regional power in the Midwest !!!! Yost's successor at Michigan, Fritz Chrisler, also was an anti-ND bigot and by and large refused to schedule games against ND; he too also discouraged ND's admission into the Big 10. By comparson, by the time Lombardi coached in the NFL, not only did Lombardi not have to overcome such a "stacked deck" malicious influence by a major force in his playing league (NFL teams were on equal footing and couldn't be coerced by other teams the way Michigan coerced Midwest colleges/universities to "not schedule" games against ND), but also Lombardi didn't have to contend with anti-Catholic bigotry within the NFL professional officiating level -- the Nation had mostly moved beyond that nonsense by then. 3. Rockne did MORE than "just coach." While Lombardi also served as the Packers' de facto "General Manager" with a staff to whom he could delegate certain duties, Rockne also had to serve as ND's Athletic Director -- having responsibility to oversee the head coaches of the other sports, having final authority to ESTABLISH ALL the schedules from year-to year for the university's sports teams playing in a LARGE competitive pool (by comparison, Lombardi had none of that worry, as his sole concern was only one sport in a league [NFL] that had but 12 teams when he started as a head coach and had expanded to only 16 teams by the time he coached his final season ... and whose commissioner or delegee created the NFL schedule, NOT Lombardi). Also, Rockne taught chemistry at ND in his early coaching career before dropping that "additional duty" to focus on coaching. 4. Lombardi (and other ICONIC successful coaches such as Bear Bryant) is an indirect product of Rockne's coaching. Both his high school coach and his college football coach at Fordham, Jim Crowley, were coached and mentored by Rockne (Crowley was even one of Rockne's legendary "Four Horsemen" in his playing days!) 5. I'm not sure if Lombardi's "career winning percentage" as an NFL head coach is "the best" in league history (???) although I'm sure his 90% career playoff winning percentage surely has to be for coaches who have been more than "one hit wonders" with a singular perfect season. Yet all that said, there is NO DOUBT that Rockne STILL REMAINS the college football coach with the GREATEST WINNING PERCENTAGE of ALL TIME (again, excluding coaches with limited experience who may have coached a singular unbeaten team for a season or two). Moreover, considering Rockne was untimely struck down in the prime of his life in March 1931 at age 43 after only 17 seasons of coaching, it's pretty amazing that his LEGENDARY COACHING PRIMACY has stood for NEARLY a CENTURY (and counting) ... even against the likes of terrific, wildly successful coaches such as Nick Saban !!! Again, none of this is meant to diminish the luster of Lombardi's legacy; after all, the Super Bowl trophy rightly bears his name! But it IS to say that, IMO, Rockne still stands without "equal" notwithstanding the undeniable coaching greatness of Lombardi and several others.

[@danielficarra2557]

I’m a UCLA guy, hated for suc is in my blood. The enemy of my enemy is my ally. # 4sUp # GoIrish

[@SubstituteQuincy]

PFFFFFFFT😂😂🤣🤣😂 Ucla beat usc this year but at the end of the day we’re still beating ucla in the overall rivalry game UCLA is Garbo. 4sDown.

[@tylermanter1548]

I love Notre Dame .

[@BMLocal374]

Bury SC

[@user-iv9er3nr6z]

❤ usc fight song &great football tradition

[@Seth_Palmer]

Who’s here wetter we smothered them 48-20

[@KierraPlays]

I love both schools Notre Dame☘️ and USC⛑️

[@user-iv9er3nr6z]

@@KierraPlays ❤️💋💋both fight song greatest ever fight songs

[@eltonjohnson1724]

ND needs another Heisman Trophy winner. With Bush getting his trophy back, USC now leads ND in Heisman trophy winners: 8 to 7. Fifteen Heisman Trophy winners between two teams is really impressive.

[@wingedbuffalo4670]

IMO the corrupt, morally bankrupt, gutless, cowardly decision to "give back" a Heisman to USC's Bush purely out of "political corectness" and pandering means nothing. As far as I'm concerned USC still has 7 Heisman winners. NOTHING can change the FACT that Bush was a "BOUGHT and PAID FOR" player -- suddenly a "paid professional" who should have lost his college ELIGIBILITY when USC bought his family a new house as the inducement for Bush to "sign on USC's dotted line" to play for the Trojans. Bush is also UNDENIABLY a CHEATER (the ILLEGAL "Bush Push" to STEAL the game from ND at the end of the 2005 contest) ... and the fact that the "rules" have SUBSEQUENTLY changed from Bush's playing days that now enable players to make MILLION$$$ in NIL money, and/or offensive players can now push teammates forward to score TDs and/or secure 1st downs DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT that BUSH was an INELIGIBLE CHEATER UNDER THE OPERATIVE RULES and STANDARDS IN HIS DAY. So IMO, it is completely ILLEGITIMATE to "wipe the slate clean" of his transgressions RETROACTIVELY simply to give him back his ill-gotten Heisman.

[@lynnerose7891]

I love the way we’ve owned USC. Even that, I respect USC. Greatest intersectional rivalry in college football history. They’re the real rivals for the Irish. Thanks Michigan 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@joe_zeay]

Usc cannot play Ndame anymore starting 2026, as out of conference ever again. Notredame needs to join the B1G, or find themselves a new rival.

[@CityOfChampYinz87]

Rudy was offsides!!!

[@ClarkCastro]

I like UC Berkeley, but I don't likd USC so Go Fighting Irish!

[@anthonydisalle9331]

Go Irish