LAS VEGAS — USC coach Lincoln Riley wants to preserve the Trojans’ historic college football rivalry against Notre Dame. But he said he won’t work to do it at the expense of damaging a USC bid to qualify for the College Football Playoff.
The Irish and Trojans have played 95 times since 1926, meeting every year but three during World War II and during the COVID-19 shortened season of 2020. However, the series has not been extended beyond 2026, as the USC administration remains noncommittal.
“Do I want to play the game?” Riley asked Thursday at Big Ten media days. “Hell yeah, I want to play the game. Absolutely. It’s one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame. It’s not to anybody else. I’m the head football coach at USC, and I’m going to back USC, and I’m going to do everything possible that I can, in my power, to make us as good as I can.
“I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”
In the current 12-team CFP format, a potential loss against Notre Dame stands to damage the Trojans’ resume — arguably more than a win would help it against the backdrop of a nine-game Big Ten schedule.
As Playoff expansion remains a possibility for 2026, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti backs a 16-team CFP model that awards four automatic bids to both the Big Ten and the SEC.
According to Petitti and Riley, the fourth-year coach in Los Angeles, the Big Ten-proposed format would entice its teams to play more challenging nonconference games.
“There’s a million reasons why we as a college football community should adopt the automatic qualifying in terms of the College Football Playoff,” Riley said. “And this might be the most important one.”
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said in May that he wants to extend the series.
“It’s a great rivalry for all of college football,” Freeman said. “If it was up to me, we would play them every single year for the rest of college football time. It’s pretty black-and-white for me.”
When Riley left Oklahoma for USC in 2021, he said he felt immediate excitement about coaching against Notre Dame, much as he had savored coaching against Texas with the Sooners.
“All these rivalries mean a great deal to me,” Riley said. “They mean a great deal to anybody that cares about college football.”
Riley said he remains hopeful the sport can reach a place that “makes sense” for USC to play the rivalry game.
“It’s one of those situations right now where the two schools are in radically different situations,” Riley said. “I think we can all agree with that — with one having a conference affiliation and one not.”
(Photo: Lucas Peltier / Imagn Images)
