Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua Calls for Continuation of Annual Rivalry With USC

After Lincoln Riley hinted at a potential pause of the annual rivalry game, Bevacqua called for the game's continuation on Monday.

Incoming Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua announced Monday, March 18, 2023, that Chelsea LC and Scotland's Celtic FC will have a friendly soccer match on July 27 at Notre Dame Stadium. / MANDATORY CREDIT GREG SWIERCZ / USA TODAY NETWORK

USC head football coach Lincoln Riley was asked about the school's annual rivalry game with Notre Dame at Big Ten media day last week. And while Riley said that the football "purist" in him would like to see the longtime rivalry game with the Irish continue, he hinted that USC would have to look into what's best for the program in its pursuit of championships after entering a competitive Big Ten.

"I would love to," Riley said last week when asked about the continuation of the game. "I know it means a lot to a lot of people. The purist in you, no doubt. Now if you get in a position where you got to make a decision on what's best for SC to help us win a national championship versus keeping that, shoot, then you got to look at it."

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua took a stronger stance on Monday, telling Chris Vannini of The Athletic that the game should continue and that USC's administration has been "gung ho" as well about the rivalry, despite Riley's comments.

"We have every intention in the world and every desire to keep that USC-Notre Dame game going for as long as it possibly can," Bevacqua told Vannini. "Everything we heard from USC and the people we've been talking to over the course of the last year and beyond is they're gung ho as well. It's one of the great rivalries not just in football but in all sports. We absolutely want to continue that rivalry. We think it's wonderful for Notre Dame. We think it's wonderful for Southern Cal. We think it's great for college football. It's hard to imagine a college football landscape where Notre Dame and USC aren't playing each other on an annual basis."

It makes sense for Bevacqua to take the stance of continuing the premier game, as Notre Dame remains conference-less in the ever-changing college football landscape. There will be a continued emphasis for the Irish to schedule competitive football games throughout their schedule, especially against teams from the Big Ten in which Notre Dame has had historic rivalry games against.

For USC, the conference schedule is expected to be tough enough that it's understandable why they'd be potentially less motivated to add another nonconference tilt against a perennial top 15 opponent.

But regardless of what either school says, there's no doubt that college football is better when Notre Dame and USC play annually.