Picking the best USC football game of all time

The 31 ND win was obviously very big. They got a ticker tape parade in downtown LA for it. But the 74 and 05 ND games are the 2 best SC games that I have ever seen, giving the edge to 74 since it was a more improbable comeback and led to an eventual NC.

 

The 31 team beat a more invincible Irish and also won an NC.

How about 1967 UCLA?

Do we in the audience get to make suggestions?

 

Erik, the score at half-time of the 1974 game was actually 24-6, we did not get the extra point on the Davis TD. (Can't remember if it was a missed PAT or missed 2 point conversion). We then scored 49 straight points for the final score.

 

The 1974 game was the greatest SC-ND game. It wasn't about one play, or a couple of plays, it was the entire second half of amazing football. SC blitzed a highly ranked ND team on offense, defense, and special teams.

Looked it up, extra point was blocked. Put a damper on the excitement of finally scoring as I recall. From the second half kickoff, nobody at the Coli sat down until the end of the game. A once in a lifetime experience.

 

74 ND game because my ruin friend threw up

 

My personal favorite was a complete defensive annihilation of Notre Dame in the 2008 mismatch. No first downs allowed in the first half and only 91 total yards allowed the entire game. Clausen's QB Rating 4.4. I yearn for a defense like the 2008 team. This is my idea of USC's best game - complete and total devastation of any ND or UCLA team.

 

Just adding my two cents here..from an old-timer's perspective.

As great as the 1974 USC/ND game, it was pretty much over by early in the 4th quarter. The most exciting USC football games I've watched in person at the Coliseum were:

The 1969 USC Stanford game where Ronnie Ayala sprinted onto the field and kicked a game winning field goal as the gun went off to beat the Jim Plunkett-led Tribe 26-24. The entire Coliseum absolutely erupted when the field goal split the uprights.

1981 USC Oklahoma. #1 vs #2. USC was down 21-0 at the half (if memory serves me correct) and came roaring back to beat Oklahoma 28-24 in the last seconds of the game.

Huge crowds at the Coliseum were totally rocking in both these games.

 

For me it’s still the 2005 ND game. 4th and 9 and the odds were stacking up that we weren’t going to pull this one out. I was watching the game in my living room, and when DJ caught that ball I leapt out of my chair yelling and cheering at the top of my lungs for him to “GO....GO.....GO!!!!!!

My wife came out of the kitchen shaking her head and said “calm down”. I replied “Come on woman, this is USC and Notre Dame!!!!”

I do remember the 74 game, but I was 9 years old at the time. I took it for granted that USC was the best team in college football, and I hadn’t yet endured the 20+ years of relative mediocrity that followed JRob 1.

Granted, I only remember as far back as the 72 team, but for me, it’s 2005 USC vs ND.

 

2005 ND game. My wife's and my first game in South Bend. Attending the game with my best friend from high school and sitting in the ND faculty seats/section (he and his wife went to ND and his in-laws are both faculty there). Being the only two people in the entire section standing there in cardinal and gold when the game (actually) ended was pretty awesome. Having gone to SC in the 80's and lived through all those dark years, this was a great stretch of Trojan football to enjoy.

 

1988 USC at UCLA game - Peete vs Aikman - Rose Bowl, Heisman trophy, and national championship possibly on the line. Peete was in the hospital all week with the measles - Rodney comes out of the hospital to lead us to a victory! setting up 1 vs 2 the next week vs ND - My favorite play was the QB sneak for the TD - but Im biased

 

I'm going with USC vs ND 1974 for sustained excitement after complete despair. 1967 USC vs ucla is also tough to top as it was for the Rose Bowl, NC, Heisman (Beban won, OJ was second). All the others were one minute of elation. I'll the 17 minutes of 1974 all day long!

 

You should have brackets. A Notre Dame bracket, a UCLA one, maybe Stanford, maybe Bowls, maybe Open

Here's your start.




We need brackets to get through March.

 

I remember watching the '74 game on TV as a kid with my grandfather on a freezing cold east coast day. When AD returned that second half kickoff and started the come back it was electric. Seeing the song girls, LA sunshine, and that performance on TV made me think that wouldn't be a bad place to go. And a decade later I did. The other SC football moment that stands out was George Achica busting through the Bruin line and blocking the game winning FG. Knocked the Ruins out of the Rose Bowl.