LAS VEGAS — After photographs 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” desires to keep up the historic matchup.
“Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley stated. “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 concerning the rivalry’s future since final yr’s Massive Ten media day, when he first shared considerations about how scheduling a marquee nonconference crew might influence 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 stated. “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 might give the convention 4 computerized 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 stated.
However that format would additionally take nonconference scheduling virtually utterly 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 seemed to be in lockstep on calling for 4 computerized qualifiers earlier this summer time. However the SEC has since championed a unique format, leaving the Massive Ten and its coaches to defend their most popular format alone.
The stalemate between the 2 energy conferences might imply no modifications 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 sequence, the final matchup of which is at present scheduled for this fall. Each, Riley stated, are coming from “radically different situations,” with USC sure to the Massive Ten and Notre Dame untethered by a convention. The Trojans need a short-term settlement that permits for flexibility with any future playoff format. The Irish are searching for a long-term deal.
Nonetheless, Riley stated he was “really hopeful” that USC and Notre Dame might 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 might 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 dwelling, Chicago, the 18-team convention selected Las Vegas, a metropolis the place it doesn’t have an precise crew however that’s nearer to a few of its newer applications: 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 stated. “It started with logistics, to be really candid.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
