Two things can be true about Lincoln Riley, the young Head Coach has an incredible resume, but he certainly hates a big challenge. When Oklahoma was set to join the SEC, Riley ran for the Hollywood hills, taking the USC Trojans job where he'd get to play in the Pac-12. The move didn't work out just as Riley would've expected, as the Trojans joined just as tough of a conference in the Big Ten.
One of the biggest challenges that came with taking the USC job was facing Notre Dame on a yearly basis. During Riley's three seasons leading the Trojans, USC is 1-2 against Notre Dame with back-to-back double-digit losses to the Fighting Irish.
As of late, it appears that Lincoln Riley may be freed from one of his biggest challenges leading the Trojans. In this new expanded College Football Playoff era, teams are reluctant to play tough Non-Conference games, which has the USC Trojans shying away from continuing a historic rivalry.
As fans look for a reason as to why this series may not continue, Notre Dame's Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua made it clear which program is willing to continue this series, and which one is running from the challenge.
"We make no secret about it. We want to play USC every year. I think it would be a horrible thing if we don’t. I think it would be bad for us. I think it would be bad for college football. And USC knows that."Pete Bevacqua
The ball is clearly in USC's court and while they may not want to face a team that could beat them on a yearly basis, certain things should remain sacred in College Football. These teams have faced off every season since 1926, with the only exceptions being for World War II and the pandemic.
Cancelling the rivalry would be terrible for College Football, and at some point, programs need to embrace tougher matchups. The Playoff expansion may give programs more of an incentive to test themselves, but we're currently heading in a direction where Non-Conference schedules will start to get weaker and weaker.
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