Ohio State's Ryan Day Agrees With USC Trojans' Lincoln Riley On Schedule Idea

The USC Trojans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish have one of the longest standing rivalries in all of college football. That rivalry appears to be in jeopardy. Conference realignment and the new 12-team playoff has changed the landscape of the sport when it comes to scheduling these non-conference games.

This doesn’t just go for USC and Coach Lincoln Riley as Ohio State Buckeyes coach Ryan Day weighed in on the matter at Big Ten media day.

Ryan Day Not in Favor Extra Power Four Game Without Auto-Bid

USC Trojans Lincoln Riley Ohio State Buckeyes Ryan Day Big Ten Media Day Schedule Notre Dame Fighting Irish Non-Conference — Jul 22, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Ohio State head coach Ryan Day speaks to the media during the Big Ten NCAA college football media days at Mandalay Bay Resort. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images | Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

At Big Ten media day, Ohio State coach Ryan Day was asked about the new proposed College Football Playoff plan proposed by Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti.

Petitti’s plan says that the Big Ten would get four teams automatically qualified into the playoff. This proposal also says that in addition to nine Big Ten conference games, one non-conference game against a power four conference team would also be scheduled. This would mean that Big Ten teams would have to play one regular season game against a team in either the SEC, Big 12, or ACC every season.

Day said he supports this plan if the Big Ten gets the four automatic qualifiers. If they don’t, then he doesn’t believe it’s in their best interest to schedule a 10th game against a power four team.

“I don’t think it makes sense to do that,” Day said.

This is the same stance that Lincoln Riley and USC has taken re: Notre Dame https://t.co/GGb6DAHfjL
— Ryan Kartje (@Ryan_Kartje) July 22, 2025

This is indeed very similar to the response that USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley has had when asked about if he would be in favor to continue scheduling Notre Dame as a non-conference game in the regular season every season.

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Lincoln Riley, Marcus Freeman on Future of USC-Notre Dame Game

This is what Lincoln Riley said earlier this offseason after been asked about the continuation of the historic USC-Notre Dame game.

“I would love to (continue the USC-Notre Dame series). I know now it means a lot to a lot of people. The purist in you, no doubt," Riley said. “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, then you got to look at it.”

The goal for a program like USC especially with the playoff now at 12 teams is to make it to those top 12. There are exponentially more teams invited to this dance so if you’re a team with high expectations, it will be expected for them to go to the playoff.

More tough games on the schedule that won’t affect the standings in conference play can make it more difficult to get in the dance.

Notre Dame, a team that is not in a conference at all, would like to play USC every single year. This is what Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman has said about the USC-Notre Dame game.

“Would love to play ‘em (USC) every single single,” Freeman said. “Don’t matter when we play ‘em, I would love to continue the rivalry as long as I’m the head coach here. I think rivalries are great for college football. I think they’re great for sports.”