Give Lincoln Riley credit; he knows his audience. He knows that all he had to do was offer some defense for canceling the longest-running rivalry series in the game, and the easily misled USC faithful would echo it as fact. However, if someone really listens to what Riley said, it belies his true intention, which was always to kill the rivalry at some point.
"With a scenario and a proposal that would extend the series for the next two years. We took Notre Dame at their word that they would play us any time, anywhere. That proposal was rejected."
It's been known for some time now that USC wanted to stage a Week 0 contest against Notre Dame, while the Irish wanted the traditional November matchup. It's clear from Riley's comments that's what they pitched again last week. There's a problem with the Week 0 thing. A poison pill, really.
Why Lincoln Riley pointing at Notre Dame Fighting Irish doesn’t add up
No team can just decide to schedule a Week 0 game. There are particular rules. That game has to be either played outside the United States, or a team scheduling Week 0 has to have Hawaii on the schedule. This is a way to recoup the cost of going to the Islands for a game.
It's certainly possible that the NCAA would have granted a waiver for USC and Notre Dame to play in Week 0. However, it's likely it wouldn't. The NCAA might have rightfully said, "why can't you schedule it on a regular week?" That's the beauty of this for USC. If the NCAA turns down the waiver, the Trojans get to say, "See, the NCAA didn't let us do it, it's not our fault!"
Instead, the Irish said no to Week 0. Perhaps because they knew this was Lincoln Riley and AD Jen Cohen's plan all along. Blame someone else, anyone else, for the cancellation while being ready to nuke it.
Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua saw this plan coming from a mile away and set up a backup for the next two years in BYU. Riley was angry about that, too. "Five minutes after we got the call, it was announced that they had scheduled another opponent, which I'll give them credit. That might be the fastest scheduling act in college football history."
Yes, Lincoln, because the Irish knew you weren't really trying to get a deal done and didn't want to be left holding the bag. The idea that ND was always planning to back out is nonsense. They had another school willing to take USC's spot in the schedule if the deal fell apart. Once it did, Bevacqua pulled the rip cord.
But the real clue that Riley and Cohen never really wanted to keep this rivalry going was right out there in the open. "Had Notre Dame lived up to their word and played us anytime, anywhere, we would be playing in the next two years and looking ahead after that and hopefully continuing the series."
Two years?! So the Irish had to totally capitulate and in return they get no guarantee of even continuing the rivalry for more than two years?
I'm sure the USC coach thought he sounded like the calm and rational one with that comment. Instead, he made it very clear the rivalry with Notre Dame was only continuing if the Trojans got exactly what they wanted. Even then, it might come to an end after 2027.
Lincoln Riley has demonstrated his cowardice when it comes to continuing to play Notre Dame for quite a while now. Marcus Freeman has tried to call his bluff. But if USC was dead set on killing the rivalry in the near future, the Irish were right to just pull the bandaid off and move on.