USC head coach Lincoln Riley was asked about the historic Notre Dame – USC rivalry at his first Big Ten media day following Southern Cal’s move to a conference that makes zero sense for any sport at the university except football. During his time with the media, Riley suggested that he’d be OK with USC dropping Notre Dame if USC’s schedule got too hard and it impacted their national championship chances.
When asked about continuing the USC – Notre Dame rivalry, here’s what Riley had to say. I would love to. know it means a lot to a lot of people. The purist in you, no doubt,” said Riley before adding, “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.”
“And listen, we’re not the first example of that. Look all the way across the country. There has been a lot of other teams sacrifice rivalry games,” Riley said. 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.”
That’s hardly the kind of answer that a coach who really revered the history of the rivalry or appreciated the history of the program he represented. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, though. Riley was at Oklahoma, where he was taking the Sooners to the Playoffs regularly before bolting abruptly for USC, with the Sooners on the verge of joining the SEC and his easy path to the playoffs going away. Oklahoma owned a weak Big-12 during Riley’s time in Norman, but those days were coming to an end with Oklahoma headed into the SEC and facing a much tougher regular season schedule year in and year out.
Ironically, Riley left for Southern Cal, where it looked like he’d continue to have an easy path to the playoffs given the relative weakness of the Pac-12 ever since Pete Carroll left Los Angeles for the NFL, only to lose a combined eight games in his first two seasons including a disastrous 8-5 record last year despite having the reigning Heisman Trophy winner running his offense. Then USC moved to the Big 10, where Riley now has to deal with Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State in addition to top programs from the old Pac-12.
Given the move to a 12-team playoff, with further expansion potentially coming soon, it’s telling that Riley is already worried that USC’s schedule will be too tough for them to reach the playoffs and impact their chances at winning a national championship. With an expanded field, programs should be encouraged to keep traditional rivalries since we are no longer in an environment where one loss clouds playoff chances and two losses all but eliminate them.
If Lincoln Riley is really worried that keeping Notre Dame on the schedule would impact USC’s chances of being a top-12 team at the end of the regular season, that doesn’t exactly exude confidence in his program or his own skills. At the same time, Riley did just watch his squad get its doors blown off inside Notre Dame Stadium last year to the tune of 48-20, so maybe he is on to something.
The Notre Dame – USC rivalry is one of the most unique and storied rivalries in all of college football, and it would be a shame if it ever ended. One of the most unfortunate football-related consequences of the 2020 COVID scheduling was the break in the Notre Dame – USC rivalry.
The good news here for Notre Dame is that Lincoln Riley is probably more likely to leave USC before this rivalry ever ends. Given how Riley left Oklahoma, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if Riley eventually bolts for the NFL if given the opportunity. Of course, if Riley continues to average four losses a season, he might not last that much longer at USC, either.
