Notre Dame and USC have found a way to keep their rivalry alive, and that kind of compromise ought to have Michigan paying attention.
College football is better when nonconference rivalries stay on the schedule. That much is obvious from the sport’s best annual grudge matches, the kind that live outside league lines and still feel like they carry everything.
USC and Notre Dame are back on track now, with the series set to restart in 2030. They’ll open Week 1 in Los Angeles that year and then meet again in Week 1 in South Bend the following season.
The announcement matters beyond that one rivalry, because it opens the door for another old matchup that has been missing for too long: Michigan and Notre Dame.
That series used to be one of the sport’s nastier early-season fights. The two schools are close enough geographically to make every meeting feel personal, and the games were usually played in the second or third week of the season. The last time they met was in 2018 and 2019, and the series now sits at 25-17-1 in favor of Michigan, with the last Wolverines win coming in 2019.
Former Michigan star Taylor Lewan is already on board with the idea of bringing it back. During the 2025 season, Lewan had Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman on his podcast, “Bussin’ With The Boys,” after the Irish beat USC. Lewan used the moment to ask Freeman who Michigan should talk to if it wanted the rivalry revived as a regular fixture.
Freeman was in favor of it, and so was former Notre Dame running back Jeremiah Love, who said it was one of the forgotten rivalries he would like to see return.
When these two programs used to meet, it had a different kind of edge. It wasn’t just another game on the calendar. It was the kind of early-season matchup that brought out the best of both sides, and as Lewan put it, it really is the two best helmets in college football going up against each other.
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