The Notre Dame–USC football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team of the University of Notre Dame and USC Trojans football team of the University of Southern California, customarily played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving Day when the game is in Los Angeles or on the second or third Saturday of October when the game is in South Bend, Indiana. The rivalry began in 1926 and is considered one of the fiercest in college football. The rivalry game has been played every year from 1926 to the present, with the exception of 1943–1945 when the game was cancelled during World War II and in 2020 when the Pac-12 Conference cancelled all non-conference games in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic therefore interrupted a streak of 73 consecutive years in which the game had been played. The 2021 matchup marked the first time in series history that two consecutive games between the rivals were played in South Bend, although the games were not played in consecutive years. Notre Dame and USC have been among most successful programs in college football, with the schools having won a combined 24 national championships and 14 Heisman Trophies through the 2021 season. Moreover, both schools have fielded a high number of Consensus All-Americans (102 for Notre Dame—the most in college football—and 82 for USC), College Football Hall of Famers (46 from Notre Dame and 43 from USC), and Pro Football Hall of Famers (13 from each). The rivals account for the highest numbers of players selected in the NFL Draft of any school; Notre Dame has had 546 players taken, and USC has had 530. No rivalry in college football accounts for as many combined honors. The teams play for the Jeweled Shillelagh, a trophy that goes home with the winning team each year. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 48–36–5 and also leads 33–29–3 since the introduction of the trophy. Despite many close games, the series has seen dominant runs by both sides: USC went 12–2–2 from 1967 through 1982, Notre Dame went undefeated (11–0–1) from 1983 through 1995, and USC went undefeated (8–0) from 2002 through 2009. However, while Notre Dame and USC have defeated the other in landmark games enabling one of them to move on to a national title, the two teams have also played spoiler to each other several times: Notre