Notre Dame leaders are cowards for backing out of USC rivalry

The world of college football may be filled with uncertainty, but the past few weeks have proven one thing beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Nobody runs like Notre Dame.

When the Irish got jobs from College football playoffs committee and insanely kicked out of the CFP, they refused to play another game this season.

Notre Dame ran away with the Pop Tarts Bowl.

Then came the announcement Monday that Notre Dame I won't be playing USC regularly anymore.which essentially ended a 100-year rivalry as the Irish did not want to change the game dates.

Notre Dame fled from the Trojans.

Call them the Fighting Chickens, a once-proud Irish program that demands acquiescence or it will take the ball and go home.

The Irishman could have played against USC at the beginning of the season, but declined. The Irish could have kept the rivalry alive with a schedule change that would have helped both teams, but decided against it.

A lot of people will blame USC and Coach Lincoln Riley for butchering Knute Rockne– a tradition was born that spanned 78 games in a row, not counting 2020, the year of COVID-19. This is wrong. Nobody has been more critical of Riley than this place, but he's not the bad guy here.

Anyone who felt the hype surrounding last weekend's CFP first-round games will attest that this is where USC should be playing. If the Trojans truly want to return to greatness, their goal is to compete in the CFP. Can't beat Notre Dame. I don't even fight UCLA. It's all about the tournament.

USC needs to be in the best position to play on the mid-December weekend, meaning it will no longer be the only Big Ten school to play a significant non-conference game midseason or later.

The schedule has become quite strict. The Trojans don't need to tighten up a game that no one in their conference is playing.

They need Notre Dame in August, not late October or mid-November.

But, as it turned out, Notre Dame believes that it does not need the University of Southern California at all.

The Irish signed an agreement with the CFP that, starting next year, if they finish in the top 12, they are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. They can make the playoffs without risking losing to the Trojans. They can proceed with caution, schedule work easily, and get back to work right away.

USC doesn't have that luxury. USC does not guarantee squats. USC has a 2026 schedule that, even without Notre Dame, is a nightmare.

Home games against Ohio State and Oregon. Road games in Indiana and Pennsylvania.

USC doesn't need a midseason game against Notre Dame, which will make this path even more difficult.

Jennifer CohenThe USC athletic director made the announcement in a recently released open letter to the Trojans community.

“USC is the only team in the Big Ten to play a non-conference road game after Week 4 in either of the last two seasons,” she wrote. “USC is also the only team to play a non-conference game after Week 4 in both seasons.”

Trojans fans love rivalry. The college football world loves competition. His Anthony Davishis Carson PalmerThis Bush Pushhe won the Heismans and clinched the championship.

But times have changed. The landscape is evolving. Everything that college football once stood for is up for debate. Even the most venerable traditions are subject to adjustments.

This is exactly what the Trojans wanted to do. Not to eliminate, but to correct. But Notre Dame football doesn't fit anyone.

It really was a travesty that the Irish, who had two losses and won their last 10 games by double figures, were denied a spot in the national tournament. By the end of the season they were arguably one of the top four teams in the country. They could easily take the crown.

Tulane? James Madison? Are you kidding me? As the first games showed (two AAA teams lost 92-44), Cinderellas have no place in the CFP.

But that wasn't a reason for Notre Dame to abandon the bowl game entirely, sacrificing the final game of the careers of Irish players who won't go to the NFL, only to make a plaintive remark that resonated with no one.

And then there's another way Notre Dame could be a gateway to the playoffs.

Join the conference, fool!

By keeping the football team out of the otherwise Irish-infested Atlantic Coast Conference, Notre Dame earns big TV money that it doesn't have to share. But this means that the Irish are subject to the whims of a committee that could and did shamelessly leave them out.

Notre Dame always wants it both ways. He wants his independence, but also wants to dictate a schedule filled with conference teams.

By demanding that their game be played in August or not played at all, USC eventually called Notre Dame's bluff.

And the Irish did what they have done best lately.

They ran.

The team that will initially replace USC on Notre Dame's schedule?

This is Brigham Young, the same team that Notre Dame snubbed in the Pop Tarts Bowl.

Place this in the toaster and cook.