USC hadn’t beaten Notre Dame in South Bend since 1939. That’s a pretty incredible stat considering it was the year 1967.
The Trojans were 4-0 and ranked number one, but they were also still pretty peeved over the 51-0 pasting that Notre Dame had administered to them in 1966 when the Irish won the national title.
The preseason polls all had the Notre Dame Fighting Irish ranked number 1, mostly because they shared the title in 1966 with Michigan State and they returned guys like quarterback Terry Hanratty.
The Fighting Irish started off the 1967 season the right way for a top ranked team by crushing California, 41-8.
But, traditional rival Purdue was up next and the 10th ranked Boilermakers upset the Irish, 21-28. Notre Dame was dropped to 6th and they destroyed Iowa next, 56-6.
Now ranked 5th, the Irish were actually huge favorites to beat USC who was ranked at number 1.
Strange. Some say the Irish were even 12 point favorites going in which is bi
USC was ranked 7th when the 1967 season began, but they just absolutely demolished Washington State in their opener, 49-0. Now ranked 4th, the Trojans hosted 5th ranked Texas and beat the Longhorns, 17-13.
That win was impressive enough to the voters to move USC down to the number 2 position in the latest polls. But, also Alabama and Michigan State were ranked ahead of them and the Tide tied Florida State, with Michigan falling big to Houston.
USC was the nation’s new number 1 team after Notre Dame fell to Purdue.
Number one USC just ran all over Stanford, 30-0, and the Cardinal gave them plenty of problems back in those years. Well, they were the Indians back then and not named after a color.
Notre Dame was up next and this was a challenge for the Trojans. But, this team was different. Not only did they have 5 guys in the lineup that would be first round draft picks in the 1968 NFL Draft, but they had a very special junior in the lineup at tailback.
USC had signed the nation’s top junior college prospect in the 1967 recruiting class. A budding super star out of San Francisco named O.J. Simpson.
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Simpson was big enough and strong enough, but what set him aside was his sprinter’s speed. When he broke free of the line of scrimmage he was hard to bring down because he was a top open field runner as well as very fast.
The Fighting Irish came out swinging and played really hard in the first half taking a 7-0 lead into halftime.
But, the second half was all Trojans. OJ Simpson stepped up, running through and around the Irish defense for 160 yards on 38 carries and 3 touchdowns. One of them was a beautiful 35 yard scamper where he showed his speed.
But, Notre Dame had a huge hand in their loss by throwing 7 interceptions and fumbling the ball 2 more times. Senior linebacker Adrian Young, who just happened to be born in Ireland, was responsible for 4 interceptions on that day with 3 of them stopping promising Notre Dame drives.
USC won going away, 24-7, which gave the Trojans their first win in South Bend in 28 years. It was a turning point in the series and solidified the Trojans hold on number one.
The Trojans won their next 3 games fairly easily before traveling to Corvallis, Oregon where they Giant Killers
lost to the Giant Killers of Oregon State on a super muddy field where the incredibly athletic Trojans could not get their footing. The Beavers of Oregon State were the first team ever to beat, or tie, 3 teams in the top 2 in the polls in the same season. They beat top ranked Purdue, and top ranked USC and tied number 2 UCLA, which gave them the nickname of Giant Killers.
Falling to number 4, the Trojans beat the new number 1 team UCLA the following week to capture the conference title and back to the top spot in the polls.
They beat surprise Big 10 team, Indiana, in the Rose Bowl to capture the national title in 1967.
Gary Beban of UCLA won the Heisman Trophy in 1967, but it probably should have been OJ Simpson of USC. Simpson finished his first season of division 1 football at the highest level with 1,543 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Left tackle Ron Yary was the number one pick in the 1968 NFL Draft to lead a group of 5 taken in that round and Simpson was taken with the first pick of the 1969 NFL Draft. Hard to beat that.
The 1967 USC-Notre Dame game was a turning point in the rivalry and allowed a very talented Trojan team to win a national title.