USC football’s rivalry with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish spans nearly an entire century, but it reportedly could end before the 100-year mark. At present, the last matchup between the two will be the scheduled bout this October in South Bend.

“If you get in a position where you’ve got to make a decision on what’s best for SC to help us win a national championship versus keeping [the rivalry], shoot, then you’ve got to look at it,” said Head Coach Lincoln Riley in a press conference, about building a schedule to help the Trojans have better playoff hopes over another bout with Notre Dame.

As both schools and commentators all over the country weigh in on the debate, there’s never been a better time to look at some of the moments that helped make this historic rivalry so significant.

First Game — December 4, 1926

The original context for one of college football’s now most iconic rivalries was relatively tame. Notre Dame had tried and failed to enter the Western Conference, now known as the Big Ten. The team had garnered some fame as a travelling squad, however, and even found success in 1925’s Rose Bowl against Stanford.

As the team sought to make trips to California a regular fixture, they also had a financial incentive to play more games on the West Coast, so they struck their first deal with the Trojans to have one matchup in Los Angeles in 1926 and the next back in the Midwest the following year.

The 1926 game was the last in USC’s season that year, and marked only its second defeat, by a slim margin of 13-12. One year later, another defeat in Chicago clearly left a sore enough spot for the Trojans to invite Notre Dame back to Los Angeles in 1928, when USC would claim its first victory in the rivalry. Soon enough, this cross-country matchup turned into a prime-time affair between two of the country’s strongest programs at the time — and for many years to come.

51-0 — November 26, 1966

Unfortunately, knowing the history of this rivalry means knowing one of the Trojans’ lowest points. After having denied the Fighting Irish a perfect season in 1964, the next time Notre Dame visited, USC didn’t put up a fight at all.

Having crossed midfield only three times during the whole game, USC had absolutely no answer for the same Ara Parseghian-led side that they had bested in a marquee comeback victory only two years prior. With 31 points in the first half alone and a final score of 51-0, the score on that day is not only the highest margin of victory by any team in the history of the rivalry, but it stands as USC’s largest defeat ever.

The game was a good indicator of the overall season for the Trojans that year as they capped off the regular season with another loss against the Purdue Boilermakers in the 1967 Rose Bowl, ending the season with a 7-4 record.

The Comeback — November 30, 1974

Fortunately, knowing the history of this rivalry means revisiting some of the most thrilling victories in program history. This iteration, a face-off between the previous two years’ national champions, had a rocky start for USC. In a similar tale to that infamous game in 1966, Notre Dame started off 1974’s matchup hot. The first half had the Fighting Irish up by 24 to nothing, and they showed no signs of slowing down — until ten seconds before halftime.

An inspired end of the second quarter and start of the third from running back Anthony Davis, including taking the kickoff all the way back for a 102-yard score, saw this lead cut in half within thirty seconds of the clock restarting. In the blink of an eye, USC had the lead by 3 with half of the third still left to go.

The following minutes kept this incredible momentum up. Another two touchdowns from the Heisman runner-up contributed to the final scoreline of 55-24 in a game often recalled as one of the great comebacks in college football history. And while Davis lost out on the top individual trophy in the sport to Ohio State running back Archie Griffin, he and the Trojans would get the last laugh in that year’s Rose Bowl triumph against the very same Buckeyes.