Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SUMMER 2026 7 Notre Dame and Southern Cal may not be meeting on the gridiron for the foreseeable future, but their rivalry is thriving on social media. In April, the Trojans secured a major commitment from four-star edge rusher Mekai Brown, beating out the Irish for his pledge. To celebrate the recruiting victory, the Trojans took a direct shot at the Irish online. After the Irish released a recruiting hype video titled "Think Big," the Trojans responded with a "Think Bigger" remake, adding their own Los An- geles flair and having it voiced by Notre Dame-turned-Southern Cal general manager Chad Bowden. The trolling didn't stop at the title; Southern Cal's version parodied a montage of Notre Dame-themed license plates. The Trojans included several "Easter eggs" targeting their rivals. One Indiana plate featured the letters "WK ZRO" — a jab at Notre Dame's reported refusal to play the Trojans in a Week Zero game — along with a footer mocking Marcus Freeman's comments on the matter. Another plate read "NOO CONF," poking fun at Notre Dame's steadfast independence from any athletic conference. Here's a sampling of what Irish fans had to say about the matter on our message board at BlueandGold.com. mgbirish: They're desperate lol. I used to never hate USC. Always wanted them to be good for when Notre Dame played them, but **** them. Honestly. **** USC. If they don't lose 3/4 games again and blow up I will genuinely be annoyed. Calvin&Hobbes: Highest form of flat- tery. That said, scared to play us but copy everything we do. Man, I hate them and hope they lose every game in every sport. Bunco: Changed OJ's life for sure. TRo1989: Their social media team is embarrassing, frankly. The receiver video they did where everybody was in stan- dard definition was cringe. So is this. It would feel different if they beat ND regu- larly and didn't back out of the series. NDIRISH03: Taking shots at ND and Or- egon — both programs have owned USC which makes this comical. Rich Starkey: Nice to see that ND is still living in his head. Last 8 years? 5 - 7 8 - 5 5 - 1 4 - 8 11 - 3 8 - 5 7 - 6 9 - 4 Fight On! jerboski: Got dominated the last time they got on the field with us, then ran away from the game. That's all you need to know about Bowden and USC. dcwflyca: This just seems weird to me. We aren't even rivals as of now considering they are off the schedule. Is this a Chad Bowden (personal) special? Just don't get it. Pappa_Bear2022: Petty people do petty things. dtempel65: Would Bowden/USC have put this video out if we were on their schedule this year? I don't think so. Bowden is becoming really unlikeable. He wouldn't be where he is without Freeman, that's for sure. Momo222: A great example of inferiority complex. o_tommy1380: Imagine sitting there watching the ND video, writing it down word for word and using that for your own video. I can't imagine how inferior that made him feel while doing it. Bidteve79: The real truth of that line is the word parody. SC has a prestigious academic brand in some circles, but you're stuck living not far from one of the worst neighborhoods in terms of violence and with a football brand that is greatly faded from where it was 20 years ago. They routinely get punched in the mouth by more physical teams like ND and the elites within the Big Ten, and I don't see any of that changing while "Visor Boy" Riley is their head coach. Bowden leaving for SC has actually turned out to be a good thing for ND because it made the hiring of Mike Martin possible, and he has engineered an upgrade within the personnel management part of the Fighting Irish program that has made the roster stronger and deeper than it has been since the middle of the Holtz era going on 40 years ago. Anybody can produce a nice promo video, but they stand a really good chance of losing twice at home this season when Oregon and Ohio State come to town. They also have a trip to Bloomington, Ind., that should be a rough outing, to say the least. That's 3 likely losses and doesn't include a trip to State College, Pa., to face a Penn State team who could get better fast without James Franklin to hold them back anymore. Videos are nice, but getting your butt kicked within the conference isn't, and 3 of those games could get lopsided if that team doesn't make huge improvements at most every position on the field. Had the Trojan brass not chickened out on playing ND, they'd be looking at playing a 4th team in ND they weren't likely to beat. Seirish: Chad is so cringe. I'd love to know what Freeman thinks of him these days. NotreGame: What's the shot: they got a TD? Notre Dame leads the all-time series 50–37–5. USC 3-10 versus ND since 2012. USC quit the series in 2026. New USC chant: Fight On Another Day. Barbaro2232: Just as ND's identity is firmly tied into football, USC is on the verge of joining UCLA to be known as a women's basketball school. There will be more pub- licity starting in the fall about one of their WBB players, Juju Watkins, than any of their football players, plus she probably paints her nails more tastefully. There was a time when the mention of the name "Juju" would prompt an immediate redirect to USC foot- ball. The game got tough out there (and the SEC) when everybody started to get paid. Not sure who made the worst move — Bayou Brian to LSU or Hanging Chad to USC. At least Chad still has a job, though appar- ently not an original thought. FROM THE WEB .com .com JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! Notre Dame's rivalry with Southern Cal has moved from the grid- iron to social media, with Irish-turned-Trojans GM Chad Bowden leading the charge. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER