The vibe at the Coliseum was weird. Usually, when USC and Notre Dame meet in late November, there’s this palpable sense of national championship stakes or, at the very least, a major bowl game hanging in the balance. But the usc notre dame 2024 matchup felt like a collision of two programs moving in opposite directions, even if the scoreboard didn’t always make that obvious from the jump. You had a Notre Dame team that had essentially spent the season clawing back from that inexplicable early loss to Northern Illinois, and a USC squad trying to find its soul in a new conference.
It was loud. It was cold for Los Angeles. It was messy.
If you followed the Trojans at all this year, you know the Big Ten transition wasn’t the smooth Hollywood script Lincoln Riley probably envisioned. Defensively, they looked better under D'Anton Lynn, sure, but the late-game collapses became a recurring nightmare. By the time the Irish rolled into town for the 2024 edition of this rivalry, the stakes for USC were mostly about pride and spoiler status. Notre Dame, meanwhile, was playing for their lives in the College Football Playoff race. One slip-up in LA would have torched Marcus Freeman's entire season.
The Reality of the USC Notre Dame 2024 Scoreboard
People kept talking about the talent gap. Honestly, it wasn't about the stars next to the names; it was about the trenches. Notre Dame’s offensive line eventually started bullying the USC front seven, which has been the Achilles' heel for the Trojans for what feels like a decade now.
Riley’s offense, led by Miller Moss for much of the year before the late-season shifts, showed flashes of that vintage USC brilliance. They can score. They can make you look silly in space. But against a Notre Dame secondary that arguably featured the best pair of corners in the country, those windows were tiny. Riley’s play-calling seemed hesitant at times, almost as if he was waiting for the inevitable defensive breakdown on his own side to happen.
The Irish didn't just win; they exerted a kind of physical will that USC hasn't quite matched since the Pete Carroll era. It’s a tough pill for the Trojan faithful to swallow. You’ve got the flashy uniforms and the sunshine, but when the game gets grimy in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame had the depth.
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Riley vs. Freeman: A Study in Pressure
Marcus Freeman is an interesting guy. He took a massive amount of heat after that Northern Illinois debacle earlier in the year, and rightfully so. But he didn't blink. He kept the Irish focused on a "one week at a time" mantra that actually worked. By the time they reached the usc notre dame 2024 game, they were a polished, defensive-minded machine.
On the other sideline, Lincoln Riley is facing questions he’s never had to answer before. The move to the Big Ten exposed a lack of roster depth that you can’t fix overnight with the transfer portal. During the game, you could see the frustration on the USC sideline. Every time they’d get a bit of momentum, a penalty or a missed assignment in the secondary would gift the Irish a first down.
- USC's defensive identity is still under construction despite the coaching changes.
- Notre Dame’s ability to run the ball down the throat of the defense was the deciding factor.
- The "Jeweled Shillelagh" staying in South Bend feels like a symbolic shift in the power balance of these two independents-turned-conference-players.
What Most People Get Wrong About This Rivalry
Social media will tell you that USC is "back" or "dead" every three weeks. The truth is more boring. They are mid-transition.
A lot of folks thought USC would walk into the Big Ten and dominate because of their speed. They forgot that teams like Michigan, Ohio State, and even Notre Dame (who plays that Big Ten style of ball) don't care about your speed if they can put your quarterback on the ground four times a game. The usc notre dame 2024 contest was a microcosm of that reality.
Notre Dame isn't flashy. Riley is. But in late November, flashy usually loses to fundamental.
The Irish defense, anchored by stars like Howard Cross III and Xavier Watts, played with a level of discipline that USC just hasn't mastered yet. It wasn't just about winning the game; it was about proving that the "Midwest style" of football still works in the NIL and portal era. They forced Moss (and later Jayden Maiava) into uncomfortable throws, dared the Trojans to run, and then shut the door.
The Turning Point Nobody Talks About
There was a moment in the third quarter—a simple third-and-short—where USC tried a lateral play that got blown up for a loss. It was such a "Lincoln Riley" play. It was clever, it was fast, and it failed because the Notre Dame linebacker didn't bite. That single play told the whole story of the 2024 game. USC tried to outsmart them; Notre Dame just outplayed them.
The crowd went quiet. Not that "we're losing" quiet, but that "we've seen this before" quiet.
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Looking Forward: How USC Closes the Gap
If USC wants to win the usc notre dame 2024 rematch in 2025, they have to stop recruiting for highlights and start recruiting for the mud. The Big Ten isn't going to get easier. The schedule is a gauntlet of teams that want to turn every Saturday into a wrestling match.
- Prioritize the Interior: USC needs 300-pounders who can actually move. The Irish exploited the middle of the line all night.
- Special Teams Discipline: A missed field goal and a poor punt return gave Notre Dame a short field twice. You can't do that against top-ten teams.
- Identity Check: Is USC a "finesse" team or a "power" team? Right now, they’re trying to be both and succeeding at neither.
It’s easy to blame the coaches, but some of this is just physics. Notre Dame has built a roster that thrives on contact. USC is still building a roster that thrives on space. When you take the space away, like the Irish did in the 2024 matchup, the Trojan offense stalls out.
Actionable Insights for the 2025 Season
If you're a fan or an analyst looking at where these programs go next, there are a few things to watch. First, check the transfer portal entries for USC in the spring. If they aren't targeting massive defensive tackles, 2025 will look exactly like 2024.
For Notre Dame, the blueprint is set. Freeman has proven he can stabilize a locker room after a disaster. Their next step is finding a way to make the offense as elite as the defense. If they do that, they aren't just beating USC; they’re winning the whole thing.
Watch the recruiting rankings in the trenches. That is where the usc notre dame 2024 game was won and lost. Not on the perimeter, not with a Heisman-hopeful quarterback, but in the dirty, untelevised work of the offensive and defensive lines.
To really understand the trajectory of these programs, look at the "explosive play" percentage from this game. USC relied on 40-yard bursts to stay in it. Notre Dame relied on 6-yard carries to end it. One of those is sustainable over a four-quarter game in the cold; the other is a gamble. In 2024, the gamble didn't pay off for the Trojans.
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Next time you’re debating the state of West Coast football, remember this game. It wasn’t a fluke. It was a lesson in modern roster construction. USC has the talent, but Notre Dame has the structure. Until Riley bridges that gap, the Shillelagh is going to spend a lot more time in Indiana than it does in California.
Keep an eye on the defensive coordinator movements this offseason. Lynn has a long way to go, but the pieces are starting to arrive. Whether they can gel before the next kickoff is the only question that matters for the fans in cardinal and gold.
For those tracking the betting lines and future odds, the 2024 outcome has already shifted the 2025 projections. Expect Notre Dame to remain a heavy favorite in the rivalry until USC proves they can handle a physical four-quarter fight without folding. The data from the 2024 tracking sensors showed that USC's line-of-scrimmage push dropped by nearly 30% in the final fifteen minutes of play. That’s a conditioning and depth issue that no amount of "air raid" magic can fix.
The path back to the top for USC is clear: get bigger, get meaner, and stop letting the Irish dictate the tempo of the game.