USD Football 1993

TOUCHDOWN ILLUSTRATED

If you think the USC-Notre Dame

ByMorris Schulatsl!y I t was a classic matchup that November day in 1931. The prize was the collegiate football title, and the fans knew it was going to be a donnybrook. Notre Dame, unbeaten in 26 games, national champions the two previous sea- sons under Knute Rockne, met the new powe r in the West, the Un ivers ity of Southern California. Both teams had All -Americans. Two of them, Caius (Gus) Shaver and Tay Brown of USC, are 83 now, but they remember that crushing battle in South Bend like it was played last Saturday. "Coach Howard Jones told us we'd have to outplay their line to win," former back- field star Shaver said. And that's what the game turned out to be. An infantry war, a battle of lines; espe- cially at the tackles, with USC's Tay Brown

and Ernie Smith crashing heads against Joe Kurth and Moose Kraus of Notre Dame. All four made the All-America team. Brown said,

rivalry is intense today,

T11at's ivhat thegame t11r11ed 011t to be. A n infantry ivar, a battle oflines; especially at the tackles, ivith USC's Tay Brown and Eniic Smith crashing heads againstJoe Kurth and Moose Kmus of Notre Dame.

"Kraus and Kurth were great ath- letes. Th ey were bigger than we were, but we held our own. Fumbles hurt us." Coaches Rockne and Jones helped start the Trojan- 1 ri sh riva lry in

you should haveseen the classic 1931 game. Notn Dame's Bcn,ic Leahy is stopped by a USC pla_ye,- in the closing 11w111c11ts ofthe Trojaus' I 6-14 1 ictory iu I 93I.

1926. Rockne had been considered for the USC coaching job, but he recommended Jones, who had beaten Notre Dame while coaching Iowa. The series opened in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as Notre Dame's south-