USC and Notre Dame are days away from one of the most significant clashes in the recent history of their long rivalry — it’s a playoff elimination game for both teams — but you’d never know the stakes are lofty with so much focus on the future.
Could this be the final game in a storied series that began in 1926? After all, the contract between the schools expires Saturday night.
The Trojans are reportedly talking to Netflix about moving the 2026 home date with Notre Dame (if the contract is extended) to a neutral site for what one source called an “absurd” paycheck — a tantalizing development, for sure. The Big Ten’s media partners (Fox, NBC and CBS) are none too pleased, which only adds to the hubbub.
But too little attention has been paid to the most vexing issue: the placement of Notre Dame’s home game on the teams’ schedules.
USC’s trips to South Bend come in odd years, always in the middle of October. That was perfectly manageable when the Trojans were in the Pac-12, a regional conference. (What a concept!) But life in the Big Ten means multiple cross-country flights each season for conference play.
With a College Football Playoff selection process that places significant weight on regular-season record — over 12 years, no three-loss team has made the cut — the Trojans are wary of an obstacle no other team in the Big Ten faces: a non-conference game in the middle of the season on the other side of the country against what is typically a Top 25 opponent.
This season, they play Purdue, Illinois and Nebraska on the road, plus Notre Dame.
In two years, they are scheduled to play Iowa, Maryland and Ohio State on the road, according to the Big Ten opponent rotation. Add Notre Dame, and the Trojans would have four trips across the country, plus a date at Washington.
Isn’t that exactly what USC signed up for when it joined the Big Ten? Well, yes. But that doesn’t mean coach Lincoln Riley and the administration are committed to the experience.
They prefer an alternative: Continue the series, just without a trip to South Bend smack in the middle of conference play. USC wants to play the South Bend game in the first half of September.
That makes perfect sense, except the Irish are as wary of that window as USC is of playing in October. Why? Because Notre Dame’s schedule is often front-loaded. Early September is the window for marquee intersectional games, before teams plunge into conference play.
This year, the Irish played Miami and Texas A&M in the opening weeks.
In coming seasons, they have home-and-home series with Michigan State, Texas, Alabama, Indiana, Clemson, Florida and Michigan, according to FBschedules.com. Add a home date with USC to the September lineup and the Irish would face a gauntlet out of the gate in odd years.
USC and Notre Dame officials are in constant communication, but it’s a tricky situation. As such, allow the Hotline to offer a suggestion: Move the game up — all the way up.
Turn USC-Notre Dame into the sport’s unofficial official kickoff to the regular season.
Whether it’s played in Los Angeles, South Bend, Las Vegas or Ulaanbaatar — whether it’s shown on NBC, Fox, Netflix or the BBC — slot the game into Week 0 every year.
That would require a waiver from the NCAA, or maybe it wouldn’t. The schools could just sign the agreement and dare the toothless NCAA to do something about it.
The timing would work well for the Trojans by removing the South Bend trip from their October schedule. But our plan is problematic on Notre Dame’s end. In odd years, the Irish have Week 1 dates on the books against Purdue (2027), Alabama (2029), Clemson (2031) and Michigan (2033).
We suspect coach Marcus Freeman would push back on a schedule that featured the Trojans on Week 0 and the Crimson Tide on Week 1. The Irish could very well have two losses before Labor Day. The same likely applies to the Clemson and Michigan years.
But Notre Dame’s early-season schedule is open starting in 2035, so that could become the official start of the Notre Dame-USC Kickoff Classic, with every game thereafter (in South Bend and in Los Angeles) placed on the Week 0 schedule.
In the meantime, there are four problematic years, so allow us to offer a compromise:
— In 2027, the South Bend game is scheduled for Week 0, and the Irish simply deal with playing Purdue the following Saturday. (It’s Purdue.)
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— In 2029, USC agrees to a South Bend trip in October with concessions from the Big Ten on the number of cross-country trips the Trojans make for conference games. That should be easy enough — the league office hasn’t set opponent rotation beyond the 2028 season. (To mitigate USC’s travel, the Big Ten could place all three West Coast teams on the Trojans’ schedule.)
— In 2031, the Trojans and Irish play in South Bend on Week 0, except they slot the game on Friday night, a first-of-its-kind affair. (Again, the NCAA is in no position to reject the request.) Because Notre Dame is supposed to play Clemson on Labor Day, the Friday game on Week 0 would give the Irish nine days between games.
— In 2033, the Trojans accept the mid-October assignment with the appropriate schedule mitigations from the Big Ten.
So from the four tricky years, we have the following:
USC deals with South Bend in October twice, with assists from the Big Ten; and Notre Dame deals with the Week 0/Week 1 double-dip twice, once with Purdue on the back end and once with Clemson and nine days rest.
It would take concessions and compromises from both schools, along with accommodations from Big Ten HQ. But the series is far too meaningful — and too valuable — to vanish into the realignment sea.
And if the schools play it right, every USC-Notre Dame matchup would be played Week 0 starting in 2035, thus giving the sport the kickoff game it deserves.
*** Previously published Hotline articles on sports media:
— How the Week 5 games highlight CBS’ big whiff with the SEC
— Explaining the 11 p.m. (ET) kickoff time for USC-Michigan State
— Dave Portnoy and Ohio State is a dangerous game for Fox
— The Big 12’s social media game is clever, proactive and undaunted
— Pac-12 partners with The CW on media rights for 2026+
— Where (and when) to find Big 12 football games this season
— Low ratings, NFL conflicts make it clear: CFP calendar needs to change
— Thanksgiving Eve is an open broadcast window the Big 12, Pac-12 should exploit
— Fox’s Friday night strategy and the future of sports on TV
— Explaining the Big Ten’s TV selection process
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