Lincoln Riley hopeful USC-Notre Dame game continues after ’26

LAS VEGAS — With the future of the USC-Notre Dame football rivalry uncertain, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley on Thursday expressed his desire to retain the game — under the right circumstances.

“Do I wanna play the game? Hell yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley said at Big Ten media days. “That’s one of the reasons I came. But also, my allegiance is to USC, and I’m going to do everything in my power to help USC.”

The matchup is currently scheduled only through 2026, and Riley said that while it’s important to him, the differences between the two programs — be it conference affiliation or where they fall in the eventual College Football Playoff model — will have an impact on whether the game continues, as well as when in the schedule it’s played.

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“I think there’s a million reasons why we should very seriously, as a college football community, that we should adopt the automatic qualifying in terms of the College Football Playoff,” Riley said. “This might be the most important one, right, is that we give every reason for college football to preserve nonconference games that mean a lot to the history of the game and to the fan bases and the former players and everybody that’s been associated with it.”

Riley is referring to the 16-team playoff model that the Big Ten, and its coaches, have been stumping for — one that gives it and the SEC a potential four automatic qualifying spots in the CFP. He said he doesn’t think the rivalry game would be devalued if the automatic qualifiers were established.

“I even think it incentivizes you even more to play ’em because I mean, I just don’t think any SC, Notre Dame, any team or fan base or coaching staff is ever going to walk out on the field with that game and not want do everything that they possibly can to win,” Riley said. “Competitiveness is too high. The game would still affect seeding and that’s really important. It just doesn’t put you at a competitive disadvantage on access to the playoffs. And I think that’s the key.”

The USC coach said one of the first thoughts he had upon taking the USC job in late 2021 was that he would get to coach in the Notre Dame rivalry and said he remains very hopeful that “we play this game forever.”

Irish coach Marcus Freeman voiced his opinion on the series in May, saying he, too, wants to see it continue.

“It’s pretty black and white for me. You want my opinion? I want to play them every single year,” he said. “When? I don’t care. I don’t care when we play them. Start of the season, middle of the season, end of the season — I don’t care. I want to play USC every year because it’s great for college football.”

The teams have played every year since 1926 (the exception being 1943-45 due to World War II). While Notre Dame has been willing to work on a long-term deal to extend the rivalry, USC would prefer a shorter deal to allow for flexibility.

During Riley’s tenure, USC is 1-2 against the Irish, including back-to-back double-digit losses over the last two seasons. Coming off a disappointing 7-6 campaign last year (with five losses by a touchdown), Riley and USC face mounting pressure and expectations in what will be his fourth season at the helm.

“We’re right on the doorstep of having a really great run,” Riley told ESPN. “Not just this year, but looking forward. … eventually, it’s gonna happen.”

The former Oklahoma coach, who signed a reported 10-year contract with USC, is 24-16 with the Trojans. But they’re 15-11 since a surprising 11-3 campaign in his debut season, which Riley admitted Thursday was a slight overachievement.

“You’re rebuilding a program — albeit a blueblood program, which has its challenges no matter what,” he said. “And then you add in all that’s changed around us for everybody on top of that — it’s been a unique time to do it.”

Riley said every year he’s walked into conference media days, he’s felt better about where the program is. The difference is that the expectations are the highest they’ve been for it to translate into wins.

“At some point you’ve got to go do it on the field,” he said. “We understand that.”

While his first two seasons with the Trojans featured heavy use of the transfer portal, Riley said they’ve now gotten back to building the program how they first envisioned – with recruiting and development being more integral.

“You want the results right now,” Riley said. “But then there’s also the person in there day-to-day who sees everything and has been a part of some pretty good programs and some pretty good football teams that knows we’re rapidly gaining pace towards being that.”