Notre Dame-USC Rivalry: Greatest ‘What Ifs?’
Over the last week or so I’ve exchanged several emails, messages, and had multiple conversations with Matt Zemek of Trojans Wire about not just Notre Dame and USC for 2021, but the historic side of the rivalry as well. From now until Saturday night’s kickoff I’ll share our thoughts on some questions we came up with for each other in regards to the rivalry.
The next question in this series is the all-time great “What If’s” in regards to outcomes of different games? Would history tell a different story not just on a given afternoon but for years down the road?
Related: Notre Dame-USC: fun facts about epic rivalry
What is the greatest “What If” in the history of Notre Dame-USC?
Next: I answered from a Notre Dame perspective while Matt did so from the USC side of things…
What is the greatest “What If” in the history of the Notre Dame-USC rivalry?
Nick Shepkowski of Fighting Irish Wire: There are a ton but let’s go to the game that to me is the greatest regular season college football game I’ve ever seen. What happens if Reggie Bush is unable to push Matt Leinart across the goal line back in 2005 and Notre Dame holds on to win that day?
As a result, then 10-1 Notre Dame would have likely gone to the BCS Championship Game against Texas that year and Vince Young’s legend would have grown against the Irish instead of the Trojans while college football fans would have been robbed of perhaps the greatest game of any kind in the history of their sport.
In leading what would have been a game-winning touchdown drive against USC, Brady Quinn would have jumped both Reggie Bush and Vince Young in the Heisman Trophy voting and became the eighth Notre Dame player to win the award.
As a result of leading Notre Dame to an upset of No. 1 USC, a national title berth, and developing a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback in Quinn, Charlie Weis is given one more season to get things right and is the head coach in 2010 instead of being fired.
Instead of the craziness that ensues with Lane Kiffin leaving Tennessee for the USC job in late 2009, USC instead hires up-and-coming Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly who helps lead the Trojans on another decade of dominance over Notre Dame while the Irish remained mired in mediocrity by hiring Al Golden ahead of the 2011 season.
Hey, it all could have happened!
Related – The best still images from epic “Bush Push” game in 2005
Next: Matt Zemek of Trojans Wire answers…
What is the greatest “What If” in the history of the Notre Dame-USC rivalry?
There are so many possibilities to choose from here, all of them worthy of the best answer. What if Notre Dame wins in 2005 because the Bush Push — technically illegal back then but rarely enforced by officials — had been called? That certainly merits a think piece on its own.
What if Notre Dame wins the 1964 game in Los Angeles and wins the national championship? Does USC become the dynastic force it eventually became under John McKay, or would the Trojans have labored in Ara Parseghian’s shadow for the next 10 years? Parseghian did extremely well at Notre Dame, and yet his 3-6-2 record against McKay prevented the Irish from attaining even greater riches. 1964 certainly represents a huge turning point in the overall course of the rivalry.
What if Notre Dame holds down the fort in 1974, instead of allowing the Anthony Davis avalanche to continue? USC wouldn’t have won the UPI half of the national title (shared with Oklahoma in the AP poll). Parseghian might have left South Bend with another national championship. Would John McKay have felt it was time to leave USC for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Would USC have been as successful in the latter half of the 1970s as it turned out to be? Would the Trojans have won as many recruiting battles with a young coach named Terry Donahue at UCLA? So many questions emerge there.
Related: Notre Dame depth chart for USC game
