Greatest of Disappointments

The game wasn’t the greatest--unless you’re a Notre Dame fan.

But the night before playing Notre Dame, the USC team met the greatest.

Muhammad Ali, who lives not far from Notre Dame, met with the team at its hotel in Michigan City, Ind., on Friday night, a meeting arranged by a connection through a USC security official.

“Meeting Muhammad Ali, you know that should have given me more inspiration,” receiver R. Jay Soward said. “The theme was, ‘Be great.’ That’s what I took from it. He’s the greatest ever. We watched a documentary on him, and that makes you want to play great.”

A sky-high USC team played a great first half, then got knocked out in the second.

Maybe the Great One was greater than The Greatest.

Turns out Wayne Gretzky was at Notre Dame’s pep rally.

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With a mural of Jesus looming over Notre Dame Stadium and a leprechaun prancing along the sidelines, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that a little meteorological quirk came to the aid of the Irish.

Weather wasn’t a factor in the first half, but in the second half it started to rain. Notre Dame had the wind at its back in the third quarter. When the teams switched directions for the fourth quarter, the wind followed suit.

“Someone elbowed me and said, ‘Oh my God, look what happened. They changed the wind on us,’ ” USC Coach Paul Hackett said. “That’s what happens when you play at Notre Dame Stadium.”

Notre Dame quarterback Jarius Jackson noticed the elements favored the home team as well: “It seemed like every time they had the ball it would start raining harder and the wind shifted,” Jackson said.

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Notre Dame’s comeback victory came on the 25th anniversary of USC’s famous 1974 comeback.

The Trojans trailed, 24-0, late in the first half and came back to win, 55-24.

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USC doesn’t keep official records for collapses.

However, the Trojans blew a 21-point lead against Cal last season in a 32-31 loss, and blew a 17-point lead against UCLA in 1996 before losing, 48-41, in overtime.

The Rivalry

A look at the USC-Notre Dame series:

* Notre Dame leads, 40-26-5

* at Notre Dame:

Irish lead 22-9-1 (Notre Dame is 2-0 in games at Soldier Field)

* at USC:

Trojans lead 17-16-4

Through the Decades

1990-1999: Notre Dame, 6-3-1

1980-1989: Notre Dame, 7-3

1970-1979: USC, 8-2

1960-1969: Notre Dame, 5-3-2

1950-1959: Notre Dame, 7-3

1940-1949: Notre Dame, 6-0-1 (teams did not play from 1943-45)

1930-1939: USC, 5-4-1

1926-1929: Notre Dame, 3-1