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After months of a stalemate, the Notre Dame-USC rivalry was officially put on indefinite hiatus on Monday, with Notre Dame agreeing to a home-and-home with BYU for 2026 and 2027 in USC's place on the schedule.

It was the sad, yet predictable conclusion to a lengthy standoff between the two teams over the positioning of the game in the schedule, with USC backing out of a proposal in November due to concerns over how the College Football Playoff committee tends to punish late-season losses. That came after Lincoln Riley hinted at the potential for the Notre Dame game to be removed from the schedule back in 2024, which shifted most of the blame for the rivalry's cancellation to the Trojans side. 

That's not just the feeling from Notre Dame fans, but many USC fans are frustrated with Riley and the athletic department not prioritizing the 100-year-old rivalry. Among them is Trojans legend Keyshawn Johnson, who posted a video to social media on Monday ripping Riley and the USC administration for not doing whatever was needed to keep the rivalry alive. 

"I don't know what the F is going on with our athletic department. We got people in there that are not Trojans, that don't know anything about being a Trojan, running our athletic department. We got a head coach that knows nothing about being a Trojan," Johnson said. "Why don't we just not play football? How bout that? We not gonna play Notre Dame again until possibly 2030 is what I'm understanding. That doesn't make any sense. I grew up on the Notre Dame-USC rivalry. And I'm not one to go in on my athletic department, nor am I one to go in on the USC football coach. 

"But if I can remember correctly, I had Lincoln Riley saying, well, I don't know if I want to play them in the future. You ain't gonna be here in the future! Especially if you keep missing the playoffs. You not gonna be here in the future, I promise you that. 

"So I don't understand what our athletic department, our administration, ok, our board of trustees, board of regents, whatever you wanna call 'em. What are they doin? We runnin' from teams now? We runnin' from Notre Dame? Hell, why don't we run from Oregon and Michigan and Ohio State and Wisconsin. Why don't we just not be in a conference. Why don't we pull that move and just play Sacramento State. Why don't we play those type of teams. UC Davis. Cause that's what we want to do. 

"This is crazy. It really is crazy when you think about it. Michigan-Ohio State, one of the biggest rivalries in football. Alabama-Auburn. They ain't canceling that. Why would we cancel our biggest rivalry? Because we can't beat 'em? It's ridiculous. It makes zero sense. It's just hard to support this program. It's really hard to support this program when we keep on doing this type of stuff." 

As the major conferences move to nine-game conference schedules we have seen a number of previously scheduled non-conference matchups canceled or postponed. However, long-standing rivalry games have typically been immune from those decisions, and USC and Notre Dame is now the most notable casualty of the growing business decisions made by programs. 

The problem for Riley and USC is this will only turn up the pressure for next year. Landing the No. 1 recruiting class is great, but if you're going to cancel the Notre Dame game out of fear of what a loss could do for making the Playoff, you had better make it in your first year without that game on the schedule. If Riley can't make that happen in 2026, then Johnson's warning of "you ain't gonna be here in the future!" will become prescient.