No Notre Dame, But San Jose State? USC's 2026 Schedule Choice

For a sport that has always been revered for its history and tradition, modern college football has been changing fast and in some major ways.

From the wild world of NIL and the transfer portal, to major conference changes and CFP expansion, change, not adherence to tradition, is the new norm.

One of the biggest changes has been adjusting scheduling models with the goal of CFP positioning and loss avoidance as top priority. As a result of this modern philosophy, the Notre Dame and USC rivalry has been lost.

Welcome to the New College Football World: Notre Dame's Gone and San Jose State Is on the USC Schedule

We have known for a while now that Notre Dame and USC would not be playing yearly. In light of this news, the Irish acted quickly to replace the Trojans with a BYU program that, by all modern measures, has been a more nationally competitive program than USC has been.

USC took more time than Notre Dame did to find their schedule replacement, and eventually ended up naming San Jose State as the Irish's replacement. One team went out of its way to schedule a tough replacement while the other looked to find an easy win. Period.

Once this news broke, debate raged online about who is truly to blame for this divorce and which side is acting with integrity or cowardice, or is simply making a big business decision.

Everyone on all sides loses. Regardless of who points fingers at whom, the fact is that one of the best and most historic rivalries in all of sports is no more.

USC announces it will open the 2026 season at home against San Jose State in Week Zero (Saturday, Aug. 29). pic.twitter.com/zvZR8s6WJL
— FBSchedules.com (@FBSchedules) February 25, 2026

USC's conference move led to dropping Notre Dame

When trying to figure out exactly why and how this great game was lost, we must backtrack a handful of years. The first time I ever heard or read anything regarding this game being dropped came right around the time USC decided to move to the Big Ten Conference. Is this a coincidence? I think not.

I believe USC knew its new Big Ten schedule would be a much tougher grind week to week than any old Pac-12 slate could ever be, and the Trojans didn't like having a permanent and tough non-conference opponent on the slate every single year in Notre Dame.

That mindset coming from USC leadership is what created this mess - and, mostly, why college football is missing one of the sport's best rivalries.

The lesson I have learned through this frustrating dynamic is that even changes that are fun and exciting, such as CFP and conference expansion and realignment, come with some downside, and the loss of Notre Dame and USC is a prime example of this.

The loss of Notre Dame and USC is a loss for the entire sports world, not just for Notre Dame and USC.

Welcome to the modern age of college football. Good luck with the Spartans, Trojans.