USC Plans to Continue Notre Dame Rivalry After Big Ten Move, per Report

USC and UCLA officially joined Big Ten on Thursday and left Pac-12 after 94 years of being in the conference. The transition will be effective on Aug. 2, 2024. 

After the news dropped, many college football fans wondered if USC will still play an annual game against its storied rivalry Notre Dame.

ESPN Radio’s Arash Markazi reports that the Trojans plan to continue the nearly 100-year long tradition of playing the Fighting Irish every year. This is one game that USC will not be changing, along with the UCLA rivalry, which moves to the new conference.

USC and Notre Dame have played each other 92 times since 1926, and the Fighting Irish currently lead the series 48-36-5 overall. Notre Dame won the 2021 meeting 31–16.

Outside of the games, the two schools rival each other in football titles and honors. Combined, the two schools have won 24 national championships and 14 Heisman Trophy winners. Notre Dame has 102 Consensus All-Americans in program history, the most in college football, while USC has 82. The two schools have the most players selected in the NFL draft with the 546 Fighting Irish and 530 Trojans players selected.