Notre Dame football rival looks ready to end historic series

Since USC first joined the Big Ten, the question of whether they’d keep the rivalry with Notre Dame football going has been a hot topic. Lots of voices from both sides have been talking about whether it makes sense anymore, especially in a world with a 12-team playoff.

However, listening to Trojans’ head coach Lincoln Riley on Wednesday, it sure sounds like he’s ok with the yearly game going away. He laid out a rationale that sounded an awful lot like what others have said.

At it’s foundation, the argument that Riley and others have made, is that as part of the Big 12, USC is always going to have very good conference opponents. Adding a non-conference opponent the level of Notre Dame football doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Notre Dame football could lose another rivalry game to the Big Ten

“Bama was ahead of the curve for years,” Riley said during his time at the podium on Wednesday. “They didn’t schedule for their fans. They scheduled to win championships.”

That certainly doesn’t sound like a man all that eager to keep another playoff contender on the schedule for the sake of history. It sounds like a man who is willing to shed the Notre Dame game the way Michigan did when the Big Ten expanded the last time.

Notre Dame football vs USC might have just three more years

The question now is just how long the rivalry might last. The game is on the books officially for this season, the 2025 and 2026 campaigns. If you take Riley’s comments at face value, it sure seems as if that will be the end. At least as far as an annual game is concerned.

Notre Dame football and Michigan will eventually meet up again. However, it will be quite a while before that happens. That might be what the Irish vs the Trojans turn into, as the college footbal world cares less and less about tradition and more about money.