As any sports fan can attest, rivalries are one of the absolute best part of sports.
If your team is having a horrific year? It can still almost be salvaged by beating your rival, which is especially true in collegiate sports.
So why in the world have the University of Southern California and the University of Notre Dame decided to toss their historic rivalry to the wayside?
It’s a question that has legendary former USC wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson furious with his alma mater.
And he took to social media to air his grievances:
This is ridiculous! Just say we scared. I’ll accept that at least it’s the truth. 🤦🏾♂️ #USC #Trojans #NotreDame pic.twitter.com/B11S2sqcEX
— Keyshawn Johnson (@keyshawn) December 22, 2025
“This is ridiculous! Just say we scared. I’ll accept that at least it’s the truth,” Johnson posted above his video.
“Man, you know what? I’ve heard it all, seen it all — I can’t believe what I just heard,” the outspoken receiver said in the video. “But I just heard that we’re not playing Notre Dame. I think the series is getting ready to end like in the next year or so.
“Here’s what I’mma say man: I don’t know what the eff is going on with our athletic department. Okay, we’ve got people in there that are not Trojans, that don’t know anything about being a Trojan, running our athletic department. We got a head coach [Lincoln Riley] that knows nothing about being a Trojan,” he continued.
“Why don’t we just not play football? How about that? We not going to play Notre Dame again, possibly, till 2030 is what I’m understanding?
“That doesn’t make any sense. I grew up on Notre Dame-USC rivalry.”
Johnson continued to rant about the state of his alma mater for another minute or so, but the message was loud and clear: This was simply unacceptable to anyone who cares about the tradition and pageantry of college football.
According to ESPN, at the heart of this paused rivalry is the timing of the games.
The sports outlet reported, “Notre Dame and USC have said they want to continue their cherished rivalry, which began in 1926. But USC has expressed concern about the timing of the game, wanting it to be early in the season, when most Power 4 teams play marquee nonconference games.
“The USC-Notre Dame game in South Bend, Indiana, typically takes place in October, while the matchup in Los Angeles ends the regular season.”
For many college football purists, however, this is just the tip of the iceberg as the sport slowly morphs into something more resembling the NFL, with paid players and the transfer portal effectively operating as collegiate free agency.
But to the chagrin of college football purists, the cat appears to be out of the bag — and there may be no “going back.”
The USC-Notre Dame rivalry is paused indefinitely, because while Johnson intimated that the games could be back on at the end of the decade, a joint statement from the two schools proffered no such timeline.
“USC and Notre Dame recognize how special our rivalry is to our fans, our teams, and college football, and our institutions will continue working towards bringing back The Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh,” the joint statement, per ESPN, said. “The rivalry between our two schools is one of the best in all of sport, and we look forward to meeting again in the future.”
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