Alexander: Interrupting – ending? – USC-Notre Dame series is unnecessary

Yes, I am taking this personally.

And anyone who cares about USC football, or Notre Dame football, or college football at all – or history and tradition and the benefits of a spirited rivalry, or the simple concept of competition, for goodness’ sake – should be equally mad as hell.

USC and Notre Dame have played 96 times, the last 78 meetings interrupted only by the pandemic of 2020. Those schools have created a history that runs from Knute Rockne through John McKay into the Pete Carroll years and beyond, and memories that include Anthony Davis’ 1972 and ’74 performances against the Fighting Irish and the Bush Push in 2005.

Memories might be all that remains, after Monday’s announcement that the Irish and Trojans will not play in the 2026 season, and not again until 2030 – if then.

And we all know that it has nothing and yet everything to do with the College Football Playoff, which both teams missed this year.

Ostensibly, the reason was scheduling. It was to be USC’s home game in ’26, but rather than the traditional end of November date the Trojans were seeking to move the game to the Week Zero date in August.

Maybe there were indeed scheduling issues and an honest disagreement over when to play the game, but apparently the bone of contention was a deal Notre Dame quietly struck with the folks who run the College Football Playoff, guaranteeing a slot in the tournament beginning next season should the Irish finish in the top 12 of the final rankings.

Now, let’s back up a minute. The whole point of the rankings, as done each week by the CFP Selection Committee, is to determine the playoff field. If you’re in the top 12 you should unquestionably be in, right? (Of course, given that it’s being done by a committee, what could possibly go wrong?)

But according to reports, when USC’s athletic officials learned about the agreement they were convinced it was a leg up for a team that already has the advantage of not having to play a full conference schedule.

So, the idea of USC athletic director Jen Cohen reportedly issuing an ultimatum for that Week Zero date or nothing, which was rejected by Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua?

Incredibly weak.

Especially since Big Ten membership and that full conference schedule that supposedly helps create such a disadvantage was USC’s own choice, albeit by the previous athletic director, Mike Bohn. The fact remains: USC didn’t have to begin the exodus from the Pac-12, but it did.

Would the college football map look so unbalanced, so bloated, if UCLA and USC had stayed put in the first place? Wouldn’t the old Pac-12 have had a better chance to negotiate a suitable media rights deal with its flagship universities still on board?

We’ll never know.  And it’s immaterial at this point.

But Monday’s announcement certainly sounds like a program walking away from a battle instead of competing. Given Coach Lincoln Riley’s previous comments over the last year or so about how the Notre Dame game was a potential hurdle preventing USC from reaching the playoff, how can you help but come to that conclusion?

And credit to Keyshawn Johnson, loyal Trojan, for calling out his alma mater’s decision makers in a video statement on Monday afternoon.

“I don’t know what the F is going on with our athletic department,” he said. “Okay, we got people in there that are not Trojans, that don’t anything about being a Trojan, running our athletic department. We got a head coach that knows nothing about being a Trojan, Why don’t we just not play football? How about that?

“We’re not gonna play Notre Dame again, possibly till 2030 is what I’m understanding? 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 the USC football coach. But if I can remember correctly, I had Lincoln Riley talking about, ‘Well, I don’t know if I wanna play them in the future.’ You ain’t gonna be here in the future, especially if you keep missing the playoffs.”

If it looks like USC is avoiding a fight? To Johnson, that’s not what Trojans do.

“What the hell are they doing?” he asked. “We running from teams now? We running for Notre Dame? Hell, why don’t we run from Oregon and Michigan and Ohio State and Wisconsin. Why don’t we just not be in the conference? Why don’t we pull that move and just play Sacramento State? Why don’t we play them type of teams, UC Davis? …

“Michigan-Ohio State, one of the biggest rivalries in football. Alabama-Auburn. Okay, they ain’t cancelling that. Why would we cancel our biggest rivalry? Because we can’t beat them? It’s ridiculous. It makes zero sense, man.”

UCLA fans might quibble with that “biggest rivalry” description, but I couldn’t have written it much better than Keyshawn said it. And here was the kicker:

“It’s really hard to support the program when we keep on doing this type of stuff, this behavior. I can’t, man. We need Trojans doing Trojan things. We don’t need imposters coming in trying to do Trojan things. I’m gonna leave it at that.”

Is it fair to say that if you’ve lost Keyshawn Johnson, you’ve lost the alumni?

Oh, by the way, here’s one solution to that problem of Notre Dame as a hurdle to a playoff spot: Play better.

Going back to 2010, USC is 4-11 against Notre Dame. In Riley’s four years the Trojans have lost to the Irish three times, including a 34-24 loss on Oct. 18 in South Bend. If USC wins that one and finishes 10-2, might the Trojans have had a better shot at the playoff field?

The scheduling issue sounds a lot like an excuse, a reason to turn tail. I suspect that’s not what Trojans do, either.

Instead, Notre Dame will play a home-and-home with Brigham Young the next two years. Meanwhile, let’s pray that USC doesn’t fill that Week Zero date with, say, Sacramento State or UC Davis.

As for taking it personally? Yeah, I’ll admit it. My cousin’s daughter attends Saint Mary’s College, a partner institution located next to Notre Dame’s campus, and as part of that relationship is a member of Notre Dame’s marching band.

She’s not going to get that trip to Southern California to play in the Coliseum next year. And let’s just say she’s one of many, whether players or band members or support personnel – or fans – on both sides, who are collateral damage.

They’ll miss out, as will we all, because USC didn’t do enough to keep this series alive.

jalexander@scng.com