Colin Cowherd Defends USC, Lincoln Riley Over Notre Dame Rivalry Game Controversy

The USC Trojans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish have one of the most historic rivalries in all of college football. This upcoming fall, the Trojans and Irish will play each other for the 96th time, dating back to their first contest in 1926. Despite this and the illustrious history of each program, this annual rivalry game could be coming to an end.

Sports personalities Colin Cowherd and Nick Wright talked earlier this week about the possibility of losing this game.

Colin Cowherd:"(Lincoln Riley) Is Paid To Get To the Playoff"

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley and Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman shake hands after the game at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Colin Cowherd had fellow FS1 sports personality Nick Wright on his podcast “The Colin Cowherd Podcast,” where the two spoke about the USC-Notre Dame game and other rivalry games that could be going away. Cowherd defended USC for potentially leading the charge to end the game.

“It is remarkable to me that people are clinging to this game and do not understand that Lincoln Riley is paid to get to the playoff. Nothing more," Cowherd said. "He could beat UCLA 38 years in a row. If he never got to the playoff, he wouldn’t last 38 years, he’d last three more.”

With the expanded college football playoff, coaches that are paid top dollar are expected to be in it. This, in Cowherd’s opinion, is more important than any rivalry game on the schedule. He believes the universities believe this too.

“I’m confounded by people that don’t see what USC is doing. Which is basically ‘we want to get to the playoff. We don’t want to play Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, and Penn State, and then have a November game in South Bend, Indiana as a warm weather team,” Cowherd said.

Cowherd points out that USC already has a number of elite teams that they will play every year due to being in the Big Ten conference. Keeping the non-conference game with Notre Dame, an elite program, could hurt their chances of competing for a national championship.

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Nick Wright Warns College Football About Ending Historic Rivalry Games

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans wide receiver Kyron Hudson (10) reacts after catching a pass for first down during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Nick Wright believes that these rivalry games going away could diminish the sport of college football and why so many people have fallen in love it it. Wright questions if college football could run a risk for turning all of the history, rivalry, and pageantry into a version of “NFL Lite.”

“Do you think holistically, college football runs a risk the more it just markets itself as a minor league NFL?” Wright asks Cowherd. “There are a lot of people in this country…where you ask them and they say ‘College football is my favorite. I watch the NFL. I love college football.’ A lot of that is the tradition, the rivalries, the pageantry.”

Wright makes a great point. What has made college football so unique and the favorite sport of so many across the country were for all the reasons he listed. If it turns into something else and feels even more like a minor league NFL than it already is now, will the sport lose it’s luster?