With the longterm future of the Notre Dame-USC college football rivalry in jeopardy, Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman made his opinion on the matter clear while speaking to media members on Thursday.
Freeman would like to play the Trojans every year.
"Where I feel about USC is very clear," Freeman said, according to 247 Sports. "We would love to play 'em every single year. It don't matter when we play 'em. I would love to continue the rivalry as long as I'm the head coach here."
"I think rivalries are great for college football, and I think they're great for sports because that's the one game of year you throw out records, you throw out (everything). And I've been a part of some of the greatest rivalries that there's been."
Freeman added that he believes the Notre Dame-USC rivalry, a battle of bluebloods that has featured 95 matchups since 1924, is "important" to college football. The 2025 installment of the rivalry, set to be played in South Bend on Oct. 18, is the final game in the current contract, with USC offering a one-year extension to play the game in 2026.
College football's changing landscape, including USC's realignment and the ever-changing College Football Playoff format, has given the Trojans pause about a longterm deal with Notre Dame.
USC coach Lincoln Riley expressed as much at Big Ten media days this past summer.
"I would love to [continue the series]. I know it means a lot to a lot of people," Riley said, at the time. "The purist in you, no doubt. Now if you get in a position where you got to make a decision on what’s best for SC to help us win a national championship vs. keeping that, shoot, then you got to look at it."
"And listen, we’re not the first example of that. Look all the way across the country. There has been a lot of other teams sacrificing rivalry games. And I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. But as we get into this playoff structure, and if it changes or not, we’re in this new conference, we’re going to learn something about this as we go and what the right and the best track is to winning a national championship, that’s going to evolve."
Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua echoed Freeman when speaking about the rivalry to Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde earlier in May, saying he believes the two teams should play every year.
Notre Dame earlier in May announced a 12 game home-and-home contract with Clemson, which will see the teams go head-to-head beginning in 2027 until 2038. It will be interesting to see if Notre Dame and USC can make any headway on a longterm deal.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Marcus Freeman Makes Opinion Clear on Notre Dame-USC Rivalry Game .
