The USC Trojans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish are sacrificing nearly a century of history by failing to come to an agreement to continue playing one of the great rivalries in college football. And former USC star Keyshawn Johnson is embarrassed for his former school.
On Monday, it was announced that Notre Dame would play BYU in each of the next two seasons to replace USC on the calendar. There had been smoke building for months that the rivalry may be in jeopardy and ultimately those worries came to fruition. While both schools are committed to try resuming the rivalry in the future, with 2030 forwarded as a potential date, who knows if and when that might actually come to pass.
In a post on his social media account, the former ESPN and Fox Sports analyst blasted his own program for what he perceived to be their initiative to pull the plug on the Notre Dame game and had choice words for the athletic department and head coach Lincoln Riley.
This is ridiculous! Just say we scared. I’ll accept that at least it’s the truth. 🤦🏾♂️ #USC #Trojans #NotreDame pic.twitter.com/B11S2sqcEX
— Keyshawn Johnson (@keyshawn) December 22, 2025
“Here’s what I’m going to say, man. 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,” Johnson said. “We got a head coach that knows nothing about being a Trojan. Why don’t we just not play football? How about that? We’re not gonna play Notre Dame again possibly until 2030 is what I’m understanding? That doesn’t make any sense. I grew up on the Notre Dame-USC rivalry.
It was then that Keyshawn Johnson turned his attention to the head coach, who he said is already living on borrowed time on the Trojans sidelines after failing to make the expanded College Football Playoff once again.
“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 talking about, 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’re not gonna be here in the future, I promise you that,” Johnson declared.
Finally, the former top overall draft pick said that the end of the USC-Notre Dame series did not make sense to him. And he blamed the presence of people who aren’t Trojans leading the program. He also said that the football program has become difficult to support because of moves like this.
“This is crazy. It really is crazy when you think about it. Michigan-Ohio State, one of the biggest rivalries in football. Alabama-Auburn, ok? 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, man. It’s just hard to support this program. It’s hard, it’s really hard to support this program when we keep on doing this type of stuff, this behavior. I can’t man. We need Trojans doing Trojan things. We don’t need imposters coming in trying to do Trojan things. I’mma leave it at that,” the former Trojans star concluded.
USC got a lifeline out of the collapsing Pac-12 and was supposed to contend once again for national championships in the Big Ten in one of the biggest moves of conference realignment. However, it hasn’t worked out that way as USC has been surpassed by Oregon as the preeminent west coast power. And now with playoff implications and scheduling uncertainty in the air, the era of conference realignment has claimed another victim.
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