USC, Notre Dame in Talks to Revive Historic Rivalry

When the USC Trojans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish announced they'd be ending their longstanding rivalry, which dated back to World War II, this season, many fans were upset.

Notre Dame announced a new annual series with BYU in place of the yearly USC game, despite the Trojans offering to keep the game on the schedule but move it to Week 0 instead of the end of the year to avoid being penalized by the College Football Playoff committee for a possible late-season loss.

Notre Dame wanted to keep the game at the end of the season, which USC contemplated but ultimately rejected after hearing about the Irish's special College Football Playoff provision next season that guarantees them a spot in the CFP field if they finish in the top 12 of the final playoff rankings.

But according to Ryan Kartje of the L.A. Times, there's hope the historic rivalry game could be revived sometime soon.

"USC and Notre Dame are in active discussions to resume play, The Times has learned," Kartje wrote. "It's not clear yet when the rivalry series will return or what the terms will be. A person familiar with the discussions not authorized to talk about them publicly told The Times that Notre Dame is now willing to discuss playing the game earlier in the season, which had previously been a sticking point."

Kartje also pointed out that because of future scheduling agreements, it's possible the two schools won't play again until 2030.

USC and Notre Dame were close to signing a new agreement at the end of last season, which was nixed after the Trojans found out about the latter's deal with the CFP.

"USC considered that a ‘material advantage' to its rival and pulled its offer to Notre Dame," Kartje added.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 2:05 PM.