Lincoln Riley’s logic on USC-Notre Dame rivalry is backward

Lincoln Riley had a passionate message about the future of the rivalry between USC and Notre Dame on Thursday at Big Ten media days.

“I think depending on what happens here from a playoff perspective, and then do we expand?” Riley said, per USA Today’s Jordan Mendoza. “What model do we go to, that’s certainly going to have an impact, not only in the rivalry, but what time of year potentially that you would play it.”

What his words boil down to is that the only way the USC-Notre Dame game can continue is if the game doesn’t matter.

It’s a message fellow Big Ten coaches have been sharing all week. Curt Cignetti said Indiana canceled its game against Virginia after adopting what he called “an SEC scheduling policy.”

The implication is clear. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti argued some of the same things on Tuesday, when he spoke at Big Ten media days. The Big Ten has made it clear this week that it prefers a system that guarantees four playoff berths each going to the Big Ten and the SEC, per Mendoza. 

It’s easy to see why. That model would allow the Big Ten to pursue its dream of having three games on Championship Saturday.

The top two teams would play for the conference championship but would already be guaranteed playoff berths. Then, the No. 3 team in the Big Ten standings would play No. 6, while No. 4 would face off against No. 5 for the other two berths.

Under the Big Ten’s preferred model, all a team would need to do is finish in the top six of the Big Ten standings to get into a one-game playoff to reach the College Football Playoff.

But if that isn’t adopted, and things are left solely up to the College Football Playoff committee, Riley said the Trojans would have no incentive to play Notre Dame.