USC coach Lincoln Riley accuses Notre Dame of ending storied rivlary
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USC Trojans head football coach Lincoln Riley points to South Bend, Indiana.
The USC-Notre Dame football rivalry is one of the best in sports, but it has come to an end after both programs failed to reach an agreement on an extension to play each other for the 2026-27 season series.
Riley appeared before the media before the Trojans faced TCU in the Valero Alamo Bowl, where he didn’t hesitate to take a shot at the Fighting Irish.
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USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley looks on before the game against the UCLA Bruins at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)
“It’s pretty simple. We both worked for months to find a solution,” Riley said. New York Post. “Notre Dame has been very vocal about the fact that they will play us anytime, anywhere. Frankly, not having a conference affiliation gives them the ability to be pretty flexible with their schedule.
“We’re back, our director, Jen Cohen, came back to Notre Dame about a couple weeks ago with a script and an offer to extend the series for the next two years. That offer was rejected.”
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But Riley wasn’t done. He didn’t like how Notre Dame quickly found a new opponent after being rejected.
“Not only was it rejected five minutes after receiving the call, but it was announced that they were scheduling another opponent, I give them credit for that. This may have been the quickest scheduling action in the history of college football,” he said.
The team Notre Dame went to instead of USC was BYU, and it agreed to a home-and-home series rather than going with its usual opponents on the schedule.
Meanwhile, USC is still trying to figure out who will fill its schedule.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman reacts after the Irish scored a goal against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second quarter at Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 15, 2025. (Charles LeClaire/Imagn Images)
Since 1926, the Trojans and the Fighting Irish have gone head-to-head on the field, playing 96 times and missing just four games during that time.
What about missed matches? Three from 1943-45 due to World War II and one from the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We took Notre Dame at their word that they would play us anytime, anywhere,” Riley added. “If Notre Dame had kept its promise and played us anytime, anywhere, we would have played in the next two years and continued the series looking forward from then on.”
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Instead, the two-fold programs’ all-time series will remain at 51-37-5 in favor of the Fighting Irish.
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