Origins Notre Dame–USC football rivalry

1 origins

1.1 conversation between wives
1.2 tale
1.3 knute rockne–howard jones connection

origins
conversation between wives

the origin of series quite recounted conversation between wives of notre dame head coach knute rockne , usc athletic director gywnn wilson. in fact, many sports writers cite popular story main reason 2 schools decided play 1 another. story goes, rivalry began usc looking national rival. usc dispatched wilson , wife lincoln, nebraska, notre dame playing nebraska on thanksgiving day. on day (nebraska 17, notre dame 0) knute rockne resisted idea of home-and-home series usc because of travel involved, mrs. wilson able persuade mrs. rockne trip every 2 years sunny southern california better 1 snowy, hostile nebraska. mrs. rockne spoke husband , on december 4, 1926, usc became annual fixture on notre dame s schedule.

another tale

while wives story remains classic explanation starting series, college football historian murray sperber, in researching book on days of notre dame football, shake down thunder, uncovered different explanation creation of series contradicts story. sperber documents series created financial , political reasons, , rockne s resistance series misstated. during 1920s, many college institutions, including big ten (then called western conference), sought combat commercialism steadily increasing in college athletics. part of concern on commercialism stemmed large money payouts teams receive traveling long distances play in bowl games.

meanwhile, notre dame had difficulty scheduling local western conference opponents because of ban placed on member schools playing them. irish forced seek out opponents nationally fill schedule, traveling far away so. after notre dame started winning landmark games against college behemoths such yale , army, notre dame started grow in popularity , command more money games scheduled. notre dame garnered interest rose bowl committee have notre dame come , play pacific coast conference (now pac-12) opponent 1924 football season. coach rockne , notre dame administration realized how lucrative annual trip los angeles football program. notre dame s west coast alumni began lobbying rockne bring team rose bowl season finale every year. rose bowl committee favored arrangement (at time there no tie in big ten); however, pacific coast conference had reservations. specifically, 2 members schools, stanford , california refused play notre dame on account of [notre dame s] low scholastic standards. since notre dame catholic school, academics considered inferior @ time. usc s coach, gus henderson reached out rockne through correspondence stating usc welcome chance play notre dame new year s day in pasadena. while rockne favored playing usc, stanford, won pacific coast conference title, had first choice , realized playing notre dame lucrative, , 2 played in 1925 rose bowl.

the series between notre dame , usc created because of still-existing desire notre dame travel los angeles please alums , earn large payout, still-standing invitation play them coach henderson. while creation of series contradictory notre dame s efforts follow big ten in combating commercialism (the big ten had 26-year bowl ban, notre dame followed longer), rockne , other administrators justified game since created home-and-home series, played in los angeles every other year. creation of series influenced hiring of howard jones, knew rockne coaching against him @ iowa. priests ran notre dame, playing usc in los angeles every other year preferable making further trips rose bowl game. notre dame not play in bowl game until 1970 cotton bowl.

knute rockne–howard jones connection

another factor in creation of series connection between both schools coaches, knute rockne , howard jones. following notre dame s 1924 championship season, rockne approached usc take on football program. rockne entertain such advances , let news slip out notre dame administration in order raise , bolster position internally , nationally. while rockne turned down offer, recommended usc @ friend howard jones, whom knew taking notre dame teams play iowa. barry lebrock, author of trojan ten, confirms rockne lent trojans helping hand in recommending consider hiring iowa s coach howard jones, after usc fired gloomy gus henderson. creation of series influenced friendship, , jones desire take usc notre dame s elite level.