Why Notre Dame's CFP reaction changes the narrative about USC rivalry

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One of the most annoying trends in the current college football landscape in my opinion is teams shying away from tough regular season competition in order to carve out the easiest possible path to the College Football Playoff. The USC football program has earned its share of scrutiny on this topic due to its public comments about the USC-Notre Dame rivalry and whether or not it should continue, as well as the Trojans‘ lack of scheduled non-conference opponents outside of the Mountain West/future Pac-12.

Public relations battle changes

I have been on record saying that regardless of what was going on behind the scenes related to extending the USC-Notre Dame rivalry, USC was losing the public relations war with Notre Dame, which was frustrating to see as a Trojan fan. I don’t want USC to be scared of playing anybody.

If I had my way, USC would have the toughest non-conference schedule in the country. It would be wildly entertaining for fans, and force the Trojans to get better ahead of conference play. That’s what matters the most in the 12-team era of the CFP anyway: being top 2-3 in your power conference.

This topic deserves a rethink

But this week, I am rethinking my previous criticisms of USC. Especially as it relates to the Trojans’ rivalry future with Notre Dame. Because as much as USC has frustrated me, I am really glad to not be an Irish fan this week after how they have thrown such a fit this week because they were left out of the College Football Playoff.

Let’s talk about it.

Marcus Freeman’s Past Comments: Why I believe Notre Dame had the PR upper hand

Back in May, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said something awesome about the USC-Notre Dame rivalry:

“It’s pretty black and white for me,” Freeman said. “You want my opinion? I want to play them every single year. When? I don’t care. I don’t care when we play them. Start of the season, middle of the season, end of the season — I don’t care. I want to play USC every year because it’s great for college football.”

At the time that he said this, USC was taking a softer stance on the issue. Yes we want to play the game, Trojans like Lincoln Riley and Jen Cohen essentially said, but only if it makes sense for us in regards to our conference and travel schedule.

As participants in last season’s national championship game, those words held plenty of weight. Notre Dame looked fearless.

They backed it up by beating USC this season also. I haven’t forgotten that, I’ll give credit where it was due.

Notre Dame left out of CFP this year for weak schedule

This season, Notre Dame was pretty clearly left out of the College Football Playoff for having a weak regular season schedule.

The Irish lost their first two games of the season to Miami and Texas A&M, two teams that are in the 2025 CFP field. Then, they won 10 in a row. On paper, that makes it seem like the Irish were one of the best teams in the country for the last 10 weeks of the season.

But the 10 teams they beat finished with a combined 55-65 record. The Irish played 3 teams that finished 2-10, a team that finished 3-9, and a team that finished 4-8. They beat only 2 ranked teams: USC and Pittsburgh.

I don’t think the CFP committee bought the fearless attitude that Notre Dame was trying to portray. How can the college football world know that you’re among the best if you don’t play the best?

Notre Dame backs out of bowl game after CFP elimination

But it’s not how Notre Dame played this season that’s really telling. It’s how they reacted AFTER they were not chosen for the College Football Playoff that raised my eyebrows.

That started with declining to participate in a bowl game. To me, this doesn’t really make any sense. Yes, bowl games are meaningless compared to playing in the CFP. You just get a trophy, maybe a week of bowl-adjacent cultural experiences and bragging rights over whatever team you beat.

Pros and cons

But there’s really no harm in playing them? It usually poses a great opportunity for teams to get their younger players who are poised to make an impact next season some extra reps. The Irish said that they’re declining the bowl invite to focus on making the CFP next season. Practicing for and playing in a football game is a distraction from getting better as a football team? I just don’t get it. You can juggle recruiting, hitting the portal, and running football practice. It’s what college teams have to do all year anyway.

What are the Irish afraid of? Being exposed in the bowl like Florida State was against Georgia in 2023? That’s what this feels like to me.

The fight with the ACC

But Notre Dame’s attitude toward the bowl game isn’t the only choice that feels lame to me. Notre Dame’s newfound beef with the ACC is also soft in my opinion.

In case you didn’t know, Notre Dame is mad at the ACC for advocating that Miami be included in the College Football Playoff over the Irish.

So…the Irish are expecting the ACC to betray a member of its own conference in favor of an independent? Yes, the ACC and Notre Dame have a football scheduling agreement and ND is a member school of the ACC in basically every other major sport, but the ACC doesn’t owe the Irish football team anything.

Independence is a choice

Notre Dame has chosen to be independent, knowing both the benefits and consequences of that choice. They can’t expect to receive both the benefits of being independent and the benefits of being affiliated with a conference.

We all know Notre Dame is trying to game the system by being independent. But newsflash: they can’t have everything. So in this case, it’s time to acknowledge that the ACC’s bias towards Miami is completely fair and is a situation that the Irish caused themselves.

2026 playoff clause

To make all of this even weaker, Notre Dame had CFP officials sign a clause that if the Irish are ranked No. 12 or higher in the CFP rankings, they will automatically make the playoff beginning next season.

That’s not how the current system is supposed to work. If you are ranked below No. 10, there are no guarantees that you make the CFP because the top-5 ranked conference champions get automatic bids into the playoff field.

BYU was ranked No. 12 and missed the playoff this season. The Cougars only lost to 1 team all season long: Texas Tech, twice. You don’t see the Cougars going to the committee to draw up some special clause. The Cougars who, mind you, were independent themselves just a few seasons ago.

As all of this unfolds, it just becomes more and more clear that Notre Dame doesn’t want to win its way into the playoffs fair and square. They want special treatment.

Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule

Also let’s not forget that Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule is…looking even easier than its 2025 schedule.

Right now, the Irish are set to play only 2 power conference teams in 2026 that had a winning record in 2025. 2! Those teams are Miami and SMU. Oh yeah, and both are home games for the Irish. If ND adds USC to the schedule, that will be three bowl eligible power conference teams.

So to recap, Notre Dame wants to make the playoff despite two losses and an easy schedule otherwise. They want the financial benefits of being independent but the alliance benefits of being in partnership with the ACC. They want to cruise through an easy schedule but also have this clause in their back pocket if there are bumps in the road and they’re on the CFP bubble.

Power plays instead of just playing other teams

I’m sorry but that’s flat out lame. Stop making excuses. The Irish lost two games. If they won 1 of the 2, they would be in the playoff. It’s that simple. There are other 10-2 teams who missed out, like Vanderbilt and BYU and they aren’t crying nearly as much. Or at least, they aren’t threatening to uproot their entire future because of it.

Play good teams and beat those teams. College Football Playoff champions should be undisputedly the best team in college football and unafraid to prove it.

Alabama caveat

I’ve gone in on Notre Dame this entire article so, for the sake of Notre Dame fans, I just want to quickly make sure that I point out that I think Notre Dame deserves CFP inclusion over Alabama.

Three loss teams shouldn’t make the CFP unless they lost to the three top teams in the country. Alabama lost to two CFP teams AND lowly Florida State. Notre Dame just lost to two CFP teams. The math doesn’t really make sense.

HOWEVER, I think BYU deserved inclusion over Alabama also. AND, I think Notre Dame’s alternate path to the CFP over Alabama is clear. If they just were in a conference, played in a conference championship game, and won this past weekend while Alabama lost, they would have been in over the Crimson Tide. The committee chose to not punish Alabama for playing in a conference title game while the Irish sat idle, and I can’t blame them.

Again, sometimes your independence serves you and sometimes it comes back to bite you. You have to accept that.

USC-Notre Dame rivalry conversation, how it changes

After all of this, I think the conversation about the USC-Notre Dame rivalry changes.

Not about whether or not it should continue, because it absolutely should. But do we really believe that USC is the only school that is scared of competition in this rivalry? Like I said, the Trojans have made some disappointing comments and decision, but after what’s gone on this week, it’s clear that every move the Irish make is to create an unfair advantage for themselves.

This is not a USC fear factor anymore

In short, this is no longer about USC being scared to play Notre Dame. Notre Dame is clearly worried way more about making power plays off the field than on it, and there’s no way that Irish fans should feel confident that their team is willing to take on anybody at any time.

The only way forward for this rivalry is if the schools are willing to compromise. They need to find what’s best for both USC and Notre Dame. And they need to be unafraid of the fact that it will make their schedules more difficult.

If the rivalry ends, I’d better not hear anyone blaming one school or the other. This is on both schools. If it continues, good on them. If it doesn’t, they are both afraid of one another.

I’m not sure what the future holds for USC and Notre Dame, but that much is clear at this point.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Notre Dame threw a fit after being eliminated from CFP – USC noticed

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