Notre Dame football adds series with BYU; puts USC rivalry in doubt
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Notre Dame football announced a home-and-home series with BYU Monday, Dec. 22. The Fighting Irish will travel to Provo for the 2026 season, with the Cougars coming to South Bend in 2027.
The more important news related to this, though, is it all-but cancels the Notre Dame series with historic rival USC, at least for the next two seasons.
Talks of continuing the rivalry have been unsuccessful, per multiple national media outlets. The Irish and Trojans have played every year since 1946, minus 2020, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notre Dame won the last game in the rivalry (for now), 34-24, back on Oct. 18 of this year in South Bend.
Dates were not announced for the games between Notre Dame and BYU. Traditionally, the Irish would be traveling to USC in the last week of November next year, with the 2027 game being in mid-October. It’s unclear if the Irish and Cougars will follow a similar scheduling trend or not.
Notre Dame and BYU were the “first two out” of the College Football Playoff this year. The Irish went 10-2 to finish ranked 11th, while BYU was 11-2 and ranked 12th. It was rumored that Notre Dame would be BYU’s opponent in the upcoming Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 27, but the Irish withdrew themselves from bowl game consideration within hours of the CFP snub.
The Irish lead the all-time series over the Cougars, 7-2. The most recent win came in 2022 as part of the Shamrock Series in Las Vegas.
Notre Dame football 2026 opponents
Full dates and times have not been announced, but here is who Notre Dame football will face in 2026.
Home: Rice, Michigan State, Miami Fla., Boston College, SMU, Stanford
Road: Purdue, North Carolina, Syracuse, BYU
Neutral site: Wisconsin (at Lambeau Field, Green Bay. Announced for Sunday, Sept. 6), Navy (at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA)
Austin Hough is a sports editor within the Center for Community Journalism at USA Today Co., overseeing high school sports and Notre Dame athletics coverage for five Indiana newspapers. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @AustinRHough. Hough can be emailed at ahough@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football playing BYU 2026 2027 canceling USC series for now
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