USC Trojans vs. Notre Dame Historical Rivalry Cannot End: Top-5 Matchup?

“Did you know that Notre Dame-USC is actually not scheduled after 2026? We’ve had this series since 1926. Okay, so that’s a hundred years,” Klatt said. “Lincoln Riley spoke last year about the uncertainty around the game and this specific matchup for the future. It’s like ‘Hey, we should probably find a way to lock that in, Notre Dame and USC.’ That’s a game that we should have in college football.”

Klatt listed the USC-Notre Dame matchup as a top-five game that should be scheduled every season. Since 1926, there have only been two years that the Trojans and Fighting Irish did not play each other due to unforeseen circumstances. The first was during a hiatus during World War II, and the second was in 2020 during the COVID-19 season.

One potential solution could be to schedule the matchup for earlier in the season before USC faces in-conference opponents. Both programs have been public about wanting to keep the rivalry going, but are not seeing the situation in the same way.

“I think Southern Cal and Notre Dame should play every year for as long as college football is played,” Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua told Forde. “SC knows how we feel.”

USC associate athletic director Cody Worsham emphasized that the Trojans would like to keep the rivalry going and that it is special to the program, there is work that needs to be done until an agreement is reached.

“We want the USC-Notre Dame rivalry to continue, which is why we offered an extension of our agreement,” Worsham said. “It’s a special game to our fans and our institution. We will continue to work with Notre Dame on scheduling future games.”

USC’s record against Notre Dame is 37-52-5, currently on a two-year losing streak. The 2025 matchup between the two schools is set for Oct. 18 at Notre Dame Stadium and will be a prime-time game. To ease the travel, USC will have a bye the following weekend. 

During the Big Ten media day ahead of the 2024 season, USC coach Lincoln Riley said that he wants to keep the rivalry going and understands that it is important to the players and fans, but would choose to win a National Championship over the Notre Dame matchup.

“I would love to (continue the USC-Notre Dame series). I know it means a lot to a lot of people. The purist in you, no doubt,” Riley said. “Now if you get in a position where you got to make a decision on what’s best for SC to help us win a national championship, then you got to look at it.”

"There has been a lot of other teams sacrifice rivalry games. And I'm not saying that is what's going to happen," Riley said. "But as we get into this playoff structure, and if it changes or not, we're in this new conference, we're going to learn something about this as we go and what the right and best track is to winning a national championship."

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