Cry More.

Lincoln Riley and USC wanted no part of Notre Dame

Thanks for reading The Dope.

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I am well accustomed to college coaches speaking 1.) out of both sides of their mouths, 2.) out of their butts, or 3.) out of their gourds, but that’s just another way of saying that I’ve covered sports for a while. Since you watch and read about sports, this is not unfamiliar territory for you, either.

Coaches lie a lot, especially college football coaches. I know — “lie” is such an ugly assertion. Upon further review, though, they do lie an awful lot. When they’re not lying, they are often stretching the truth to the breaking point. These lies and truth-stretchings generally fall under the umbrella of, “Hey, coaches are always recruiting!”, and the coaches are pretty much forgiven the blatant misrepresentations and misdirections because, you know, we like teams that win.

For a four-star skill-position commit? Hey, gasbags gonna gas.

So yes, USC head coach Lincoln Riley did use his big-boy words this week to blame Notre Dame officials for the end of the longstanding football rivalry between those schools. And yes, Riley is talking in all three of the ways described in the first paragraph above. And no, you shouldn’t take this topic too seriously if Riley is the one speaking to it.

And yes, Notre Dame wanted to keep playing USC every year. And no, Lincoln Riley didn’t. In fact, he was running away from that arrangement as fast as he possibly could, with a helpful assist from his athletic director, Jen Cohen.

USC decided some time ago that using a non-conference weekend to play Notre Dame every year was a poor national championship strategy.

How long ago? Well, the Irish have beaten Riley’s Trojans by double digits in each of the last three seasons. So, let’s say, at least three defeats ago.

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We don’t have to get too deep in the weeds here. Just last year, Lincoln Riley cast doubt on the wisdom of USC scheduling Notre Dame at all. After reiterating how much he cherishes the rivalry, Riley added, "Now, if you get in a position where you got to make a decision on what's best for USC to help us win a national championship vs. keeping that, shoot, then you got to look at it."

Sort of hilarious, considering that USC hasn’t won a national championship since 2004 2003 (one year vacated due to rampant corruption). At any rate, the Trojans were lambasted for this tissue-soft position, and they reluctantly began negotiating with Notre Dame to keep the 100-year rivalry going. (Irish coach Marcus Freeman barked that his team would play the Trojans “anytime, anywhere,” but remember what I said about coaches in that first paragraph way up there. Always recruiting!)

The sides struck an agreement last month to keep the game going in 2026 with a November date, which is very traditional for the rivalry and which Lincoln Riley absolutely did not want to do. Then, though, USC got word that Notre Dame had reached an understanding with the NCAA guaranteeing the independent school a playoff spot if it finishes the regular season ranked 12th or higher. This became the latest reason for USC to back out of the deal.

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In the end, Cohen instead offered Notre Dame a “week zero” game — basically in August, before other teams start their seasons — that under NCAA rules might have to be moved out of the country in order to satisfy certain restrictions. Give the A.D. credit: Cohen knew full well the Irish would reject that dumb idea, which USC could then use to deflect blame.

Enter Riley.

“We took Notre Dame at their word that they would play us anytime, anywhere,” the USC coach said during an Alamo Bowl press conference this week. “That proposal was rejected. Not only was it rejected, but five minutes after we got the call, it was announced they scheduled another opponent, which, I’ll give them credit — that might be the fastest scheduling act in college football history.”

Also, one of the best. Notre Dame agreed to a home-and-home with BYU instead. By dropping USC and adding the Cougars, the Irish raised their projected strength of schedule.

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Anyway, yuck. This entire process has been a slime-fest, and the through line is Riley. This is a coach who bailed out on Oklahoma in 2021 a couple of months after the Sooners announced plans to join the rugged SEC, saying the “time is right” to go to USC. Since arriving in L.A., Riley and the Trojans tried to scratch a season opener against LSU, backed out of a home-and-home series with Ole Miss and blew up up a century-old relationship with Notre Dame.

Granted, Notre Dame makes things difficult by remaining independent in football, but that’s how it goes. Great football schools don’t run from fights — they run toward them. And although I am quite certain there’s an array of analytical data that says avoiding the Fighting Irish makes sense for USC, it’s just so weak.

So, so weak. Crazy weak.

Over the past year, Notre Dame locked down a 12-year series with Clemson, agreed to home-and-homes with Auburn and BYU, and tried to keep the USC rivalry going. The Irish ultimately said no to a bad idea, and if that is how Southern Cal wants to remember things, hey, it’s their car to strip. But don’t try to sound proud about it. Makes you look foolish.