Marcus Freeman might be a little tired of answering questions about USC and the cancelled rivalry. When Freeman spoke to the media on Thursday, of course, someone had to ask about what his thoughts were about the rivalry stopping for the foreseeable future, and Freeman simply could not contain his emotions.
The moment Freeman heard the name USC, he began laughing, knowing exactly what was coming. Clearly, Freeman finds it all very funny because he could not contain his laughter, but he gave a great response about the rivalry going on pause.
Marcus Freeman cant help but laugh at how pathetic USC is under Lincoln Riley pic.twitter.com/K8EoaHdeFg
— Sports Talk Drew ☘️ (@SportsTalkDrew) January 14, 2026
"You know me, I'm a competitive individual, and I want to go and go play anytime, anywhere, but at the same token, it's important that I make decisions, too, that are best for the program," Freeman said. "To move a game that we were pretty sure was going to be Week 12 to Week Zero, isn't what's best for our program.
Freeman believes that this rivalry is very important to college football and wants to see it played, but he isn't going to do it if it isn't best for his team. If USC wasn't scared to lose late in the season, this rivalry would still be going on.
Moving a game that is usually played late in the season to Week 0 is crazy because that could throw an entire season off for a team. A team would have to be ready an entire week earlier to play that matchup, and why would Freeman give that up just for one game against one opponent?
Freeman is confident that the rivalry will return, and he is even giving the people a person to blame: himself. Freeman is doing everything possible to give his team the best opportunity to leave no doubt of getting into the College Football Playoff going forward. The Irish don't plan on getting snubbed again.