Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Irish Head West For 88th Meeting With USC

Nov. 22, 2016

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TIME, DATE AND PLACE

  • 3:30 p.m. ET; Saturday, Nov. 26; Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (93,607); Notre Dame, Ind.

TELEVISION

  • ABC national telecast with Steven Levy (play-by-play), Brian Griese (analysis), Todd McShay (sideline), Mike Schwab (director) and Bo Garrett (producer).

RADIO

  • IMG College Sports is the exclusive national rights-holder for Irish football radio broadcasts. Notre Dame games will be broadcast to 117 affiliates by Don Criqui (play-by-play) and Allen Pinkett (analysis). This broadcast can be heard live on SiriusXM Satellite Radio (channel 129).
  • The broadcast will be preceded by a one hour pre-game show hosted by Tony Castricone with interviews conducted by Jack Nolan. It will be followed by a national post-game show hosted by Castricone, Criqui and Pinkett.
  • All games can be heard in South Bend on WSBT 96.1 FM & 960 AM, and Sunny 101.5 FM.

TICKETS

  • Tickets are still available at usctrojans.com/tickets.
  • Notre Dame has played in front of sellout crowds in 294 of its previous 346 games (.850) overall. Notre Dame has played before 665 sellouts in 946 total games (.703) since 1930.
  • With the exception of neutral site games against Syracuse (MetLife Stadium), Navy (EverBank Field), and Army (Alamodome) every Notre Dame game since the 2014 game at USC has attracted a sellout crowd, including a Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium record of 102,315 on Sept. 4.

SERIES INFO

  • Notre Dame leads the all-time series with USC, 46-36-5, while the Trojans hold a 22-19-4 edge in Los Angeles.

THE COACHES

  • Notre Dame: Brian Kelly, 59-30 at ND (7th year), 230-87-2 overall (26th year), 4-2 vs. USC
  • USC: Clay Helton, 14-7 at USC (2nd year), same overall (2nd year), 0-1 vs. ND

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

The greatest intersectional rivalry in college football is renewed as the Irish head west to take on Southern California.

COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF

  • 55 Fifty-five of the 61 players on the Irish depth chart have eligibility remaining following the 2016 season.
  • 43 Forty-three of the 61 players on the Irish depth have at least two years of eligibility remaining following the 2016 season.
  • 43 Notre Dame has played 43 games decided by eight points or less since the arrival of Brian Kelly. The Irish went 2-5 in the first seven such games under Kelly, but have since gone 21-15.
  • 32 Notre Dame’s seven losses in 2016 have come by a total of 32 points. No other team in the Football Bowl Subdivision has more than five losses by eight points or less.
  • 21 Notre Dame has used 21 players in their first year of eligibility this season, including 14 true freshmen (most in the Brian Kelly era).
  • 17 Notre Dame has seen 17 different players, including five true freshmen, earn their first career starts in 2016.
  • 16 16 of Notre Dame’s 22 starters vs. Virginia Tech have made 15 or fewer career starts.
  • 11 Notre Dame owns 11 wins on Nov. 26 (11- 3-1), including a 5-1-1 mark on this date against USC.
  • 10 QB DeShone Kizer completed 10 consecutive passes at one point vs. Navy.
  • 7 Notre Dame returned only seven starters from 2015, the fewest in program history since freshman eligibility was restored in 1972.
  • 6 Graduate DL Jarron Jones recorded six tackles for loss in the win over Miami, the most by an Irish player since at least 1997.
  • 5 Notre Dame scored five TDs of 50+ yards vs. Syracuse. Last season, the Irish set a school record with 15 such scoring plays.
  • 4 After returning the opening kick versus Army 92 yards for a touchdown, C.J. Sanders became the fourth player in FBS with multiple kickoff returns for a score this season.
  • 3 Against Virginia Tech, Notre Dame lost for just the third time under Brian Kelly when not committing a turnover.
  • 2 Only two other FBS teams (BYU & Texas) have played in as many games as Notre Dame decided eight points or less this season.
  • 1 Rushing TD allowed by Notre Dame versus Miami, as the Irish held the Hurricanes to 18 net rushing yards on 35 attempts.
  • 0 Notre Dame has not had an empty seat for a home game since 1973. The 255-game sellout streak is the second-longest in NCAA history.