Big Ten media days: USC-Notre Dame rivalry expires in 2026 — with no sure bet it will be extended

Chicago Tribune

3 days ago

LAS VEGAS — All the reshuffling of schedules, conferences and playoff formats in college football has placed one of the sport's best traditions in peril: the USC-Notre Dame game.
The contract for a rivalry that dates to 1926 expires after their game in 2026.
Both schools have expressed a willingness to lock down more games, but differences over how many appear to be holding up the negotiations.
USC's move to the Big Ten gave the Trojans less flexibility on their nonconference schedule. Big Ten teams have nine conference games and only three open slots.
Speaking at Big Ten media days Thursday, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said he was, of course, hopeful that the series will continue. But not at any cost.
'I want to play the game. Absolutely. It's one of the reasons I came here,' Riley said. 'But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame, and it's not to anybody else. I'm the head football coach at USC, and I'm going to back USC.'
Some of the uncertainty revolves around the College Football Playoff.
The Trojans have lost six of the last seven against Notre Dame. If CFP leaders decide to award four automatic bids to the Big Ten, which is the conference's preference, a long-term deal to play the Irish might be more palatable to USC. A system with more at-large bids, however, would make it more difficult, from a CFP standpoint, to absorb a nonconference loss.
Preston Stone is a good ol' Texas boy who starred in high school for Parish Episcopal and then spent four years at SMU. After entering the transfer portal following last season, however, he finally got to visit a team he once admired from afar — behind a video-game controller when he was 11 years old.
'For absolutely no reason whatsoever, when I was a little kid playing NCAA 14, I would always be Northwestern,' Stone said. 'They had really cool black uniforms and they had a fast quarterback in Kain Colter, who I used to love playing with in the game.'
So, after touring the campus and meeting Wildcats coach David Braun and offensive coordinator Zach Lujan, Stone was sold on transferring from the Lone Star State to Evanston.
'Facilities are incredible, I think we have the best indoor in the whole country,' Stone said. 'You could feel a level of sincerity from Coach Braun. That was just different. And first meeting coach Lujan, you could tell from the first couple minutes with him, how incredibly smart of an offensive mind he is. I knew that if I came here they were going to set me up for success.'
If UCLA improves on the field as much as coach DeShaun Foster did behind the mic at Big Ten media days, this could be a good year for the Bruins.
Foster spoke Thursday and made fun of his 2024 appearance, which included a cringeworthy 72-second opening statement highlighted by this observation about the program he was taking over: 'I'm sure you guys don't know much about UCLA, our football program, but we're in LA.'
In heading to the lectern Thursday, Foster didn't shy from that moment. He acknowledged he took some ribbing from players and others after last year's effort.
'Last year I stood up here and reminded everyone that UCLA is in LA, which, looking back, might have been the most obvious geography lesson in Big Ten history,' Foster said. 'But you know what? Important things are worth stating clearly. We are in LA, and we're proud to be in LA'
Underneath all those laughs, though, was a serious message. Foster, embarking on his second season at Westwood, said the moment 'taught me a valuable lesson. Authenticity resonates more deeply than perfection.'
He faces a big challenge. The Bruins haven't won a conference title since 1998 and haven't played on Jan. 1 since that season's Rose Bowl.
Bolstering UCLA's hopes is the arrival of quarterback Nico Iamaleava from Tennessee. Iamaleava helped the Vols make the College Football Playoff last season.
Penn State's Nick Dawkins, the son of NBA legend Daryl Dawkins, will be one of four returning starters on the offensive line this season. That might not have been the case had the Nittany Lions not lost to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff.
'After that game specifically, I was pretty dead set after that for sure,' Dawkins said of his decision to return. 'I had some thoughts prior to the season ending, from a personal standpoint for my NFL draft stock, if it would be the best decision to come back. But when something like that happens, it kind of trumps all the individual stuff.'
Dawkins said it became more about the legacy of Penn State football and what he wanted to leave behind for the program's history.
'My whole life, I've been representing my last name, and my last name has had so much legacy and worth attached to it before,' said Dawkins, an all-Big Ten honorable mention last season. 'I've always been a part of something bigger than myself, and that's how I view my life, and Penn State falls right into that category.'