USC coach Lincoln Riley cast some doubt on the long-term future of the Trojans’ long-standing rivalry game with Notre Dame on Wednesday.
At Big Ten Media Day on Wednesday, Riley was asked about whether the Trojans would keep the annual rivalry game now that the school has moved to the Big Ten. Riley made clear that he wanted to preserve the rivalry, but admitted that the quest for a national title would take precedence.
“I would love to. I know it means a lot to a lot of people,” Riley said, via Matt Fortuna of The Inside Zone. “The purist in you, no doubt. Now if you get in a position where you got to make a decision on what’s best for SC to help us win a national championship vs. keeping that, shoot, then you got to look at it.
“There has been a lot of other teams sacrifice rivalry games. And I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. But as we get into this playoff structure, and if it changes or not, we’re in this new conference, we’re going to learn something about this as we go and what the right and the best track is to winning a national championship, that’s going to evolve.”
Riley spoke admiringly of Alabama as a team to look to regarding non-conference scheduling, arguing that the Crimson Tide occasionally scheduled a marquee opponent, but otherwise did not tax themselves, and even scheduled a weaker non-conference foe late in the season to give the team a bit of a reprieve.
“They didn’t schedule for the fans. They scheduled to win championships,” Riley said. “And so my hope is we can do the best thing, schedule to win championships — and that includes a rivalry game for all that comes with that and all that it means. But if you get in those positions, you got to make a decision on what the priority is. It’s not an easy answer.”
USC and Notre Dame have played each other every year since 1926, with four exceptions — three due to World War II and one due to the Covid pandemic in 2020. Riley is 1-1 in the rivalry so far. A year ago, he sounded fully committed to the rivalry, so this definitely represents a moderation in tone.
Riley certainly seems determined to take a long look at USC’s non-conference scheduling habits. As far as marquee games go, those may become a thing of the past, with the Notre Dame rivalry a potential exception. After all, he has reportedly been trying to get out of one such marquee game for quite some time.
