It's not really an overstatement to say that the Notre Dame-USC rivalry nationalized football. Sure, we already had plenty of heated rivalries when the two schools began playing each other in the mid-1920s, but rivals were neighbors. Harvard vs. Yale. Auburn vs. Georgia. Michigan vs. Ohio State. Missouri vs. Kansas. Notre Dame-USC, on the other hand, required many days on a train at first; it dropped teams off in a completely different part of the world, where they usually had to beat one of the best teams on the planet. It is the Granddaddy of intersectional rivalries (with apologies to Keith Jackson), and it was a massive game right from its origin.

On Saturday evening in South Bend, the Trojans and Fighting Irish will meet for the 96th time. Notre Dame holds a 52-38-5 edge, though the

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