USC Trojans, Notre Dame Fighting Irish Historic Rivalry Game Over?

The USC Trojans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish have one of the most historic rivalries in all of college football. However, this annual game played between the two teams could be coming to an end.

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated reported on Monday that the future of the rivalry is very much in jeopardy.

USC and Notre Dame have been facing off against each other since 1924. The two sides have played 95 different times with Notre Dame leading the all-time series 50-37-5.

Annual USC-Notre Dame Game In Jeopardy

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans wide receiver Kyle Ford (81) carries the ball against Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Jordan Clark (1) in the second half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

One of the most historic rivalries in the history of sports could be seeing its days numbered. Pat Forde posted on his social media on Monday that two sides are not on the same page.

“The USC-Notre Dame rivalry, one of the greatest in college football, is on the brink of ending this fall,” Forde said. “The two sides see the situation very differently, with talk ongoing.”

Notre Dame Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua told Forde that he wants to reach an agreement with USC to prolong the rivalry.

“I think Southern Cal and Notre Dame should play every year for as long as college football is played,” Bevacqua said. “SC knows that is how we fell.”

On the other side of things, Forde states that USC would also like to continue the game, but is hesitant due to potential college football formatting changes. USC associate athletic director Cody Warsham told Forde this.

“We want the USC-Notre Dame rivalry to continue, which is why we offered an extension of our agreement,” Warsham said. “It’s a special game to our fans and our institution. We will continue to work with Notre Dame on scheduling future games.”

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Lincoln Riley Weighs In

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

USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley was asked at Big Ten media day prior to the 2024 season about the possibility of historic rivalry games being taken away due to the conference realignment and new college football playoff format.

“I would love to (continue the USC-Notre Dame series). I know 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.”

While Riley would like to keep playing Notre Dame, he also acknowledged that the rivalry doesn’t outweigh USC’s drive to win national championships.

"There has been a lot of other teams sacrifice rivalry games. And i'm not sayng that is what's going to happen," Riley said. "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 best track is to winning a national championship."