Notre Dame and USC are bringing back one of college football’s most recognizable series, and they’re doing it with a twist. The rivalry will restart in 2030 and keep its classic home-and-home setup, but the dates are moving up on the calendar in a major way.
The schools announced four games from 2030 through 2034, with the first two set for Labor Day weekend. USC will host on Aug. 31, 2030, and Notre Dame will return the trip on Aug.
30, 2031. The 2032 and 2033 matchups will also land in the first three weeks of the season, before USC opens Big Ten Conference play.
That shift came at USC’s request, with the Trojans looking to avoid extra midseason travel now that they’re in the Big Ten. The longtime format remains intact, though: no neutral sites, just Notre Dame Stadium and the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the way both programs want it.
“I think it’s great for Notre Dame, great for USC and great for college football,” Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua says of the series resumption.
“We want to play USC in Notre Dame Stadium and they want to play us in L.A. Memorial Coliseum,” Bevacqua says. “And frankly, that’s the way it should be.”
The rivalry will sit out from this season through 2029, ending a stretch in which the teams had been scheduled to keep meeting every year. Notre Dame had lined up Indiana for the first game of a two-game series in 2030, but sources tell Sports Illustrated that series has been canceled at Indiana’s request.
Last year, talks between Notre Dame and USC to extend the rivalry fell apart. Notre Dame responded by adding a two-year home-and-home with BYU for this season and next. USC has built out its nonconference slate as well, with games this season against San José State, Fresno State and Louisiana, plus 2027 games against Nevada and UNLV and a 2028 matchup with Fresno State.
Notre Dame and USC have met 96 times since the series began in 1926. The Irish lead 53-38-5 and have won the last three meetings and seven of the last eight. Marcus Freeman is 3-1 in the matchup as Notre Dame’s coach, while Lincoln Riley is 1-3 at USC.
For now, the two teams’ next possible meeting would have to come in the College Football Playoff or a non-CFP bowl game, even if both coaches have their best teams yet this season.
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