Perhaps the worst part of this new era of college football is the death of rivalries across the country. The tragedies began with conference realignment 15 years ago and Nebraska’s big move to the Big 10, and they continue because of what the College Football Playoff has become. Notre Dame is not completely innocent in all of this, but it has also been a victim of it.
Nothing could scream tragedy louder than USC running away from playing Notre Dame because… well, they’re just cowards. The biggest intersectional rivalry in sports was thrown into the trash after the 2025 season, and it has many fans of both schools pretty angry and upset about the whole thing.
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On top of everything about the College Football Playoffs, USC’s loss on the schedule makes it less interesting. With Southern Cal, there was a rival you wanted to see buried 8 feet under; and regardless of records, rankings, and repercussions, it was a red circle game.
After the USC news broke, news also broke that Notre Dame would replace USC on the 2026 schedule with the BYU Cougars. While this was a good replacement for 2026, it was not a long-term solution for the type of game USC was for the Irish.
Enter the Clemson Tigers.
Clemson has long been a team and others have pushed as a new rival for Notre Dame. We’ve talked about it numerous times on the podcast. All good rivalries have some sort of starting point, and for the Irish and Clemson, it began in 2015 in the infamous BYOG game. The game was the catalyst for Clemson’s title run, and for several years, Clemson was the team Notre Dame was trying to emulate. The Irish are 2-4 against the Tigers since that 2015 game, with two of those losses coming in the ACC Championship Game and the Cotton Bowl as part of the CFP.
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It’s a small, but incredibly promising start to a great rivalry game for the future. Hell, we even have a trophy concept (which you might laugh at, but Pete Bevacqua also joked about a trophy; it might as well be this one).
We even have a coach who can’t keep the other school out of his mouth. Dabo Swinney always uses a lot of words and made sure to mention Notre Dame and their backyard money machine during a recent interview.
Every part of what you just read is important and helps create a rivalry, but the most important part will always be consistent scheduling. Literally one year ago today, Notre Dame and Clemson announced a historic 12-year scheduling agreement from 2027-2038. As it stands now, Clemson is the ONLY team on Notre Dame’s 2038 schedule.
So yeah…screw USC.
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Notre Dame vs Clemson has all the potential to become something truly great and as a Notre Dame fan we really need this to help spice up the program with animosity and hate as we move forward. There is still a lot of uncertainty about what. The future holds for college football, but the birth of a new and heated rivalry is something we can all get behind. Good?