Notre Dame Wants To Keep Rivalry With USC Going, But Does USC Agree?

The rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the USC Trojans has been called the greatest intersectional rivalry in college sports. The two schools have played each other 94 times, with the first meeting coming in December 1926, nearly 100 years ago.

But thanks to realignment within college football, it might be coming to an end. USC head coach Lincoln Riley recently hinted at Big Ten media day that he and the school could be reevaluating whether the rivalry game was worth the downside, in the modern, expanded playoff era.

READ: Lincoln Riley Says Alabama Scheduled For Championships, Hints At Dropping Notre Dame Rivalry

USC might want out, but Notre Dame absolutely does not. Notre Dame's athletic director, Pete Bevacqua, told The Athletic that the Irish are committed to continuing the game as long as it can.

"We have every intention in the world and every desire to keep that USC-Notre Dame game going for as long as it possibly can," Bevacqua said to The Athletic on Monday. "Everything we’ve heard from USC and the people we’ve been talking to over the course of the last year and beyond is they’re gung ho as well."

Caleb Williams of USC tries to avoid a pass rush by Notre Dame in a 48-20 loss on Oct. 14 at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

USC-Notre Dame Rivalry One Of College Football's Best

Bevacqua's comments are a direct response to what Riley said about rivalry games at Big Ten media day. 

"There’s been a lot of teams that sacrifice rivalry games," Riley said. "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 get into this new conference, we’re going to learn some about this as we go and what the right and best track is to winning a national championship. That’s going to evolve."

Riley is likely correct that the best track to winning a national championship is to play as many easy games as possible. Yes, strength of schedule matters, but year after year we've seen teams use easy schedules to make the playoffs or get to the top of the rankings. Notre Dame is, for the overwhelming majority of the time, going to be a ranked opponent. In the expanded Big Ten with Oregon, Washington, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, UCLA, Nebraska and Michigan State, ranked opponents won't be hard to come by.

But rivalries are an important part of college football tradition, and USC-Notre Dame is one of the best. It also could be argued that the expanded playoffs will open up more opportunities for teams with two losses or more. If say, USC plays a tough conference schedule and Notre Dame, and still finishes 10-2, a playoff appearance would be a near certainty regardless.

Realignment has forced numerous rivalries to end or fade, but Notre Dame has it right; despite a world of change in the sport, it's still worth keeping what makes it great.