Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The ACC and USC are pushing back against Notre Dame’s arrogance with scathing commentary and renewed rivalry talks.
- The Irish stubbornly refused to budge on USC's push to move the rivalry game to September. Now they're proving they need the Trojans more than USC needs them.
- As ACC frustration grows, so does Notre Dame's isolation. Their refusal to join a conference is bound to bite them eventually.
Notre Dame isn't winning many PR battles these days. It's wild how quickly a team perfectly set up as the sympathetic victim of the College Football Playoff committee turned into college football's most recognizable villain. And somewhere in the Southern California sunshine, USC head coach Lincoln Riley and athletic director Jen Cohen are getting the last laugh.
On Tuesday, On3's Brett McMurphy slammed several folding chairs into Notre Dame's back courtesy of ACC athletic directors and coaches at the ACC's spring meetings.
ACC sources slam Notre Dame
Descriptions of the Irish included “pathetic,” “100 percent arrogance” and “crybabies." One On3 source called Notre Dame "the guy that walks in the house, opens the fridge, eats all the food, then (screws) the wife, kicks the dog, doesn’t pay the mortgage and walks out without any skin in the game." An ACC athletic director said, "There’s a very widespread perception that we’re all getting used. And we’re sick of it."
The ACC isn't alone in their frustration with Notre Dame. The Irish were roundly criticized for skipping their bowl game after being snubbed by the CFP. Later news of their top 12 playoff guarantee ruffled feathers across college football, especially when you consider national title game runner-up Miami would have been left out if the rule had existed in 2025.
Don't forget, Notre Dame had the gall to complain about the ACC publicly backing full-member Miami over ND in the 2025 CFP debate.
The perception is simple: Notre Dame gets special treatment, not just from their independent status, not just from the conference they've refused to fully embrace, but from the College Football Playoff as well.
It's all a bit revealing when you consider the latest developments in the Notre Dame-USC rivalry.
Notre Dame and USC are back in talks to renew rivalry
USC and Notre Dame are not scheduled to play each other in 2026. But reports have emerged that talks are continuing between the two rivals to bring back the series. What changed? From USC's perspective, it seems nothing. According to Ryan Kartje of The Los Angeles Times, "there's a willingness now to discuss moving the game" from Notre Dame's side. I wonder why...
Notre Dame won the initial PR battle against USC when it came to negotiating a renewal for their legendary rivalry. The original framing favored the Irish: The rivalry wasn't being renewed because Lincoln Riley was running scared. However, the more I've thought about and looked at the situation, the more blame I place at Notre Dame's feet.
Notre Dame is to blame for the rivalry ending in the first place
The ACC's pushback against Notre Dame's arrogance and everything that followed the Irish's snub in the CFP should reframe the debate. Because one thing is consistent: It's the Irish way or the highway.
Notre Dame is spoiled. They're given advantages no one else in college football enjoys. They expect to be given more. And when things don't go their way, they throw a fit. See their Pop-Tarts Bowl crash out, ACC entitlement and CFP guarantee.
So why should any of us believe that they negotiated in good faith with USC on the rivalry schedule?
The logic behind USC's rivalry scheduling request
USC wasn't looking to cancel the rivalry. The Trojans were looking to move it. As it was, the programs alternated home dates: South Bend in October and Los Angeles at the end of November. USC wanted to move the out-of-conference game to a more traditional out-of-conference slot in September or even Week 0.
The why is actually pretty reasonable. USC playing Notre Dame every year made the Trojans' OOC slate one of the toughest in the country to begin with. Every other year that game adds hundreds of miles to an already grueling travel schedule in the Big Ten. No other team in the Big Ten plays out-of-conference games later than September.
Let's say you're running a race. Everyone else is running in shorts and a t-shirt. You're running with a 20-pound pack on your back. Is it cowardice to suggest that you should be able to take 10 pounds out of that pack? That's the position USC held. Moving the game earlier wouldn't even remove the load of playing Notre Dame. It would just ease the difficulty.
Notre Dame needs USC more than USC needs Notre Dame
Given all we know about Notre Dame's dealings with the ACC, would it surprise you to learn Notre Dame wouldn't budge on moving the game to September? ND's stance was this: Play the rivalry as is or don't play it at all. They expected USC to cave. In the end, the rivalry was not renewed. USC's sin was choosing not to indulge Notre Dame. And the Trojans took the PR hit because of it.
The only reason USC has any incentive to continue the rivalry with Notre Dame is tradition. Fans and former players want the rivalry preserved, as they should. But the Trojans don't need Notre Dame for any other reason. The Irish need the Trojans to fill out a competitive schedule. In 2025, the Trojans were one of just two ranked victories on Notre Dame's 47th-ranked schedule.
Notre Dame prefers to keep the USC game in October and November because it's difficult to fill their schedule late in the season while the rest of college football is engaged in their conference slate. They could solve that problem by joining a conference, but their stubborn attachment to independence has remained a barrier.
Notre Dame's arrogance has put their ACC affiliation is in danger
The closest thing Notre Dame has to a conference affiliation is the ACC. They're a member of the ACC in all non-football sports. They play five ACC football opponents each year and are included in the ACC's bowl tie-ins. ACC programs wondered why Notre Dame wasn't fined or otherwise reprimanded by the conference when they opted out of their ACC tie-in bowl, as any other program would have been. But that was far from the first time teams in the conference balked at ND's special treatment.
Notre Dame has been able to stay independent in part because the ACC has accepted their scraps up until now. Sentiment is souring, though. There are already rumblings (and grumblings) about how the ACC should give the Irish an ultimatum about being in or out.
USC will be even more important to keep on the schedule if the ACC kicks Notre Dame to the curb and they lose five built in "conference" games.
Notre Dame's independence is a problem in the College Football Playoff era
It's becoming increasingly untenable for a singular program to exist in an increasingly centralized CFB. The fact that Notre Dame has been allowed to exist this long without attaching themselves more fully to a conference is astounding in its self.
Maybe expanding to a 24-team playoff will make all this moot. Maybe college football will continue catering to Notre Dame's independence even as the playoff becomes more rooted in conference affiliation and autobids. College football has never been particularly committed to logic. Either way, Notre Dame's list of friends is dwindling.
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