Former USC legend unveils the harsh reality about the Notre Dame football rivalry ending and Trojan head coach Lincoln Riley  

What happened to the college football we all loved and cherished growing up?

Ryan Roberts — National College Football Writer
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Jan 1, 1996; Pasadena, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans receiver Keyshawn Johnson (3) scores on a 56-yard touchdown reception during the third quarter against the Northwestern Wildcats at the Rose Bowl. USC defeated Northwestern 41-32. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

When you talk about the greatest rivalries in college football history, Notre Dame vs. USC is mentioned very quickly. The Fighting Irish and Trojans have played 93 times in the series history (Notre Dame holding a 51-37-5 record), leading to countless outstanding games, iconic moments, and a long list of memories for both fan bases. These great rivalries are what make college football so great. 

Unfortunately for fans on both sides of the rivalry, it is set to end for the foreseeable future. Due to scheduling differences between the teams, Notre Dame and USC currently have no future plans to play. There is a possibility that the series could start back up in 2030, but that’s the earliest that this historic rivalry would resume, and even that is uncertain at this point. The Irish have already picked up a two-year home-and-home deal with the BYU Cougars

As you can imagine, many people are upset about this break in the rivalry between the two schools. That includes former players, such as USC legend Keyshawn Johnson, who is one of the best wide receivers to ever play college football. He wasn’t shy in voicing his displeasure over the situation, but it was the Trojan side that Johnson blamed most. 

What Keyshawn Johnson said 

“Man, you know what? I’ve heard it all. I can’t believe what I just heard but we’re not playing Notre Dame. The series is getting ready to end in the next year or so. Here’s what I’m going to say: I don’t know what the F is going on with our athletic department. We got people that are not Trojans, that don’t know anything about being a Trojan, running our athletic department. Why don’t we just not play football? How about that? We’re not going to play Notre Dame again possibly until 2030. That doesn’t make any sense. 

“I grew up on the Notre Dame-USC rivalry and I’m not one to go in on my athletic department nor am I one to go in on a USC football coach. But if I can remember correctly, I had Lincoln Riley talking about, “Well, I don’t know if I want to play them in the future.” You ain’t gonna be here in the future. You’re not going to be here in the future. I promise you that. So, I don’t understand what our athletic department, our administration, okay, or board of trustees, board or regents – whatever you want to call it – what the hell are they doing? We running from teams now? Are we running from Notre Dame? Hell, why don’t we run from Oregon and Michigan and Ohio State and Wisconsin? Why do we just not be in a conference? We pull out, move, and just play Sacramento State. Won’t we play them type of teams? UC Davis? Because that’s what we want to do. 

“This is crazy. It really is crazy if you think about it. Michigan-Ohio State, one of the biggest rivalries in football. Alabama-Auburn, okay, they ain’t canceling that. Why would we cancel our biggest rivalry because we can’t beat them? Let me think. It makes zero sense, man. It’s just hard to support this program. It’s hard. It is really hard to support the program when we keep on doing this type of BS stuff. Just behavior. I can’t, man. We need Trojans doing Trojan things. We don’t need impostors coming here trying to do Trojan things. So leave that there.”

Lincoln Riley being Lincoln Riley 

For context, the break in the rivalry was due to a difference of opinion about when the game should be played. It has historically always been at the end of the season, which is what Notre Dame wants to continue. USC, instead, wants to move up the game to the very beginning of the season. Instead of compromise from their side, the Trojans decided to pull the plug on one of the greatest rivalries in college sports. 

As Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports wrote recently, “USC officials determined that the game date was not ideal considering past decisions from the CFP selection committee in punishing schools for losses, especially those late in the season.”

It’s funny to read that USC is so worried about what a late-season loss could do to the program. Here’s a revolutionary idea: Win the football game. 

When you look at USC head coach Lincoln Riley’s history, this latest action shouldn’t be much of a surprise. He left Oklahoma prior to their entrance into the SEC to try and dominate in the PAC-12. Then, Riley was a big reason why that conference ended up dissolving. Now that he’s in the Big Ten, Riley is attempting to make his path toward the College Football Playoff as easy as possible without a challenging schedule out of conference. 

As Johnson said, USC was here well before Riley, and it’ll be here way after he is gone. You have a head coach and athletic director without real ties to the Trojan program, and they clearly don’t care about history. The former players and unbiased media members see that there isn’t a real effort to preserve the greatest of this program, and look out for its best interest. 

Many national pundits without a clue in the world are going to sit here and blame Notre Dame. In reality, this is a Lincoln Riley problem. His resume shows that this type of action isn’t foreign, and the long-term outlook is much less important than the short-term success right now. Even all-time greats like Johnson are siding against the program’s actions.

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