During his appearance at Big Ten Media Days, USC head coach Lincoln Riley attempted to once again blame Notre Dame for the end of the rivalry between the two schools, even if he did it indirectly. The problem in this day and age, with the press conference format and the rapid-fire, very short question-and-answer period, is that his comments went mostly unquestioned, allowing him to cast the situation as entirely one where he was the victim.
Of course, at this point, just who is in the right and who is in the wrong, if the end of the storied rivalry really is just to be blamed on one side or the other, is one school pointing fingers at the other. Each side has its version of what happened. Except, of course, for reports early on when the series collapsed that USC took the blame, and then backed down from that once the Trojans realized they were casting themselves as the villains.
On Tuesday morning, Riley was asked again about any developments regarding Notre Dame and USC firing the rivalry up again at some point. It was his demeanor more than his answer that tells anyone willing to look that he’d rather not be asked.
When the question came, he visibly winced and almost looked like he rolled his eyes. At the very least, it wasn’t a question he knew had to be coming, and yet, he wasn’t particularly pleased when it arrived.
Lincoln Riley casts more blame at Notre Dame football over USC rivalry collapse
“I don't think anything more than to say I would just reference my comments earlier in the winter,” Riley replied about any updates to getting the rivalry back up. “I think I gave everybody a pretty clear indication of how those have went. Nothing's changed from my vantage point.”
Perhaps realizing that he came off a little too defensive, he then turned to indirectly cast the blame at Notre Dame for why there wasn’t any momentum or progress.
“We want to play the game. I want to play the game. We would be playing the game had some things come true that were said.”
“Hopefully we get to that point. Obviously we want it to happen. I know our fan base wants it to happen. College football wants it to happen. Hopefully I'm up here next year talking about that game here on the future schedule. We'll keep making progress and let you know if we have any more updates.”
It’s unlikely that “some things came true that were said” is anything other than throwing shade at Notre Dame and pretending the Irish lied about wanting to strike a deal.
It’s important to note that the big issue here is how annoyed Riley appeared when asked about the series and how little he wanted to comment on it. Anyone who wants to know what might be roadblocking any return of the series needs to be looking at how people handle the situation and not just what they say.
Of course, playing the blame game on why the Notre Dame and USC series is gone won’t bring it back. But anyone hoping that earlier spring progress created real momentum should read into Lincoln Riley’s comments that a return to play is a long shot at best.
Add us as a preferred source on Google