USC-Notre Dame, A Rivalry That Shares 15 Heisman Winners

The USC-Notre Dame rivalry is as college football as college football gets, contested annually by a pair of legendary programs that combine for 15 Heisman Trophy winners and 11 national championships.

The 96th meeting between the schools is set for Saturday and this week marked the 20th anniversary of USC’s memorable 34-31 win in 2005 when Trojan Heisman winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush joined forces to break the hearts of Irish fans everywhere.

Time for a stroll down memory lane and a look back at Heisman winners in the series.

2022
USC 38, Notre Dame 27
The most recent Heisman recipient to play in the series was 2022 winner Caleb Williams. The first-year transfer from Oklahoma capped off his Heisman resume by completing 18-of-22 passes for 232 yards and a score while rushing for 35 yards and three more as he led USC to a 38-27 win at the L.A. Coliseum.

Williams even popped the Heisman pose late in the game. 

That was USC’s last win in the series, Notre Dame scoring a pair of double-digit victories in 2023 and 2024.

Current Heisman candidate Jayden Maiava will try to end the Trojans’ two-game losing streak on Saturday and use the nationally-televised game as a platform to propel his campaign.

The rivalry game has certainly helped Trojans and Irish players alike in their bids for the trophy.

2005
USC 34, Notre Dame 31
Bush, however, was already a leading candidate while Leinart already had a Heisman in his parents’ living room when No. 1 USC took its 27-game winning streak into Notre Dame Stadium in 2005.

Bush certainly did not hurt his chances, rushing for 160 yards on 15 carries and scoring three times while catching four passes for 35 yards. He posted touchdown runs of 36, 45 and 9 yards, the last giving USC a 28-24 lead with just over five minutes to go.

But it was his helping hand — or hands — that became the game’s most memorable play after Notre Dame had retaken the lead.

With the clock seven seconds away from triple zeroes and USC on the 1-yard line — its winning streak on the line and out of timeouts — Leinart called his own number on a QB sneak. 

Stacked up initially at the line of scrimmage, Bush quickly began shoving his teammate toward the goal line, Leinart using the extra push to spin around and get over the line for the game-winning score.

2004
USC 41, Notre Dame 10
Eleven months earlier in Los Angeles, Leinart and USC capped off a perfect regular season with a 41-10 demolition of Notre Dame and Leinart sealed USC’s sixth Heisman win. The junior threw for 400 yards and five touchdowns in a rout.

2002
USC 44, Notre Dame 13
USC had not won a Heisman Trophy in over two decades when senior quarterback Carson Palmer took off in Head Coach Pete Carroll’s second season at USC.

The Trojans started the year a modest 3-2, but closed the season with eight straight wins as Palmer overcame all challengers in the Heisman race. In a 52-21 win over crosstown rival UCLA on Nov. 23, Palmer threw four TD passes, USC setting the stage for the Nov. 30 date with Notre Dame. 

Palmer then exploded for 425 yards passing and four touchdowns in a primetime match-up against the No. 7 Irish as USC torched Notre Dame, 44-31. The Heisman Trophy was signed and sealed — all but delivered — for Palmer.

1987
Notre Dame 26, USC 15
The USC-Notre Dame rivalry swings both ways, and for years, Notre Dame dominated the series. That included a stretch of 13 years — between 1983 and 1995 — when the Irish went 12-0-1, USC’s only respite from losing a tie in 1994.

On the early side of the streak, Tim Brown closed out his 1987 Heisman season by leading the Irish to a 26-15 win. He scored on a 5-yard run and totaled 109 all-purpose yards, only touching the ball 10 times. But Brown had done more than enough that season that even the modest numbers could not deter him from winning Notre Dame’s seventh Heisman.

1981
USC 14, Notre Dame 7
Marcus Allen entered the 1981 rivalry game in South Bend having rushed for over 200 yards in five of six games and the Irish “contained” Allen to a season-low of 147 yards on 33 carries. But Allen still scored a touchdown and also caught four passes in USC’s win. He made up for the “off-week” seven days later with a season-high 289 yards against Washington State.

1979
USC 42, Notre Dame 23
Two years earlier, USC’s third Heisman winner, Charles White, rushed for a career-high 261 yards and four touchdowns as the Trojans overwhelmed the Irish in South Bend. Notre Dame tailback Vagas Ferguson finished fifth in the Heisman vote that year.

1968
USC 21, Notre Dame 21
A decade earlier, the No. 1 Trojans had their perfect record spoiled by Notre Dame. O.J. Simpson was held to 55 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries in the regular-season finale in L.A. by a fired-up Irish defense in one of the most-watched games in history. Simpson was USC’s second Heisman winner.

1965
Notre Dame 28, USC 7
A year after USC upset top-ranked Notre Dame, the Irish got revenge with a 28-7 win in South Bend. Mike Garrett was in the middle of the Trojans’ first Heisman season but Notre Dame held the talented back to just 43 yards on 16 carries, one of only two games in which Garrett failed to rush for at least 100 yards.

1964
USC 20, Notre Dame 17
One of the great comebacks in the series saw unranked USC rally from a 17-0 halftime deficit to defeat unbeaten, No. 1 Notre Dame, 20-17. Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte threw a touchdown pass to Jack Snow (fifth in that year’s Heisman vote) in the first half and guided the Irish on two other scoring drives, but he was stymied in the second half. Trojan tailback Mike Garrett, the 1965 Heisman winner, played a key role in this game, which was decided on a 15-yard TD pass from Craig Fertig to Rod Sherman with less than two minutes to play. Huarte still went on to win Notre Dame’s sixth Heisman.

1956
USC 28, Notre Dame 20
The unranked, struggling Irish and Heisman winner Paul Hornung gave it a good effort but fell to the No. 20 Trojans. Notre Dame finished 2-8, making Hornung the only Heisman winner ever to come from a losing team. Hornung, who had two dislocated thumbs, moved to left halfback (from quarterback) against USC and scored on a 95-yard punt return. ‘Jaguar’ John Arnett of USC placed 10th in that year’s Heisman vote.

1953
Notre Dame 48, USC 14
John Lattner scored four touchdowns — a USC opponent record — to lead the No. 2 Irish to a drubbing of the No. 20 Trojans.

1949
Notre Dame 32, USC 0
Leon Hart scored the game’s first TD — a 40-yard reception — as the No.1 Irish blanked the No. 17 Trojans as Notre Dame went on to yet another national title. There were three Irish in the top eight of the Heisman vote that year: Hart the winner, quarterback Bob Williams in fifth and halfback Emil Sitko in eighth.

1947
Notre Dame 38, USC 7
There were 104,953 on hand for this one, the highest attendance for a football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Heisman winner John Lujack quarterbacked the 8-0 Irish to a romp over the Rose Bowl-bound, 7-0-1 Trojans. Notre Dame’s roster also included 1949 Heisman winner Leon Hart. That Irish squad finished 9-0, won the national title and is considered one of the great college football teams of all time.