Don't blame Lincoln Riley. Don't blame USC either.
It is not their fault. The Trojans' schedule is a sign of the times – and perhaps a peek into the future of softer non-conference scheduling in college football.
On Wednesday, Saturday Down South's Matt Hayes reported USC tried to "back out of the 2024 season opener against LSU in Las Vegas because Riley didn't want the game, according to multiple sources." Then, Colin Cowherd questioned the place of the USC-Notre Dame rivalry on "The Herd."
"I'm going to ask a question: Why do they have to keep playing Notre Dame?" Cowherd said. "Colin, the history? Oh, gimme a break. College football punted on history last year."
"I'm going to ask a question. Why does USC have to keep playing Notre Dame? College football punted on history last year." — @ColinCowherd pic.twitter.com/PojBgM9ZOY
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) May 29, 2024
Don't blame Cowherd either. He has a point. LSU and Notre Dame book-end what is going to be a very-difficult schedule for the Trojans. That coincides with USC's first year in the Big Ten and the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff. How that goes could determine how the Trojans – and other Big Ten and SEC teams – schedule in the future.
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Did Lincoln Riley, USC want out of LSU game?
Saturday Down South reported "USC and LSU will each earn $5 million from the Las Vegas Bowl for the game, which was scheduled in August of 2021." The Trojans and Tigers will play the Las Vegas Kickoff Classic on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET. It is the best Week 1 matchup, so why would the Trojans want out?
"Everybody is going to go after Lincoln Riley," Cowherd said. "But it should have never been scheduled."
It was scheduled before the Trojans joined the Big Ten. USC, Oregon, UCLA and Washington all begin play in the Big Ten this season, and the Trojans' schedule is not easy.
Some might skewer Riley and USC for wanting to back out of a marquee non-conference game, and Riley likely will get this question during Big Ten Media Days in July, if not sooner. But just take a look at USC's 2024 schedule first:
| DATE | OPPONENT | 2023 RECORD |
| Sept. 1 | vs. LSU (at Las Vegas) | 10-3 |
| Sept 7 | vs. Utah State | 6-7 |
| Sept. 14 | Bye | |
| Sept. 21 | at Michigan | 15-0 |
| Sept. 28 | vs. Wisconsin | 7-6 |
| Oct. 5 | at Minnesota | 6-7 |
| Oct. 12 | vs. Penn State | 10-3 |
| Oct. 19 | at Maryland | 8-5 |
| Oct. 25 | vs. Rutgers | 7-6 |
| Nov. 2 | at Washington | 14-1 |
| Nov. 9 | Bye | |
| Nov. 16 | vs. Nebraska | 5-7 |
| Nov. 23 | at UCLA | 8-5 |
| Nov. 30 | vs. Notre Dame | 10-3 |
The combined record of USC's opponents is 106-53 – a .667 winning percentage that includes road games at Michigan and Washington – last year's CFP championship game participants. Penn State is another 10-win team on the schedule, and USC ends conference play with a road game at rival UCLA. Then, they have to play yet another 10-win team in Notre Dame. That gets to the heart of Cowherd's argument about the rivalry with the Irish.
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Is Colin Cowherd right about USC-Notre Dame?
Cowherd expanded on his thoughts on the future of the Notre Dame-USC rivalry with the Trojans' move to the Big Ten.
"You want to join the Big Ten, Notre Dame, then I'll play you," Cowherd said. "But I got Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State … Camp Randall, Columbus, Eugene, Husky Stadium. Then I got my rival at the end of the year. Then I got the conference championship. Then I got the 12-team playoff. I'm punting Notre Dame out of respect for Notre Dame."
USC-Notre Dame ranked No. 6 on our SN 150 series that highlighted the top 10 rivalries in college football. That was five years ago – which feels like 50 years ago given the changes in the sport. How it exists with the Trojans moving to the largest conference in the FBS will be an open-ended question.
The Trojans will question this relationship if this continues.
That is going to make Irish fans upset, but that is reality. The USC schedule in 2024 is much more difficult than Notre Dame's – whose opponents had a combined record of 84-70 (.545) last season. Teams with 10 wins or more include Florida State, Louisville and Miami, Ohio.
This isn't even USC's most-difficult schedule over the next three years. USC's non-conference schedule in 2025 adds a home-and-home with Ole Miss. Keep an eye on this discussion in 2026. USC's non-conference schedule is Fresno State, Ole Miss and Notre Dame. The Trojans have road games at Penn State, Wisconsin and UCLA and home games against Ohio State, Oregon and Washington.
Notre Dame-USC will remain on the schedule for the foreseeable future, especially with NBC having contracts with the Irish and the Big Ten. But each year the Trojans take on a Big Ten schedule against Notre Dame and their five-game ACC arrangement this debate might intensify.
Will fewer huge non-conference matchups happen in the 12-team CFP era?
LSU-USC is one of the best non-conference matchups of the early season, but it is now an SEC-Big Ten matchup. The other marquee September matchup is Michigan-Texas – also a SEC-Big Ten matchup. Those are the two best matchups of the early-season schedule, but will fewer matchups like this materialize in the future?
The future is going to be dictated by how teams position themselves to get into the 12-team College Football Playoff. The 18-team Big Ten and 16-team SEC will get the most at-large berths, but do those schools now have less incentive to play mega-matchups in September?
After all, Michigan won the national championship last season with a non-conference schedule that included East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green. Washington played Boise State, Michigan State and Tulsa. Nobody from those fan-bases complained when they were in Houston last year.
Remember, the Big Ten plays nine conference games. No two-loss team made the four-team College Football Playoff. How many three-loss teams will make the 12-team College Football Playoff? Will teams alter their schedule and treat their non-conference like a preseason of sorts? Why should USC play LSU in September when that could be a quarterfinal matchup in the 12-team CFP? Don't be surprised if more teams soften their September schedule in the future so they can absorb an extra loss or two in conference play.
Behind closed doors, those athletic directors and coaches might point to USC over the next three years as an example why. Don't blame them either.
This is the college football world we live in now.
