FOOTBALL

If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column

USC is 19-21-4 versus Notre Dame in games immediately following the UCLA game. Don’t tell Lincoln Riley or he will really want to cancel the series.

  • If you take away Josh Cohen, who made 5 of 8 shots, the rest of the USC basketball team shot 17 percent in Thursday night’s 71-36 loss to St. Mary’s in Palm Desert.

“We have a lot of work to do,” USC coach Eric Musselman said. “I’m extremely disappointed in so many different areas.”

This just shows how important that exhibition game victory over Gonzaga was four weeks ago, also in Palm Desert.

  • Did you know USC has never won a game on KTLA (Channel 5)? Good thing the Pac-12 never went to the CW.
  • Morningside High School in Inglewood is scheduled to close at the end of the school year. USC basketball players Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson and Stais Boseman attended Morningside. Wide receiver Marqise Lee went there his freshman year.
  • And now for some history:
  • Here are some old-school USC-Notre Dame game buttons.
  • Did you know former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian provided the inspiration for the Cardinal and Gold booster club?

Nick Pappas, the former USC player/assistant coach and the father of USC booster clubs, had dinner in 1955 with Parseghian, Oklahoma assistant Gomer Jones and Nebraska coach Bill Glassford.

“Ara told me about a Quarterback Club he started at Northwestern,” Pappas said. “Northwestern is a private university. I never knew that. Anyway, Ara started this club to make ends meet. They charged $125 a year for memberships and gave members preferenced seating and a banquet, things like that.

“It seems the club was doing so well, they had to keep people out of it. Ara told me they weren’t about to get rid of him after that.”

  • This is a headline that needs explaining on the eve of the 1930 USC-Notre Dame game.

Knute Rockne kicked his star running back, Jumping Joe Savoldi, off the team after divorce papers had been filed and discovered by reporters.

It was against Notre Dame rules to be married, let alone be married and divorced. Not even Rockne could keep him on the team.

It didn’t affect the game as Notre Dame defeated USC, 27-0, and the 10-0 Irish were awarded the national championship as it returned to South Bend by train.

That victory over USC turned out to be Rockne’s final game. Three months later, he was killed in a plane crash.

  • Here is the cover from game program for the 1968 USC-Notre Dame game.
  • When USC played Notre Dame for the first time ever in 1926, the game at the Coliseum was broadcast on radio stations KFI, KNX and KHJ.
  • When USC played Notre Dame in 1927 before 120,000 at Soldier Field in Chicago, the game was heard on KFI in Southern California.

KFI had the USC band go atop the Packard Building in downtown Los Angeles, which is where the radio studios were located, and perform songs on the air at halftime for the listeners.

  • There was a wonderful era when illustrations graced newspapers. Imagine being a high school student in 1954 and finding out you were athlete of the week with an illustration in the local paper.

This is from the Los Angeles Daily News, a lively tabloid paper that existed from 1923-1954. This is one of the final editions in 1954, when offensive lineman Ronald Strauther of Jordan High School in Los Angeles was honored with an illustration by Bill Griffin. Strauther also played fullback and was the kicker for the Marine League champions.

He was also his class president. I did a little research and just a year after receiving this Daily News honor, Strauther married his high school sweetheart. They were married for 49 years.

Sounds like a fairy tale. It’s a nice Los Angeles story especially for Thanksgiving.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Isabelle Adjani

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

It’s the 1970 USC-Notre Dame game. If for no other reason, it’s worth watching the beginning when the starting lineups would get introduced on the field right before kickoff and ABC forgot to mention USC All-American defensive lineman Charlie Weaver.

Go to the 32:34 mark to watch Sam Dickerson’s beautiful 45-yard TD catch from Jimmy Jones.

Joe Theismann passed for a Notre Dame-record 526 yards but USC upset the undefeated and third-ranked Irish, 38-28.

In the span of 42 seconds in the third quarter, USC scored two touchdowns by recovering fumbles in the end zone: One was recovered by offensive tackle Pete Adams and the other by defensive tackle John Vella.

“Fifty years from now,” said John McKay, whose teams had tied the Irish the previous two seasons, “our seniors can sit around the fireplace and say they never lost to Notre Dame.”

47 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

  1. That 1970 ND game was played in a driving rain in the second half because I recall my wife at that time having her hair matted up

    One carry away from games back then was there was no grand standing after plays, even after touchdowns. “Act as if you’ve been there before”

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      1. Of course he was, his wife is a psychologist, or at least he thinks she is. Oh, and he isn’t an attorney either, but he is Yoda

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  2. It has been over 50 years since that game. I wonder if John McKay’s words came true, that SC players of that era are bragging to their grandchildren about never having lost to ND

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  4. The Chicago Bears and SC have something in common– SC’s football spirit was broken at Michigan with that 63-yarder, and the Bears’ season unraveled after they inexplicably allowed a Hail Mary

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  5. As good as SC football has been the Trojans have a losing record against Notre Dame, 19-21 at home, and forgetaboutit in South Bend

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  7. KAM: Truth is, nothing much will change in America whether it is the Republicans or the Democrats in power

    DON: But you can’t say that and expect to win elections

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  9. Beating YUCLA was a great start for the ‘Second Stringer’ but getting the best of ND puts him on the ‘football map’

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  10. No wonder SC-Notre Dame was an event in the late 1920s and especially 1930 when the Irish had to take a train to Los Angeles and back to South Bend after winning the National Championship, Knute Rockne’s last before succombing

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  12. KAM: I got 48% of the vote and you got less than 50%, so there are still a lot of Democrats out there

    DON: I just ignore them

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  14. USC prevails tomorrow because they’ve played tough opponents…played them close….yes lost ‘but’ have been through a lot this year unlike ‘the princess’ and their cherry picked schedule – no CCG for them (thus no risk of dropping in the rankings). I think Maiava is far better than Logan Riley and the USC ‘O’ line has improved markedly since the MI loss

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  15. KAM: You know any cute animal jokes, I have one– Momma cat wants to impress her kittens as she spies a dog coming close to their hideout, and so she goes ‘Bow wow wow,” and the dog quickly scurries away. She then proudly tells her flock, “You see the value of knowing a second language?”

    DON: How about ‘2 guys get off the trail in Africa and are being chased by a lion, when one guy says to the other fellow, “We can’t outrun a lion,” to which the other retorts, “I don’t have to outrun a lion, I only have to outrun you”

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    1. Sore Loserman BJ Clinton Claims in New Book He “Couldn’t Sleep for Two Years,” Suffered “Outbursts of Rage” Following 2016 Election Defeat, But We Know He Really Loved Hitlery Being Humiliated

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  18. Forgotten in Maiava’s rise is the downfall of Miller Moss and that sad face he had during the ucla game and now no ND for him either, but that’s life with ‘love and war’

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