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1926 – present
The beginning: The first meeting was played on December 4, 1926, at the Los Angeles Coliseum: Notre Dame 13, Southern California 12. Rockne is quoted calling it the greatest game he had ever seen. The teams have played every year since except 1943–45, for the war, and 2020, when COVID broke a 73-year run.
The trophy: The Jeweled Shillelagh has been played for since 1952, donated by the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles, its jewels added game by game — ruby Trojan heads for Southern California wins, emerald shamrocks for Notre Dame's. The original was retired in 1995, its surface full, and replaced in 1997.
The record, counted three ways: Through the 96th meeting — Notre Dame's 34–24 win at Notre Dame Stadium on October 18, 2025 — the series stands 53–38–5 for Notre Dame on the field, in the university's own release of August 3, 2026; 53–37–5 in ESPN's accounting; and 51–37–5 in the NCAA's adjusted book, which removes Southern California's vacated win of 2005 — the "Bush Push" game — and Notre Dame's vacated wins of 2012 and 2013, wins Notre Dame itself recognizes. All three figures stand here with their mechanisms, because all three are in circulation. The largest margin in the series is Notre Dame's 51–0 win of 1966. Notre Dame's eleven-game winning streak of 1983–93 — thirteen games unbeaten through 1995 — is the series' longest. The 2024 game, Notre Dame's 49–35 win in Los Angeles, was the highest-scoring in the series' history.
The present state: The 2025 game was the last scheduled meeting. Southern California's move to the Big Ten put the series on hiatus — its first missed years since the Second World War — and Notre Dame substituted a home-and-home series with BYU for 2026–27. On August 3, 2026, the schools announced a renewal: a four-game home-and-home across 2030–2033, opening at Southern California on August 31, 2030, and at Notre Dame on August 30, 2031.
Sources:
- Southern California rivalry record — the 1926 first meeting and Rockne's quoted verdict; the missed years; the Shillelagh and its history; the margins and streaks; the 2024 scoring record.
- Notre Dame athletics, renewal release (Aug. 3, 2026), and ESPN's series accounting — the three standings of the series record and the vacatur mechanism beneath them; the hiatus, the BYU substitution, the 2030–2033 renewal and its opening dates.