The USC football program has two significant rivalries on its schedule. First, they play UCLA, and then Notre Dame in a unique cross-country matchup. The USC-Notre Dame rivalry is one of the most unique rivalry games in the sport due to that factor, but due to the changing landscape in college football, there were questions about whether it would continue.
The 2025 season's addition of the rivalry is the last on the current deal between the schools, but both want a resolution moving forward. The holdup has been that USC wanted a one-year deal, while Notre Dame wanted a long-term contract.
USC intends to move the game to September and not play it during the heavy travel of the Big Ten schedule. These logistics are being ironed out, and USC Athletic Director Jen Cohen said she hopes a resolution can be reached.
“We’re trying to extend the series,” Cohen told the LA Times. “This is an important series for us, our fans, and our program, and hopefully, we will get to a resolution that supports that and is in the best interest of our program.”
Negotiations are ongoing, but Cohen did say that she is “really hopeful” that USC’s new offer, which is more in line with what Notre Dame wants, can be made sooner rather than later.
The discussions between the two schools reached a boiling point in May after Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua suggested to Sports Illustrated that the Trojans were endangering the series' future by not agreeing to extend it long term.
“I think Southern Cal and Notre Dame should play every year for as long as college football is played,” Bevacqua told SI, “and SC knows that’s how we feel.”
The two schools have played for the Jeweled Shillelagh 95 times since 1924, but with the contract expiring, the Trojans offered to extend it for one year to 2026 and revisit it after that. USC cited that they were waiting to see what happened with the College Football Playoff, specifically, how many automatic qualifiers there would be in the Big Ten.
Head coach Lincoln Riley also sounded hopeful about the rivalry, but emphasized that USC's interests came first.
“Do I want to play the game?” Riley said in July. “Hell yeah, I want to play the game. Absolutely. It’s one of the reasons I came here. However, my allegiance and loyalty are not to Notre Dame. It’s not for anybody else. I’m the head football coach at USC, and I’m going to back USC, and I’m going to do everything possible that I can, in my power, to make us as good as I can.
“I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”
