USC and Notre Dame are at a crossroads when it comes to the future of their college football rivalry. The Trojans do not see a need to continue forth with the relationship while the Fighting Irish fight to retain one of the most historic games in the sport and to save themselves from having to fill another hole in their non-conference schedule.
Money might be the driving force behind a continue relationship between the two historic programs as boosters in Los Angeles start to revolt.
Notre Dame and USC first scheduled each other in college football in 1926. The rivalry has been played annually in all but four years since their initial meeting. They did not play in 1943, 1944 or 1945 because of World War II. They did not play in 2020 because of the pandemic.
As things currently stand, the Fighting Irish leads the all-time series 50-37-5. However, the Trojans dominated the rivalry in the early 2000s before it swung back the other direction over the last decade.
Very few uniform matchups are more iconic than the blue and gold against the cardinal and gold. Very few games are as intense as when USC travels to South Bend or Notre Dame travels to the Coliseum.
And yet, the future of the rivalry is currently in limbo. The expanded College Football Playoff might kill it off for good. There is not a huge benefit for the Trojans to schedule such a difficult non-conference game when they could essentially guarantee a win against lower-tier program instead of a challenging matchup against the Irish. In fact, we saw last year that losing a close non-conference loss against a strong opponent is a bigger hinderance on seeding than a close win over a nobody.
Both USC and Notre Dame made their opinions very clear but they cannot reach an agreement.
Meanwhile, the Trojans are being threatened by their boosters. According to Scott Wolf, some of the money men in Los Angeles are "beginning to reach out to the Board of Trustees" about the game. One such booster threatened to remove the university from his will if the rivalry series is cancelled.
The older generation wants to keep the game in tact and they have the deepest pockets. The younger generation does not care quite as much.
I personally would love to see the game continue. But... I would much rather see USC in the Playoff than not because of a loss to Notre Dame.
I know it is not that simple. And I understand how it could be short sided to leave the Pac-12 and kill a historic rivalry. There are pros and cons to both sides! Losing out on booster money might be the biggest con. It will be interesting to see how much money is on the line and if it proves to be the difference!