Before the Notre Dame and USC rivalry ended last winter, Lincoln Riley and the Trojans administration said all the right things to make it sound like they wanted it to keep going. After it ended, plenty of surrogates tried to blame the Irish. However, a new report finds that even some of the biggest USC donors were blaming their own school.
Lincoln Riley saw USC and Notre Dame football return to the table because donors were furious
In fact, some of the Trojans’ fattest cats are reportedly the ones who leaned hard on the administration and forced USC to reopen talks with the Fighting Irish to get the rivalry going again. Scott Wolf of InsideUSC claims that luxury suite owners and donors are “disgusted” over how the rivalry ended.
“USC and Notre Dame are talking about renewing their rivalry, per the L.A. Times. The schools never really stopped talking since their series was officially discontinued,” Wolf wrote.
“But here’s something interesting: Donors and luxury suite holders have complained to the USC athletic department over their disgust with the decision (and the athletic director), which has also played a part in USC’s change in philosophy.”
The backlash from big donors might also be why USC has been so oddly hung up on Notre Dame over the winter. The Trojans have taken to taunting Marcus Freeman and Co. whenever they win a recruiting battle. Some of that is because of Chad Bowden, who used to work in South Bend and now works in Los Angeles.
Lincoln Riley may want USC and Notre Dame football back, but the motives still feel shaky
Still, plenty of people noticed the taunting seemed odd, given the Irish's dominance in the series of late, and even some inside the school admitted they were the ones who ended the rivalry game. It’s possible the taunting was an attempt to goad ND into coming back to the table.
Riley was more direct before USC’s bowl game when he tried to blame Marcus Freeman and his crew for the rivalry ending in 2025.
“I think everybody knows how I feel about the game,” Riley said at the time. “I’ve said it multiple times. One of my first thoughts when I took the job at USC was getting to be a part of that rivalry. I have a deep respect for college football. Been a part of some great rivalries. Obviously, this is right there at the top. It’s pretty simple. We both worked for months to try to find a solution. Notre Dame was very vocal about the fact that they would play us anytime, anywhere.”
While that tactic was apparently not even believed by the people who help pay Riley’s salary, there is a chance of movement. Notre Dame’s sticking point was reportedly moving the game to the first week of the season (more specifically, Week 0), but they may be open to that now.
There is, of course, another possibility behind all of this posturing. USC continues to want the easiest possible schedule. The administration and Riley often talk about how a tough non-conference schedule hurts their playoff chances. That’s not changed. But if the Trojans can get the word out that Notre Dame turned down renewed talks, then the pressure from those high-dollar donors might stop.
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