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Oct 14, 2023; South Bend, Indiana, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley and Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman chat before the game at Notre Dame Stadium. Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Lincoln Riley Can’t Hide His Fear of Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman

Originally posted on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI
By Nick Shepkowski | Last updated Jul 24, 2025 11:15 PM ET

The Notre Dame-USC rivalry means a lot to Trojans head football coach Lincoln Riley.

Just ask him, like was done Thursday at Big Ten Media Days.

"Do I want to play the game? Hell yeah, I want to play the game," Riley answered. "When I decided the night at my house to take the USC job, my first thought was 'I get to coach in USC-Notre Dame.' So first thought. Because before coach, player, any of that, as a fan, the rivalry, all these rivalries mean a great deal to me. They mean a great deal to anybody that cares about college football."

Until they don't.

You see, Riley wants to play the game, but he doesn't want to risk anything while doing so. He wants it to essentially be an exhibition game for USC and not impact its chances of making the College Football Playoff.

"I'm hopeful we can get to the point where (USC-Notre Dame) makes sense."
Lincoln Riley remains clueless https://t.co/3CvKUtLfB2
— InsideUSC (@InsideUSC) July 24, 2025

"I think depending on what happens here from a playoff perspective, and then do we expand?" Riley continued, "What model do we go to, that's certainly going to have an impact, not only in the rivalry, but what time of year potentially that you would play it."

What Riley wants is what the Big Ten is pitching for. The Big Ten wants four guaranteed spots to the College Football Playoff annually. The Big Ten would then determine its four teams by having three games on conference championship weekend. No. 1 and No. 2 would play for the Big Ten title, and both would go to the playoff, regardless of the outcome.

No. 3 would play No.6, while No. 4 would also play No. 5. The winners of those two games would also get guaranteed spots while the losers would not. Non-conference games would have no impact on these seedings.

Notre Dame has always been independent. USC has always been in a conference. USC has always been vying for national championships. there has never been better access to said championship. https://t.co/DXgcvuU1l3
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) July 24, 2025

Riley continued during his press conference, "My allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame...It’s not to anybody else. I’m the head football coach at USC."

Good for him, it shouldn't be to Notre Dame. It should be to USC. The problem is Riley's game plan goes against everything that has made USC football special for the past century.

USC football used to schedule the nation's toughest competition and regularly compete for national championships- all while it was more difficult to do so. Under Lincoln Riley, when the path to getting a shot to play for a national championship has never been more open, USC is now treating its football program like you'd expect from Indiana, not from a blueblood.

How he keeps being allowed to steer this program away from what has made it great surprises me more by the day.

And we're a short time from losing Notre Dame-USC for the foreseeable future because of it.

This article first appeared on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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