One of college football’s most iconic rivalries may soon end, at least temporarily. The annual clash between USC and Notre Dame, a tradition that dates back to 1926, is no longer guaranteed beyond the 2025 season. According to Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated reports, discussions between the two schools regarding the series’ future have hit a roadblock.
The current agreement between the Trojans and Fighting Irish concludes after the 2025 matchup in South Bend, Ind., scheduled for Saturday, October 18. While USC has reportedly offered a one-year extension to host the rivalry game in Los Angeles, Calif., in 2026, Notre Dame is pushing for a longer-term commitment. Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua made his position clear, stating the Irish want the game played annually “for as long as college football is played.”
As @ByPatForde's report indicates, the Notre Dame-USC series seems to be on life support.
The larger issue, though, is that Irish's future strength of schedule might be at risk as the Big Ten and SEC consolidate more power.
My column: https://t.co/A2enOtvynQ pic.twitter.com/CsNfaWbo3v
— Jack Soble (@jacksoble56) May 19, 2025
Despite mutual respect between the programs, scheduling pressures are straining the longstanding series. With USC now part of the Big Ten, the Trojans’ future schedules are more crowded than ever, especially with the expanded College Football Playoff on the horizon. Head coach Lincoln Riley and the athletic department are weighing how traditional non-conference games fit within a playoff-focused era.
Although nothing has been finalized, Notre Dame supporters have been outspoken in their desire to keep the rivalry alive. The yearly showdown has long been a fixture in the sport, showcasing legendary talent, unforgettable games, and championship-level stakes. From Heisman-winning performances to playoff implications, the USC-Notre Dame matchup has consistently stood out on the college football stage.
This wouldn’t be the first time the game has faced interruption. The rivalry was put on hold during World War II and again in 2020 because of COVID, but those were temporary and uncontested breaks. The current uncertainty, however, stems from shifting priorities in college football’s evolving landscape, making the future of this rivalry much more fragile.
Both sides have expressed interest in continuing the series. But unless an agreement is reached soon, the 2025 meeting in South Bend could mark the end of one of the sport’s most cherished traditions, at least for now.
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“For as long as college football is played” could end as soon as the House Settlement is approved.
Can you explain more? What does the House settlement have to with this?
I hope USC end it and all the other Big 10 schools drop ND from future schedules. They had a chance to join and play all those teams and turned it down so piss on them
You clearly are not a real college football if you are not only okay with this great rivalry ending, but actively SUPPORT it. Also on your dumb point of Notre Dame not joining the B1G, they tried TWICE but religious bigotry by Michigan and other schools keep them out.
ND could have joined the Big 10 and played Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Maryland, Rutgers, etc., every year? Wow. How did they turn this down?
@Illininolesfan97 nice try, Dan Rakow.
Good News Illininoles97 I fully support your comments & hope you do not mind me talking about CFB on Thanksgiving weekend because I really like to see USC-UCLA play last weekend of regular season permanently to join Michigan-Ohio State & Northwestern-Illinois.
You are clueless.
Notre Dame wanted to join in the 1920s and the Big Ten commissioner pushed for their inclusion. However, anti-Catholicism bigotry prevented their induction.
One of the great rivalries in the game seems destined to disappear. Sad.
Going down the same path as Kansas-Nebraska and Oklahoma-Oklahoma State. The rivalry just stops with realignment.
Joseph As an Oklahoma State Cowboys Fan I am still giving teams like Baylor, Cincinnati & Kansas a chance & remain hopeful one of many Big 12 opponents will emerge as a conference rivalry for Oklahoma State.
I am still bummed that Iowa State and Kansas State are not playing in 2027, ending over a century of continuous play. Shame the Big 12 did not protect that annual rivalry.
Gerry, I support your comments even this Oklahoma State Fan want Big 12 to protect Iowa State/Kansas State Football rivalry.
If the Big XII cannot protect a rivalry that has been played every year since the dinosaurs were around. Then I don’t know how they can make Oklahoma St vs Baylor a protected rivalry.
Oklahoma State and Cincinnati have zero history before 2023.
The B12 not protecting Farmageddon is simply that conference dropping the ball.
KU-UNL wasn’t ever really a rivalry, but the Border War definitely was. And the Backyard Brawl also was broken up. But at least conference realignment brought back Texas-A&M and Texas-Arkansas and made the BYU-Utah Holy War a more meaningful conference game.
Richard Plus, I have with Big 12 that they play nine game conference schedules
If they end this rivalry I will go ballistic. This is one of my favorite rivalries and is one of the best in the sport. Far too many great rivalries have ended and I just can´t see another one go. The travel argument by USC is the lamest thing ever. If they hate the travel so much they shouldn´t have VOLUNTARILY joined the B1G and should just suck it up and deal with it. Also the fact that independent teams like my own and Notre Dame ironically for years have faced extensive travel miles for playing national schedules like they are doing now in the B1G. They simply cannot end this amazing rivalry and USC needs to figure their crap out and schedule a long-term agreement. I´m shocked that USC seems to simply be okay with ending something like this.
Well said, BYU fan.
Purdue would make a fantastic primary Big Ten opponent for Notre Dame to fill void left by USC & speaking of USC ending of Notre Dame rivalry will be good news for Big Ten & as a fan of Conference games I really like Big Ten to do all Conference games on Thanksgiving weekend & I have zero concerns on who Notre Dame will play on Thanksgiving weekend I have full confidence they will work something out.
I am very blessed & thankful that NBC will do last USC-Notre Dame rivalry as we know of 10/18 however USC-Notre Dame will resurrect again.
Purdue/ND and Michigan/ND and Michigan State/ND were all annual games until about 10 years ago.
Evn/an As a Michigan Wolverines Fan I do not miss Notre Dame rivalry however I do have respect for Fighting Irish.
As long as college football is played, there should be a USC vs Notre Dame, a Clemson vs South Carolina, a Florida vs FSU. and a Georgia vs Georgia Tech. We can all agree on that.
Joseph Georgia-Georgia Tech is My favorite of four CFB games played on Thanksgiving weekend however as a Georgia Bulldogs fan in SEC I would be happy to accept Georgia play SEC conference opponent like South Carolina or any other SEC teams on last weekend of regular season plus I am pulling for SEC go to nine game conference schedules.
Michigan-Ohio State, Northwestern-Illinois & Arizona State-Arizona are my other favorites that play on Thanksgiving weekend.
@Dan Rakow, these ACC-SEC matchups have been drilled in our heads for the last week of the regular season for as long as weve been watching college football. They seem to be safe. For now.
The USC side is claiming the issue is traveling to South Bend in the middle of the Big Ten season, and Notre Dame won’t agree to playing the game early in the season.
If that is really the case, this should be easy to resolve.
The even-numbered years are played in Los Angeles on the last weekend of the season, so those games shouldn’t be an issue unless they are concerned about travel from the dorm to the Coliseum.
For the odd-numbered years, play the game the second weekend of the season. No travel during the conference season, and avoid all of the big opening weekend games. The game would be a huge draw in primetime on NBC.
Notre Dame is actually open the second week of every odd-numbered year starting in 2027. All USC would need to do is move one home game vs. Nevada.
From a tradition perspective, the game in LA the last weekend of the season is a bigger deal than playing in South Bend in mid-October vs. early September.
I tend to doubt the date of the game is really USC’s motivation, but Notre Dame should call their bluff and offer that.
This is really going to motivate the Irish vs SC at South Bend this year. Trash the Trojans!
The reason they play mid-October in South Bend rather than Thanksgiving is because USC complained about playing in the cold weather. Move it back to Thanksgiving every year and the “middle of the Big10 season” excuse is taken care of.
USC visits Notre Dame in October or the rivalry ends
They’re being wimps
To My buddy John Main reason, I would like Notre Dame-USC to play every third weekend in October is as A Big Ten Fan that Big Ten really like conference games in November during crucial stretch of season plus Big Ten are Fan of doing all conference games on Thanksgiving weekend & UCLA-USC should play every year last weekend of regular season just like Northwestern-Illinois & Michigan-Ohio State & I am very open minded for Notre Dame opponent on Thanksgiving weekend same thing with Oklahoma State & Syracuse.
Once USC signed up for 3-4 long trips east, this game was gonna be in jeopardy. But . . . if USC replaced ND with Stanford/Cal it would be better for west coast football and also better for athlete travel
It wouldn´t be better for the fans.
If USC cared about West Coast football, they wouldn’t have left the Pac-12 for a conference with teams in New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
They don’t care about athlete travel. They knew what they were signing for up.
West Coast Football USC wants $$$$$.
@Drew, Cal and Stanford are already filling their schedules with weak, FCS and non west coast opponents. Texas Southern is one of them.
Kevin, your website has USC hosting Notre Dame in 2026, yet this story indicates the series will end this year. I am confused.
Another OOC opponent will replace Notre Dame for USC it is going to happen Hawaii Dave.
In a nutshell.
The “LOVE” of money is the root of all evil.
Longstanding rivalries destroyed, switching conferences trying to find a better looking girlfriend so you can show off, control by a select few, no respect for the game with incessant commercialization to garner the most revenue.
The luster is gone.
Here is what I think may happen, they will play as usual this year(2025), then take a year or two off, then I do believe these two schools will resume their rivalry. Why? Because it brings in money to both schools, however, I do believe that in future years when they play, it will be early in the season, so since it is non conference, I say USC will want to play before playing a conference game, likewise I do agree with some the the others that the final weekend, should be all rival weekend. In the big 10, these should always be the matchups, Indiana-Purdue, Ohio State-Michigan, Northwestern-Illinois, Iowa- Nebraska, USC-UCLA, Oregon-Washington, Wisconsin-Minnesota, Penn State-Michigan State, and Rutgers-Maryland. As for Notre Dame, I know they can play maybe an ACC school, since they have to play so many anyway, I wouldn’t mind them joining the ACC full time.
ND should play Miami annually again. That would give the ACC a final weekend of:
Boston College-Syracuse
Cal-Stanford
Clemson-South Carolina
Duke-Wake Forest
FSU-Florida
Georgia Tech-Georgia
Louisville-Kentucky
Miami-ND
Pitt-SMU
UNC-NC State
Virginia-Virginia Tech
Pitt-SMU is clearly the outlier here, but unfortunately someone was going to be stuck with an awkward season ending opponent.
Excellent post jtk1!!!
move Pitt-WVU and SMU-TCU to that weekend, solved.
ND wants to end their season playing somewhere warm(ish).
So they should rotate ending the season @Stanford/@Cal/@SMU/@Miami.
Richard I fully support Notre Dame Thanksgiving rotation with Stanford, California, Miami & SMU.
That’s not a great point. Clemson plays South Carolina at end of the season, Florida plays Florida State at the end of the season, Georgia plays Georgia Tech at the season.These are not conference games, yet they’re played at the end of the season and everyone is fine with it.
Dear USC….IF you don’t want to play USC, that’s fine, just admit it…stop pussyfooting around.
Be a man and own up!
I’d love to see this rivalry continue. I’m fine with UCLA/USC being the weekend before Thanksgiving. It give us an interesting game on a weekend when many teams are playing patsies to rest before they close against a big rival (see SEC/FCS games).
Nothing sacred (to my eye) about the 3rd Saturday in October. I like the proposal someone made about moving the odd-year games to Week 2.
Back when FBS teams only played 11 regular season games, many rivalry games were played the weekend before Thanksgiving. In my opinion, that weekend is better because many students will still be on campus then.
I am A Fan of CFB playing on Thanksgiving weekend especially Big Ten & Black Friday too.
I think this is a ploy to force ND’s hand in joining the B1G.
USC already travels three or four times a season to the Central and Eastern time zones for their B1G away games. Yes I understand they’ve brought that on themselves, but they saw no benefit to remaing the big fish in the small pond that is the PAC. The only time those east of the Rockies watched USC was when they played ND, in a major bowl game, or otherwise a Top 25 matchup involving a PAC opponent.
Why would USC waste additional travel for a non-conference game especially with the way things are going now with the pending annual game against an SEC opponent?
As the old saying goes: this isn’t personal, just business.
Now NBC could go further on this issue and mention to ND that the B1G Saturday Night game at USC would bring more value to their respective broadcast deals.
Pardon me J Your post is up for sale by me.
I am very satisfied with Notre Dame obligations with ACC Football scheduling with very high approval of it.
USC-UCLA Permanently play every Thanksgiving weekend plus I like to make it fair to CFB fans in Southern California.
Of course this is designed to push ND into joining the Big 10. And like many other attempts by the Big 10 to coerce ND into joining, this is not going to work.
As long as the system stays like it is, ND will never join a football conference.
They don’t need to.
Fully agreeable John.
If this rivalry shuts down, we should start up a BYU vs Notre Dame rivalry. Think about it – Catholics vs Saints. Would be awesome.
It won´t happen. Notre Dame thinks they´re good for us anyway by not ever giving us the return game. Our non-conference schedules are also crowded and I would honestly just rather go back to playing Utah State and Boise State or other old MWC and WAC opponents before trying to start an annual series with Notre Dame. They would also beat us way more often then not.
Here is My official decision I want Notre Dame-USC rivalry to continue & only change I want to see is during even numbered years when rivalry is played in L.A. & have it done in either September or October & this would be excellent for Big Ten because they really like conference games in November which I am fan of too & still like third Saturday in October in South Bend during odd numbered years also I support Gerry idea of having Notre Dame-Miami during Thanksgiving weekend & Miami would make a fantastic primary ACC opponent for Fighting Irish.
Here is My dream Big Ten Football schedule for one certain weekend in 2026.
This is only a mock schedule.
October 17th
Rutgers at Northwestern
Oregon at Illinois
Michigan State at Michigan
Wisconsin at Penn State
Ohio State at Iowa
Maryland at Purdue
Minnesota at Washington
Indiana at Nebraska
Notre Dame at USC
Idle: UCLA
God Bless & have a safe & excellent Memorial Day 2025 everybody.
I like to see Notre Dame-USC preserve its rivalry & play third Saturday in October every year in both South Bend & LA.
UCLA-USC play every Thanksgiving weekend at both Rose Bowl & Coliseum.
SEC go to nine game conference schedule.
USC alum here. Screw ND. They should be in the B10 and be playing Michigan, MSU and Purdue every year plus ND. It’s their choice not to play USC when we offered them a deal that they did not accept. USC does not owe ND anything. We run this sport. Not them. They think they can play 12 games each year as every other championship contender plays 13 and get a first round bye? I don’t think so. This is the time to force their hand and say you are either joining the B10 or you are out. Peace out, losers.