Manti Te'o Found Funniest Way to Tease USC-Loving Neighbors After Notre Dame's Win

The Fighting Irish have owned the rivalry of late.
Manti Te'o went .500 against USC at Notre Dame; this generation of Fighting Irish has fared better.
Manti Te'o went .500 against USC at Notre Dame; this generation of Fighting Irish has fared better. / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

In the eternal rivalry between USC and Notre Dame, the 2020s have belonged to the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has won four of the five games in the series played this decade—the Trojans' only win came in 2022—to go with three straight wins to end the 2010s.

It's a far cry from the back-and-forth nature of ex-Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te'o's era. During Te'o's four-year stay in South Bend from 2009 to '12, the two teams split their four meetings.

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The 2012 Heisman runner-up seems to be enjoying Notre Dame's dominance accordingly. On Tuesday, his family's TikTok acount posted video of Te'o parading through his neighborhood of USC fans holding a Fighting Irish flag and singing the school's fight song.

"When your whole block is SC fans but ND just got the dub," the Te'os captioned the post.

The '12 edition of the game secured the Fighting Irish's spot in the national championship against Alabama; Te'o contributed five tackles and an interception in Notre Dame's 22–13 win. It also served as Te'o's final case for the Heisman; he settled for second to Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.

The future of the Trojans' and Fighting Irish's annual feud appears to be in doubt, but at least Te'o had one last laugh.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .