TELEVISION • ABC regional telecast with Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Todd Blackledge (analysis), Shelly Smith (sideline), Mark Loomis (producer) and Scott Johnson (director).
RADIO • ISP Sports is the exclusive national rights-holder for Irish football radio broadcasts. ISP manages, produces and syndicates the Irish national football radio network. Notre Dame games will be broadcast by Don Criqui (play-by-play) and former Irish great Allen Pinkett (analysis). This broadcast can be heard live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio (channel 159) and XM Satellite Radio (channel 117). • All Notre Dame home games may be heard in South Bend on Sunny 101.5 FM and NewsTalk 960 WSBT-AM.
TICKETS • Notre Dame has played before a sellout in 77 of its last 88 games away from the friendly confines of Notre Dame Stadium. In fact, the Irish have played in front of sellout crowds in 228 of their previous 262 games, including 103 of their last 114 dating back to the 2001 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
POLLS • Neither Notre Dame nor USC are ranked in either the Associated Press or USA Today Coaches’ poll. Live in-game statistics will be provided through CBS College Sports Gametracker via und.com.
This meeting will be the 82nd all-time meeting in NCAA college football’s top intersectional rivalry. USC has captured each of the past eight meetings and 11 of 14 overall. Notre Dame did not lose to the Trojans over the previous 13 meetings (1983-95), including an 11-game winning streak. USC’s eight-game winning streak is its longest in series history (more on the series history on pages....
Notre Dame will look for its third consecutive victory this weekend when it travels to the West Coast to face rival USC. With a victory, the Irish would register their first three-game winning streak to end the regular season since 2005 and only the 10th such streak in the last 40 years. Brian Kelly will also look to become the first Irish head coach since Lou Holtz to knock off the Trojans in their first meeting.
SHILLELAGH: The winner of the USC-Notre Dame game gets year-long possession of the Shillelagh. The foot-long shillelagh—a Gaelic war club made of oak or blackthorn saplings from Ireland—has ruby-adorned Trojan heads with the year and game score representing USC victories, while emerald-studded shamrocks stand for Notre Dame wins. For tie games, a combined Trojan head/shamrock medallion was used.
ON THIS DATE • Notre Dame has played 15 previous games in its history on Nov. 27. The Irish are all-time on this date. The Irish were ranked in the top 25 entering six of those contests. Notre Dame and USC have met five different times on this date and the Trojans have taken three of the five meetings.
QUOTES – ND Coach Brian Kelly….
“Each and every week we’re confronted with the rivalry game, whether it started with Purdue, with the Shillelagh, or the Leahy Bowl with BC, Michigan, Michigan State. But I can tell you from my perspective, this is rivalry week at the University of Notre Dame. This is a rivalry game against USC. You can tell that in the very first meeting with our players.
As a matter of fact, you know, we have that 24-hour rule where you enjoy the victory. It was the first time this year in the locker room after a win, our guys were already talking about USC. So there’s clearly an energy and an excitement with our football players relative to this week. I believe as the head coach, this is that rivalry that you’re looking for.
I got to tell you also, from my perspective again, rivalries are such when it’s not one-sided. This one has been one-sided. It’s our job to make this a true rivalry. That is winning the football game.
So, again, I think just to give you a perspective of the week, our guys are really excited about this. I know as the head coach the USC game to me means so much when I grew up watching Notre Dame football. It’s great to be around the energy that is coming out of it this week.
Clearly, we’re playing a very talented football team. They haven’t lost that. They’re extremely athletic. Obviously defensively they lost some players in the back end of their defense. But up front, I believe it will be the best front four that we’ll see all year.
In the back end of the defense, again, you know, very athletic. Shareece Wright, their boundary corner, is one of the better guys that we’ll go against all year. He plays on body. He’s an aggressive player. He’ll get matched up a lot with Michael Floyd. That will be a matchup to really look at, an exciting matchup.
On the offensive side of the ball, Ronald Johnson, Robert Woods, the wide receivers are electric. They’re play-makers, both as an offensive player, but also special teams.
Matt Barkley, as you know, has been that leader for them, starting as a true freshman, now playing in his second year. He is very comfortable with Coach Kiffin’s offense. You can see that. It doesn’t take you very long to watch film to see that this young man has really adapted well to the system. It’s not far from what they were running last year. It’s pretty clear.
Yeah, I don’t know what his status is. You guys probably know better than I. We’re preparing that in a rivalry game of this nature that Barkley will be ready to play.
Very good depth at the runningback position. They’re going to play three and four runningbacks. Again, as talented of a football team as we’ll see all year.
If you look at our guys, we have a couple of guys back. T.J. Jones, we’re going to address Theo Riddick, he will practice this week. They are not in starting positions. But we’ll see how that works out as we go through the week. They’ll get more work as they feel more comfortable.
Carlo is in the depth. He was last week obviously. But he’s certainly somebody that will see some playing time. We have a couple guys back that, again, won’t be in starting positions, but will give us some depth from an offensive standpoint.”
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