Through three years, Marcus Freeman is undeniably the better college football head coach when compared to Lincoln Riley. Freeman was promoted from within at Notre Dame when Brian Kelly left for LSU. Riley infamously left a traditional power at Oklahoma over realignment concerns to take over at USC. In the years since, USC now plays over in the Big Ten, while Notre Dame remains independent.
The nature of realignment has unfortunately brought the noted rivalry between Notre Dame and USC to the brink of extinction. After this upcoming season, it is no longer on any future schedule. Notre Dame wants to set up a long-term agreement so this rivalry can continue to be played like it should. USC prefers to go at it on a year-by-year basis. Even the Trojan Family is starting to lose it over this.
Freeman's comments on this rivalry being maintained let us know where he stands on the matter.
“It’s pretty black and white for me. You want my opinion? I want to play them every single year. 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.”
Riley seemed to skate around the issue, like he does everything, while on Always College Football.
"There are some changes that we've all just gotta accept, because it's just part of it right now. Obviously that continues to move, and we'll see how it evolves. But I think any door that closes, there's also a new, really exciting door that's getting opened. I think we can still love what was in the past, but let's don't miss that there's some pretty cool things happening right in front of our faces right now that we're kind of all in the forefront of."
Here is Riley talking about rivalries, recruitment and whatnot on Always College Football last week.
Everyone with eyes can see Freeman is in the right here and Riley is once again so horribly wrong...
Marcus Freeman finds ways, while Lincoln Riley finds excuses when it comes to Notre Dame-USC
So for those at home who need a refresher in what all has changed to have Notre Dame-USC on the verge of extinction, I will gladly fill you in. While Notre Dame remains fiercely independent with a loose ACC affiliation to round out its schedule, USC did more than its part to kill the Pac-12 we once knew and loved. By leading the charge to the Big Ten, it caused an unintended consequence of more travel.
USC may be used to playing Notre Dame in South Bend every other year, but now having to play nearly half of its conference games two time zones east has put the football program in a very precarious spot. Wins on the road are now harder to come by. Riley is feeling the pressure of not living up to expectations in USC. He has a new-ish boss in Jennifer Cohen, who did not hire him.
Freeman, on the other hand, is in his bag. Notre Dame has gotten better every season under him. Not only did the Irish make the College Football Playoff last season, and for the third time in its history, but they played for a national championship. Notre Dame may have come up short vs. Ohio State in Atlanta, but Freeman is college football's new coaching darling, whereas Riley has become a big joke.
Overall, USC still plays nine conference games in its new league, leaving three available to still pencil in Notre Dame annually. What is one more road game to the midwest every other year? This is why I cannot stand Riley. At the first sign of adversity, this coward runs away to the first place that thinks he will respect him. Pete Carroll, John Robinson and John McKay would have made this game a priority.
Ultimately, we are looking at two ships passing in the night in Freeman and Riley. One is a leader of men, while the other runs a gimmicky offense that derives itself from the finesse. You can win both ways, but at the end of the day, the bills still have to be paid. Rent has been due for a while on Riley's Southern California penthouse. College football is funny in that you are never on top for very long.
Ask yourself this: Which of these two head coaches would you want to go into battle for on Saturday?