Lincoln Riley: ‘Got to make a decision on what’s best for SC’ with Notre Dame-USC football rivalry

On Wednesday, Lincoln Riley stood behind a dais and spoke to a group of assembled media in Indianapolis at Big Ten Media Days.

It was a long trek for the USC coach, one he’ll have to get used to now with the Trojans set to begin play in the Big Ten for the 2024 college football season.

According to Riley, though, there’s a possibility his team could be eliminating a trip to Indiana once every two years.

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When asked Wednesday if he would like to keep USC’s annual rivalry game with Notre Dame with the Trojans now in a new conference, Riley alluded to the chance that the storied matchup could disappear if it is suddenly at odds with USC’s larger pursuit of a national championship.

“If you get in a position where you’ve 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,” Riley said, according to Matt Fortuna of The Inside Zone.

Asked Lincoln Riley if he hopes to keep the Notre Dame game now that USC is in the Big Ten:

“I would love to. 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… pic.twitter.com/CyedsqoR6P

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) July 24, 2024

Riley began his answer by saying that he would “love to” continue the series and understands that it “means a lot to a lot of people” before pivoting.

“Bama was ahead of the curve for years, I thought, on how they scheduled in the nonconference, right?” Riley said. “They would occasionally hit the marquee nonconference game, they played two other not very good teams, they’d play one late so that they got essentially a little bit of a bye week…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lincoln-riley-got-decision-whats-224212415.html

Author : South Bend Tribune

Publish date : 2024-07-24 22:42:12

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