Over the last few weeks, there has been an inordinate amount of talk about the possibility of the Notre Dame football team’s rivalry game with USC no longer being an annual affair. It seems as if everyone affiliated with College football has weighed in on the subject. That is, except for the people who are directly involved. That changed on Thursday when Marcus Freeman directly addressed the situation.
The Irish head coach met with the media to answer several questions. It’s hardly a surprise that the rivalry game popped up. When it did, he wanted to ensure Notre Dame plays the USC Trojans every season.
Marcus Freeman makes his feelings crystal clear on iconic Notre Dame rivalry game
“It’s a great rivalry for all of college football. If it was up to me, we would play them every single year for the rest of college football time,” the Notre Dame football coach said. “It’s pretty black-and-white for me.”
One topic of discussion around the rivalry is that USC wants to change when the game is played. Reports are that they want it to be played at the start of the season. Freeman has no problem with that if it means the rivalry survives.
“I want to play them every single year. When? I don’t care. I don’t care when we play them. Start of the season, middle of the season, end of season — I don’t care. I want to play USC every year, because I think it’s great for college football.”
Freeman comes from a place where he understands how big it is even when he wasn’t with the program.
“Before I even got to Notre Dame, everybody watched that game. Everybody remembers moments from that game that just stick out in your mind. If [athletic director] Pete [Bevacqua] or [deputy athletic director of football] Ron [Powlus] or anybody asks me, that’s how I feel. Everybody knows that’s how I feel.”
While the Notre Dame football coach did try and give the administration an out, saying he knows there are other issues at play, what Marcus Freeman wants is plain as day.