Lincoln Riley’s View of Notre Dame Exists in a Different Universe

Monday was a great day for Notre Dame football as Marcus Freeman announced he was officially saying no to the NFL and returning to the Fighting Irish. That didn't come as a real surprise to most Notre Dame fans, but did eliminate the slight concern that may have existed.

One college head coach that used to draw NFL interest is current USC head coach Lincoln Riley. Riley, however, has stalled in his four years at USC, and the calls from the NFL have seemingly stopped coming.

Riley met the media Monday ahead of USC's Alamo Bowl appearance on Tuesday night against TCU. It of course didn't take long for him to be asked about the end of the Notre Dame and USC rivalry, and he quickly changed the clear narrative.

Lincoln Riley on End of Notre Dame-USC Rivalry

Riley was asked at the Alamo Bowl press conference about the end of Notre Dame and USC. Of course, Riley pointed the finger solely at Notre Dame for the rivalry coming to an end.

“Had Notre Dame lived up to their word and played us anytime, anywhere, we’d be playing them the next two years.”

As the rules go, Notre Dame and USC would have to meet overseas in order to play in a Week 0 game, unless the NCAA were to approve a waiver for the game.

The Reality of the Notre Dame-USC Situation

The fact of the matter is that USC had no interest in playing Notre Dame any longer. It offered a move to play the game in Week 0, when it is crystal clear Notre Dame wouldn't accept the offer.

With a game at Wisconsin (Lambeau Field, precisely) in Week 1, Notre Dame wasn't about to hop on a plane and go overseas to play USC the week before. USC knew that and that is why it offered the game under such conditions - because there was no chance Notre Dame was going to accept.

Marcus Freeman made the mistake of saying "anytime, anywhere" regarding the USC rivalry last year, but anyone with even the least amount of sense knows what USC was asking would be an impossible ask for fall 2026.

Notre Dame Has Dominated USC in Recent Decades

Back at Big Ten media days in 2024, Lincoln Riley made his wishes for the Notre Dame-USC rivalry known.

On July 25, 2024, Riley met the media as USC was prepping for its first season in the Big Ten. Here's what he had to say that day:

“I would love to. I know it means a lot to a lot of people. The purist in you, no doubt. 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 vs. keeping that, shoot, then you got to look at it.

“And listen, we're not the first example of that. Look all the way across the country. There has been a lot of other teams sacrifice rivalry games. And I'm not saying that's what's going to happen. 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 the best track is to winning a national championship, that's going to evolve.”

What's odd is that Riley's stance has never been to win more big games at USC, but instead to seemingly play fewer to risk fewer losses. I truly feel bad for USC fans who have lived through and deserve so much better from a head coach.

Then again, if I'm Riley I'm probably thinking something similiar.

At the end of the day myself and my boss (AD Jen Cohen) have no connections to USC besides cashing a paycheck, and can look at recent history as well as anyone.

That recent history tells me that USC is 15-26-1 against Notre Dame since 1983. That includes an eight-year run under Pete Carroll where USC was clearly breaking rules to accumulate talent, something the NCAA later severely punished the program for.

Take out Carroll's 8-1 mark against Notre Dame and suddenly the Irish are 25-7-1 against the Trojans while playing on the level.

Yeah, if I was Lincoln Riley, who is just 1-3 against Notre Dame himself, I'd probably be a bit scared, too.