Lincoln Riley Attributes USC-Notre Dame Rivalry Pause to Broken Commitments
San Antonio, Tuesday, 30 December 2025.
Lincoln Riley alleges Notre Dame reneged on an “anytime, anywhere” pledge to halt their historic series, noting the Irish scheduled BYU mere minutes after rejecting USC’s extension proposal.
The Five-Minute Pivot
Speaking to reporters in San Antonio on December 29, 2025, ahead of the Valero Alamo Bowl, Riley detailed the collapse of negotiations that occurred earlier in the month [2]. According to the USC head coach, Athletic Director Jen Cohen presented a proposal to extend the series for two years, relying on previous assurances from Notre Dame regarding scheduling flexibility [2][5]. Riley claimed that not only was this proposal rejected, but the Fighting Irish announced a replacement home-and-home series with Brigham Young University almost immediately after the call ended [2]. Riley characterized the swift transition to the BYU series—scheduled for 2026 and 2027—as potentially “the fastest scheduling act in college football history” [2]. This sequence of events starkly contrasts with comments made by Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman in May 2025, where he asserted he would play the Trojans “anytime or anywhere,” regardless of the calendar date [4].
Strategic Divergence in the CFP Era
The friction stems largely from conflicting strategic imperatives driven by the expanded College Football Playoff (CFP) landscape. USC, now navigating the rigors of the Big Ten conference, sought to move the rivalry game to the early season—specifically requesting early September or Week Zero dates to avoid late-season attrition [1][4]. Conversely, Notre Dame preferred the traditional scheduling model, which places the game in mid-October or November, and reportedly aimed to avoid front-loading its own schedule [3][5]. USC Athletic Director Jen Cohen emphasized the competitive disadvantage of the current arrangement, stating that intentionally making USC’s road to the CFP “significantly more difficult than our Big Ten peers” did not align with the program’s championship goals [2]. Notably, USC has been the only Big Ten program to play a non-conference opponent after Week 4 over the past two seasons [2].
A Century of Tradition on Hold
The cessation of this series pauses a rivalry that has been played 96 times since its inception in 1926, with annual matchups occurring every year since 1946 except for the pandemic-disrupted 2020 season [2][3]. Notre Dame currently holds the historical advantage with a record of 51–37–5 and has won the last three meetings, including a 34–24 victory on October 18, 2025 [3][5]. While the Fighting Irish move forward with a 2026 schedule that includes road games against North Carolina, Syracuse, and Purdue [1], the path to resuming the battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh remains long. Although both institutions issued a joint statement expressing a desire to “continue working toward bringing back” the game, current projections suggest a resumption is unlikely before 2030 [2].