When Notre Dame face USC on Saturday it is the closest thing to a Catholic/Protestant clash left in America.

It is the equivalent of Celtic /Rangers in Scotland, Loyalist/Republicans in Northern Ireland. Put not so politely these two teams hate each other.

As blogger Lex Icon has noted "Notre Dame was founded as a Roman Catholic university. USC was founded as a Methodist university.

When Notre Dame first came to Southern California, the Trojans were a Methodist campus. In  fact, the Trojans were once known as the USC Wesleyans or the USC Methodists."

There are some USC fans who take this too far.They say Touchdown Jesus, the Notre Dame icon, should really be called "Touchdown JesUSChrist," I kid you not.

Believe me there are many Domers I know who still consider that fact the main reason for the intense rivalry between the two schools is the 'No Irish Catholics Need Apply' era when USC were seen as the epitome of the anti Catholic ethos. To this day you will see lots of anti Catholic rants on USC blogs.

Bad blood runs deep and nowhere more than in South Bend this year where the two teams will fight for the Shillelagh, a club made of Irish wood, for a year.

As Lex Icon notes: "This Shillelagh adds an emerald-studded shamrock for each Notre Dame win, and a ruby-studded Trojan head for each USC win, right next to the engraved score of each game. For tie games, a combined Trojan head/shamrock medallion was used. The original Shillelagh was filled up after the 1989 game and is on display at Notre Dame. This year's game is a battle for the current, second, Shillelagh."

This year will be the 84th clash between two schools that were once the giants of college football. USC still are but Notre Dame have fallen on hard times.

USC have won the last seven games, a source of deep annoyance and upset to Fighting Irish fans who believe the year is not complete without a win over the 'auld enemy' as Rangers and Celtic supporters describe each other.

This year Notre Dame think it will be different, ironically because of a southern California quarterback called Jimmy Clausen who should really have gone to USC.

On the other side will be USC coach Pete Carroll, an Irish American whose son Brennan is also a USC coach.

Come kick-off Saturday millions all over America will be watching the greatest rivalry in college football and I will be there.

It doesn't get any better than this.