USC AD Jennifer Cohen speaks about the future of rivalry series against Notre Dame

USC athletic director Jen Cohen spoke about how the Trojans will approach the Notre Dame rivalry moving forward while doing a radio interview on Friday.

Cohen was asked about the future of the series given that USC is now a member of the Big Ten and will be facing a tougher conference schedule going forward. The USC-Notre Dame series is currently only under contract through the 2026 season.

“Tradition will always be important for us. I think that’s what separates USC from a lot of other programs, and USC-Notre Dame is a storied rivalry,” Cohen said on ESPN710, via The Athletic’s Antonio Morales. “One that means so much to our fans, not just here but our fans across the country. Ultimately, we’re always going to do what’s best for our student-athletes and you’re right, things are changing but tradition is part of doing what’s best, too. So we’re going to do what we can to honor that and evolve in this space as we go.”

These comments come on the heels of Lincoln Riley addressing the future of the rivalry last month at Big Ten Media Days. Riley’s comments cast doubt on the future of the Notre Dame-USC series.

“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 [the rivalry], shoot, then you’ve got to look at it,” Riley said. “And listen, we’re not the first example of that. Look all the way across the country. There’s been a lot of other teams sacrifice rivalry games. And I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen, but as we get into this playoff structure and if it changes or not … we’re going to learn some about this as we go. And what the best track is to winning a national championship, that’s going to evolve.”

The College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams in 2024 and could see further expansion within a couple of years. There will be 7 at-large bids for CFP teams this fall, with 5 going to conference champions.

USC and Notre Dame have played on a near-annual basis since 1926. The only exceptions were from 1943-45 and in 2020. It’s one of the oldest nonconference rivalries in all of college football.

Riley also made scheduling news this summer after USC reportedly tried to get out of playing LSU to open the 2024 season in Las Vegas. Per Saturday Down South’s Matt Hayes, Riley and USC spent “nearly 2 years” trying to get out of its game contract with the Tigers.

Cohen is entering her second football season as USC’s athletic director. She was hired away from Washington back in August of 2023.

Notre Dame is 49-37-5 all-time against the Trojans. The Fighting Irish won last year’s meeting 48-20 in South Bend.

USC will host Notre Dame on Nov. 30 this season. Notre Dame is currently a 3.5-point favorite over the Trojans in that contest, per the latest lines from FanDuel.