It’s the Luck of Robinson Against Irish

Say this for John Robinson: He beats Notre Dame.

Whether that was a farewell or an until-we-meet-again stroll he took around Notre Dame Stadium after USC’s dramatic 20-17 victory over the Irish in the clash of losing teams Saturday, Robinson’s mark on the turf of the Trojans’ great rival has been made.

In all the long history of the rivalry, USC has won in South Bend, Ind., only nine times.

Three of those victories belong to Robinson.

“I’ve loved playing back here,” Robinson said. “It’s a great experience. It’s a better experience when you win.”

He is 8-3-1 against Notre Dame in his career, and the only other USC coach to beat the Irish as many times is John McKay, who coached four more seasons than Robinson’s 12.

These numbers say something about Robinson: Only four victories in his last 10 games--but two of them are over Notre Dame.

Together with last year’s overtime victory at the Coliseum, Robinson has given USC its first back-to-back victories over Notre Dame since the five-year winning streak from 1978-82 that ended with Robinson’s first term. Ted Tollner and Larry Smith went 0-for-their-tenures and USC hadn’t won in 13 seasons until last year.

Robinson beat Notre Dame in his first year as coach, in 1976 at the Coliseum, then was upset in his first trip to South Bend the next year, 49-19.

Then he won five in a row, including the 27-25 victory in 1978 on Frank Jordan’s field goal with two seconds left, and a 42-23 victory in 1979 in South Bend, when both teams were in the top 10.

In 1980, when Notre Dame was ranked No. 2, the 17th-ranked Trojans upset them, 20-3.

Robinson got his second victory in South Bend in 1981, when Todd Spencer ran 26 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 4:52 to play.

In 1982, in Robinson’s final game of his first stint as coach, Michael Harper scored on a controversial one-yard dive with 48 seconds left, and USC won, 17-13.

Maybe it’s because Robinson loves and understands college football’s pageantry better than anyone--the horse and the bands and all that.

Maybe it’s the speeches only his players and coaches get to hear--Win One for the Fat Guy and whatever this year’s theme was, with Robinson knowing he’ll go on his way before too long, but wanting to postpone it a little bit longer--days, months or years.

He was even exhorting Notre Dame’s fans to stop booing their own team Saturday.

“It diminishes some of the tradition of what USC and Notre Dame football are about,” he said, and he wanted to swear Bob Davie would win 100 games as Notre Dame coach, even though you wonder if he’ll win 10.

Robinson and his players both showed some of the intensity and conviction that had been missing before Saturday.

Now he and the Trojans need to perform with the same passion to win as many as they can of their final five games--no easy stretch with Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Oregon State and UCLA ahead, and a six-game losing streak in the rivalry against the Bruins.

“This was something we really needed, not only for ourselves, but for our coach, our school, all the people who support us,” offensive lineman Chris Brymer said. “It’s the first time beating Notre Dame here in a long time, so it’s huge.

“We never gave up. That’s the most important part of winning the game. When things didn’t go right, we just hung in there.

Quarterback John Fox agreed.

“This team’s got a lot of heart. We never, ever thought we were spiraling downward, but it was important to win.”

Any win would have been good. This one was better.

“This is big, big, huge,” cornerback Brian Kelly said. “We heard the way some people questioned our heart. We came back tough, stepped up and played the game of football. We’ve got to get steamrollering. This is a great start.”

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NEXT FOR USC

WHO: Oregon

WHERE: Coliseum

WHEN: Saturday, 7:15 p.m.

TV: Fox Sports West

RADIO: KLSX-FM (97.1)