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USC Trojans head soccer coach Lincoln Riley is pointing fingers towards South Bend, Indiana.
The USC-Notre Dame soccer rivalry is likely one of the greatest within the sport, nevertheless it’s come to an finish as each applications had been unable to come back to an settlement on an extension to play one another for the 2026-27 season collection.
Riley made an look in entrance of the media earlier than his Trojans face TCU within the Valero Alamo Bowl, the place he didn’t thoughts taking a shot on the Combating Irish.
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Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans appears to be like on previous to a recreation towards the UCLA Bruins at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 29, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Harry How/Getty Pictures)
“It’s fairly easy. We each labored for months to attempt to discover a resolution,” Riley defined, per The New York Post. “Notre Dame was very vocal about the truth that they’d play us anytime, anyplace. Clearly, them not having a convention affiliation provides them a capability to be fairly versatile with their scheduling.
“We went again, Jen Cohen, our A.D., went again to Notre Dame roughly a few weeks in the past with a state of affairs and a proposal that might prolong the collection for the following two years. That proposal was rejected.”
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Riley wasn’t carried out, although. He didn’t like how Notre Dame shortly discovered a brand new opponent after the rejection.
“Not solely was it rejected, 5 minutes after we received the decision, it was introduced that they’d scheduled one other opponent, which I’ll give them credit score. That could be the quickest scheduling act in faculty soccer historical past,” he stated.
The staff Notre Dame went with as a substitute of USC was BYU, agreeing to a home-and-home collection as a substitute of going with their standard rival on the schedule.
In the meantime, USC remains to be attempting to determine who will fill out their schedule.
Notre Dame Combating Irish head coach Marcus Freeman reacts after an Irish landing towards the Pittsburgh Panthers in the course of the second quarter at Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 15, 2025. (Charles LeClaire/Imagn Pictures)
Since 1926, the Trojans and Combating Irish have been butting heads on the gridiron, enjoying 96 occasions with solely 4 missed video games over that span.
And people missed video games? Three from 1943-45 as a consequence of World Struggle II and one within the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We took Notre Dame at their phrase that they’d play us anytime, anyplace,” Riley added. “Had Notre Dame lived as much as their phrase and performed us anytime, anyplace, we might be enjoying within the subsequent two years, and looking out forward after that, hopefully persevering with the collection.”
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As an alternative, the all-time collection for the 2 storied applications will proceed to take a seat at 51-37-5 in favor of the Combating Irish.
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