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USC Trojans head football coach Lincoln Riley points fingers at South Bend, Indiana.
The USC-Notre Dame football rivalry is one of the best in sports, but it has come to an end when both programs were unable to agree on an extension to play each other in the 2026-27 season series.
Riley appeared before the media before his Trojans faced TCU in the Valero Alamo Bowl, where he didn’t mind taking a shot against the Fighting Irish.
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Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans looks on prior to a game against the UCLA Bruins at the 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 trying to find a solution,” Riley explained to The New York Post. “Notre Dame was very vocal about the fact that they wanted to play us anytime, anywhere. Obviously, not having a conference affiliation gives them an ability to be pretty flexible with their scheduling.
“We went back, Jen Cohen, our AD, went back to Notre Dame about a couple of weeks ago with a scenario and a proposal that would extend the series for the next two years. That proposal was rejected.”
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Riley wasn’t done though. He didn’t like how Notre Dame quickly found a new opponent after the rejection.
“Not only was it denied, five minutes after we got the call, it was announced that they had scheduled another opponent, which I’ll give them credit. That might be the fastest scheduling action in college football history,” he said.
The team Notre Dame went with instead of USC was BYU, going with a home-and-home series instead of going with their usual rival on the schedule.
Meanwhile, USC is still trying to figure out who will fill out their schedule.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman reacts after an Irish touchdown against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second quarter at Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 15, 2025. (Charles LeClaire/Imagn Images)
Since 1926, the Trojans and Fighting Irish have butted heads on the field, playing 96 times with just four shutouts during that span.
And the lost games? Three from 1943-45 due to World War II and one in 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. “Had Notre Dame lived up to their word and played us anytime, anywhere, we’d be playing for the next two years and looking forward to that and hopefully continuing the streak.”
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Instead, the all-time series for the two storied programs will continue to sit at 51-37-5 in favor of the Fighting Irish.
