Notre Dame AD voices support for USC football rivalry after Lincoln Riley comments

After USC coach Lincoln Riley suggested the Notre Dame football rivalry is expendable in the new environment, the Irish are calling for the series to be continued.

Notre Dame wants to continue playing USC in football, despite Lincoln Riley recent comments on the rivalry. / Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

USC head coach Lincoln Riley recently suggested that the rivalry game with Notre Dame might be expendable in the future if that means a better chance of the Trojans making the playoff.

But Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua took a more firm stance on the historic series, saying that he believes the rivalry game with USC should continue into the future.

"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 said to The Athletic.

"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."

Notre Dame has an incentive to continue playing USC going forward. As an independent, the school doesn't have a conference title to play for, and needs a strong strength of schedule every season.

For USC, playing in the Big Ten will help impress the selection committee, so that school is looking for any possible let-up on its schedule, culminating in Riley's remarks about the Notre Dame game.

But in an era where college football seems to be abandoning tradition in favor of profitable expediency, there's no question it's a better sport when USC and Notre Dame play every year.

More... "It's over" for Lincoln Riley at USC, Paul Finebaum says

(Athletic)

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