Iliana Limón Romero and Ryan Kartje (LA Times)  —  USC coach Lincoln Riley said he is glad to have the Trojans’ annual rivalry game with Notre Dame back without compromising the Trojans’ biggest need.

The schools announced they agreed to a four-year series starting in 2030 during Week 1 of the season at the Coliseum. The following year the teams will play in Week 1 at Notre Dame Stadium. The 2032 and 2033 games will be played during Week 1-3 of the season.  To clear the schedule for USC, Notre Dame canceled a planned 2030–2031 home-and-home series with Indiana. So the series moves from its traditional late-season spot in October, November, or rarely December to the beginning of the year to accomodate USC’s steadfast demand since joining the Big Ten.

“We felt like the best thing for our program was to play this game early in the season,” Riley said. “As I’ve said publicly, we’re a part of a conference. We have a conference schedule to answer to. We don’t make our own schedule, we don’t choose our own kickoff times. And so with that, we have much less flexibility and so it made more sense for us to play this game in a traditional nonconference window.”

Riley, who took many jabs locally and nationally for letting one of college football’s most prestigious rivalry series expire, has been consistent in noting the inequity between USC playing Notre Dame amid a grueling Big Ten schedule and independent Notre Dame’s ability to surround the contest with less taxing matchups to aid its College Football Playoff push.

USC owns a 37-53-5 all-time record against Notre Dame, excluding the Trojans’ 2005 victory, which was later vacated due to NCAA sanctions (original record: 38-53-5). Riley is 1-3 during his Trojans tenure against the Irish. The teams battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh.

“I think this benefits everyone,” Riley said. “I think this benefits USC. I think this benefits Notre Dame. I think this benefits college football. This is important. We know its important to our fan base, we know it’s important to alumni, we know it’s important to former players and coaches.”

USC RB Woody Marks runs for a first down against ND in the first half Nov. 30, 2024, at the L.A. Coliseum. ND won 49-35. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Moving the storied rivalry game to very early in the season minimizes the damage of a loss and protects both teams’ paths to the expanded CFP. Under the previous USC/ND set-up, a loss right before selection Sunday heavily damaged playoff resumes. 

The early-season scheduling implementation impacts the CFP landscape in three ways:

1. Maximum Time for Recovery

An early-season defeat gives the losing team nearly three full months to recover in the rankings. In a 12-team or 14-team playoff format, selection committees routinely forgive a Week 1 loss to a premier opponent if that team goes on a win streak during conference play. 

2. Easing the Big Ten Gauntlet for USC

Following USC’s move to the 18-team Big Ten Conference, playing a brutal physical rival like Notre Dame late in the year created an obviously unsustainable scheduling bottleneck. Getting this high-stakes game out of the way before navigating nine physical/long travel distance Big Ten games keeps the Trojans healthier for the postseason push. 

3. Immediate Resume Booster

• For the Winner: A victory provides an immediate, elite marquee win that locks in a high-ranking metric for the rest of the year.

• For the Loser: Playing a top-tier brand early serves as a valuable “strength of schedule” benchmark. This prevents their ranking from dropping as low as it would if they lost to an unranked Group of Five team.

latimes.com

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