LAS VEGAS — After pictures had been fired all summer time over USC’s hand in the way forward for its rivalry with Notre Dame, coach Lincoln Riley reiterated throughout Massive Ten media day on Thursday that he “absolutely” needs to keep up the historic matchup.
“Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley mentioned. “It’s one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame and not to anyone else. I’m the head coach of USC. I’m going to back USC. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make USC as good as it can be. I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”
Riley has taken warmth in regards to the rivalry’s future since final 12 months’s Massive Ten media day, when he first shared considerations about how scheduling a marquee nonconference group may impression the Trojans’ playoff hopes.
Notre Dame has since used Riley’s feedback as public leverage, placing the duty for the rivalry’s future on USC.
“It’s pretty black and white for me. You want my opinion? I want to play them every single year,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman mentioned. “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.”
The sticking level in these negotiations, Riley confirmed, stays the uncertainty surrounding the Faculty Soccer Playoff format. All week in Las Vegas, Massive Ten coaches have voiced their assist for a playoff mannequin that may give the convention 4 automated qualifiers, with play-in video games to find out which of the Massive Ten’s high six groups would get these spots.
Riley added Thursday that there are “a million reasons” why the convention’s most popular format ought to be adopted, however sustaining historic rivalries like USC-Notre Dame “might be the most important.”
“We give every reason for college football to preserve nonconference games that mean a lot to the history of the game, the fan bases and the former players and everyone,” Riley mentioned.
However that format would additionally take nonconference scheduling virtually fully out of the equation when it got here to figuring out who deserves to be within the playoff.
The Massive Ten and the Southeastern Convention gave the impression to be in lockstep on calling for 4 automated qualifiers earlier this summer time. However the SEC has since championed a special format, leaving the Massive Ten and its coaches to defend their most popular format alone.
The stalemate between the 2 energy conferences may imply no adjustments are made to the playoff format for the foreseeable future. Equally, USC and Notre Dame seem no nearer to hashing out an settlement to proceed their collection, the final matchup of which is presently scheduled for this fall. Each, Riley mentioned, are coming from “radically different situations,” with USC certain to the Massive Ten and Notre Dame untethered by a convention. The Trojans desire a short-term settlement that permits for flexibility with any future playoff format. The Irish are searching for a long-term deal.
Nonetheless, Riley mentioned he was “really hopeful” that USC and Notre Dame may come to an understanding.
Why Vegas?
Usually, the Massive Ten holds its media days inside Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, and the three-day occasion actually may have carried momentum over from the WNBA’s All-Star weekend.
However the venue was booked for the week. So, relatively than return to a different outdated house, Chicago, the 18-team convention selected Las Vegas, a metropolis the place it doesn’t have an precise group however that’s nearer to a few of its newer packages: USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.
“I think, obviously, we are a conference that goes coast to coast, so having some presence closer to our West Coast members is not a bad thing,” commissioner Tony Petitti mentioned. “It started with logistics, to be really candid.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
