Notre Dame-USC Moving to Early Season has Store-Brand Feel

Some of the biggest news to kick off this week of college football was that one of the most historic rivalries in the sport, Notre Dame and USC, is returning to the schedule starting in 2030.

Personally, I think it's laughable that this game was ever taken off the schedule and I don't love that it's set to be played in the early part of the year, but having it there is better than not having it on the schedule at all.

Continuing the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football.#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/RZe0K4fyHq
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) August 3, 2026

That all said, this is a different USC than the one that has historically been Notre Dame's biggest football rival for a century.

The colors might be the same and the historic Los Angeles Coliseum may still be where they call home, but the functionality has clearly changed.

Notre Dame - USC Rivalry: A Trip Back to 2002

I'll be transparent here. I was researching a piece for another site that I work on (Indiana Hoosiers On SI) and was looking up Kansas State's old non-conference schedules under all-time great head coach Bill Snyder.

I came across a Kansas State program that scheduled about as easy as possible out of Big 8/Big 12 play, until the 2000's came around.

In 2002 I was a little bit surprised to see that USC made the trip to Manhattan, Kansas, and actually lost to the Wildcats.

What I found when clicking around a bit more was a USC football program that no longer exists.

That year, Pete Carroll's second at USC, the Trojans not only played Kansas State out of conference on the road, but also welcomed Auburn to Los Angeles and made a trek to Colorado in non-conference play.

Oh yeah, and it also closed the year against a Notre Dame team that had gone 15-3-1 against it in the previous 19 meetings.

There was no need to move that Notre Dame game to August, even though a slate against a tough Pac-10 existed.

Oh, and for that 2002 season, USC might not have won the national championship but in routing Notre Dame in the regular season finale, Carson Palmer secured the Heisman Trophy and the Trojans made it clear that they would be a force in college football for years to come.

Also worth noting, this was in the peak of the BCS era, where only the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams nationally got to play the national championship - not 12 teams who made the College Football Playoff. And despite that, USC still scheduled about as hard as a team could out of conference.

Changing Notre Dame-USC to Early Season

Although I'm happy Notre Dame and USC are back on each other's schedules, at least for four years starting in 2030, I'm not thrilled where it falls on the calendar.

Yes, the Notre Dame vs. Michigan rivalry thrived for years when it was played in early September, but the Notre Dame vs. USC rivalry was as good as any at its peak, and played in the mid-to-late fall.

Awful news. I know Indiana's OOC scheduling cowardice facilitated it, but it's preferable to let a classic rivalry die of natural causes than hook it up to an Aug-Sept ventilator. That recent Sept. OU-Neb home-and-home, for example. was a nostalgic atrocity. #donotresuscitate https://t.co/9MwO86UdM2
— John D. Lukacs (@johndlukacs) August 3, 2026

I won't go as far as my friend and college football historian John D. Lukacs above, but this game taking place in August or September has a certain "store brand" feel to it when the name brand that comes with a century of history is right there to pay a little extra for.

Because USC now travels to the likes of Minnesota, Rutgers, Penn State, and Maryland on the somewhat regular, it can't make the trip to South Bend every other October?

Sure, welcome back old friend, but what are the chances Lincoln Riley is still even coaching USC by the time this series restarts?

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