The USC-Notre Dame rivalry, which has defined a tradition for nearly a century now, is set to take a drastic step. USC AD Jen Cohen went to State of Troy to discuss the scheduling issues that have been bothering the program. Cohen delved deep into the matter that has been a headache for USC head coach Lincoln Riley.

In the State of Troy post, Jen Cohen discussed the limited number of strategic levers programs can use to qualify for the playoffs in the toughest conference in college football. One of those levers is non-conference scheduling, an area where they have full control, including who they schedule, when they schedule them, and where the games take place. Cohen added that USC plans to use this lever more strategically by scheduling equitably with its Big Ten rivals and playing non-conference opponents as early as possible.

She explained that USC is the only Big Ten team to play a non-conference road or home game after Week 4 in each of the last two seasons. Because of that imbalance, USC intends to shift those matchups earlier in the schedule. Instead of facing rivals like Notre Dame in Week 8, as they did this season, the Trojans expect to play the Fighting Irish and other non-conference opponents before Week 4 next year.

Jen Cohen also noted in the post that, besides USC, only UCLA and Northwestern played non-conference opponents (Fresno State and UL-Monroe), but those matchups came against a Group of Five teams. She then drew comparisons to last year’s Ohio State squad, which finished fourth in the Big Ten and played all of its non-conference games between Weeks 1 and 3.

Cohen believes that if Ohio State had been forced to play an additional non-conference road game in the middle of Big Ten play, it would have added significant stress to the roster or even caused a third loss. Instead, because the Buckeyes did not face any non-conference opponents after Week 4, they avoided that extra burden and still qualified for the playoffs despite suffering two Big Ten defeats.

So, Jen Cohen plans on removing non-conference games from USC’s schedule after Week 4 to ease the pressure on Lincoln Riley. While Cohen does not mention Notre Dame specifically, it’s clear the change stems from USC’s 34-24 loss to the Irish in Week 8. The defeat not only knocked the Trojans out of the AP Top 25 but also pushed them out of the Coaches Poll and hurt their standing in the conference.

How will the scheduling change take effect for Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans?

The scheduling change taken by Jen Cohen is set to take place from the 2026 season. This means that starting next season, USC will schedule at least one Power Four opponent among its three non-conference games. This would mean USC could likely face a rival, like UCLA or Notre Dame.

The non-conference scheduling decision will be taken based on feedback from stakeholders of the Trojans, including Lincoln Riley, USC administration, Jen Cohen, and her staff. USC already has home games lined up against Big Ten opponents, namely Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, and Maryland, for the upcoming season.

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The 2026 season for the Trojans will also see away trips to Indiana, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Rutgers. So, with an already packed schedule, USC will announce its non-conference opponents after careful consideration later. One of those games would likely be against longtime rivals Notre Dame.