Why Notre Dame vs USC Will Feel Very Different in 2025

Is this the last dance in South Bend between hated rivals? The Notre Dame-USC rivalry won't be quite the same.

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates with players at the end of the game against the Southern California Trojans at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Is this the last chance to see epic rivals face off in South Bend?

It's always a big deal when Notre Dame and USC play each other.

The Trojans have been the Irish's yearly nemesis since 1926, with Notre Dame having the edge in the series 50-37 and five ties. But things will feel different this year when Southern Cal heads to South Bend in October.

Due to USC's move to the Big Ten as things currently stand, there are no scheduled games between these teams beyond the Irish's trip to LA in 2026. Unless USC agrees to extend the series, the only way to see these rivals clash will be in the CFP moving forward.

Riley on Notre Dame pic.twitter.com/XUXylWfa8N

— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) July 24, 2025

Sign of modern college football times

For as exciting as the expanded CFP format is and will be, there were always going to be some downstream negative consequences to this grand project.

One of them, it seems, is that historic rivalry games may be a thing of the past. Why? Teams want to schedule for CFP entry and success, not for tradition's sake.

While Irish and Trojan fans would both hate to see this rivalry go away, there's a longer-term concern for the Irish. If USC, Notre Dame's biggest rival, doesn't see the need to play this game, why would Alabama, Texas, and Florida, all of whom are on upcoming Irish schedules, feel the need to test themselves out of conference to play Notre Dame?

Losing USC on the schedule is a huge loss, but if the Trojans' backing away is the first scheduling domino that leads to other big brand names following suit, where does that leave Notre Dame's scheduling model? In trouble.

Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua, who sees the writing on the wall, recently locked in a yearly game with Clemson moving forward as an attempt to assure the Irish will have a big brand-name mainstay on each schedule.

No, it isn't USC, but it's a great effort by Bevacqua to add annual intrigue with a high-level opponent.

As for future Irish scheduling models, Bavacqua must stay one step ahead and understand the landscape clearly to position the Irish for success in this new wild world of CFB.

If the Irish aren't playing USC, some other big program will quickly want to fill in the gap.

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