Notre Dame and USC Agree to Renew Rivalry Starting With 2030 Season Opener

USC and Notre Dame agreed Monday to a four-game series beginning in 2030, ending the standoff that had wiped the rivalry off both schedules from 2026 through 2029. According to the joint announcement, USC hosts the Irish at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Week 1 of 2030, on Aug. 31, and Notre Dame hosts the return game at Notre Dame Stadium on Aug. 30, 2031, also in Week 1. The 2032 and 2033 meetings will fall within the first three weeks of those seasons, with exact dates still to be determined.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua and USC athletic director Jen Cohen both went on the record in the release. Bevacqua’s framing was about sites, not calendar placement.

“We want to play USC in Notre Dame Stadium, and they want to play us in L.A. Memorial Coliseum,” he said. “And frankly, that’s the way it should be.”

Cohen addressed the piece that actually took eight months to resolve.

“It remains important for us to play this game early in the season, as it allows us to schedule competitively with our Big Ten peers and takes into account the health and best interests of our student-athletes and program,” Cohen said.

Clearing the 2030 slot required moving something else. Notre Dame’s previously scheduled home-and-home with Indiana in 2030 and 2031 has been canceled, and outlets do not agree on why: Sports Illustrated reported the cancellation came at Indiana’s request, while CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports tied it to accommodating the USC return.

How the rivalry got back on the schedule

The two schools announced on Dec. 22, 2025, that they had failed to reach a scheduling agreement for 2026-2029. Notre Dame filled the hole immediately with a BYU home-and-home, Provo in 2026 and South Bend in 2027. Both sides issued a joint statement pledging to keep working toward a resolution.

The reported sticking point was the calendar. The Los Angeles Times’ Ryan Kartje reported that USC’s push to move the game to early season was tied to concern that a late-November loss to Notre Dame could damage the Trojans’ College Football Playoff positioning as a Big Ten member, a concern compounded by the CFP rule granting Notre Dame an automatic bid when it finishes in the top 12. Neither school has confirmed that reasoning on the record.

The series has been played in late fall since 1926, and that is the part of the deal Notre Dame did not get to keep. Beginning in 2030, the game moves to the opening weekend of the season for four straight cycles, with the last three meetings scheduled within the first three weeks. Notre Dame wanted it where it has always been, and USC’s athletic director spent the day of the announcement explaining why Week 1 was the condition.

What Freeman and Riley said during the standoff

Marcus Freeman was asked about the rivalry repeatedly across the eight months it sat in limbo, and his answer did not change. He advocated for keeping the game on the schedule in the spring, before the breakdown.

“That rivalry’s important for college football, and I’m confident that with Ron Powlus and Pete Bevacqua we’ll get that rivalry back,” Freeman said.

Lincoln Riley’s explanations have been less consistent. In July 2024, he suggested he would be willing to drop Notre Dame if USC’s schedule became too difficult. Asked about the series on Monday, he pointed to the Big Ten.

“We’re part of a conference,” Riley told ESPN. “We have a conference schedule to answer them to.”

He also said this: “Our desire to play this game has never been questioned, never will. I think this benefits everyone.”

Bevacqua, in the same release, said the agreement was “great for Notre Dame, great for USC and great for college football.”

What changes when the series returns

The on-field record is not close. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 53-38-5 across 96 meetings. The Irish have won three straight and seven of the last eight, including the 34-24 win in South Bend in 2025 that closed the pre-pause era. Freeman is 3-1 against USC. Riley is 1-3.

Riley enters 2026 under real pressure in Los Angeles after four seasons that have not come close to what USC hired him to deliver, and there is no guarantee he is the one coaching the Trojans when this thing starts back up. Four years is a long runway. Freeman has to keep Notre Dame in the playoff conversation through the front half of that window, and USC has to build a roster that can survive an Aug. 31 opener against a top-tier program instead of using September to find itself. Week 1 does not soften this game. It just means neither side gets a warmup before it.