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FILE – Southern California head coach Lincoln Riley yells to his team during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill, File)<\/p>\n
LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 All the reshuffling of schedules, conferences and playoff formats in college football has placed one of the sport\u2019s best traditions in peril: the USC-Notre Dame game.<\/p>\n
The contract for a rivalry that dates to 1926 expires after their game in 2026.<\/p>\n
Both schools have expressed a willingness to lock down more games, but differences over how many appear to be holding up the negotiations.<\/p>\n
USC\u2019s move to the Big Ten gave the Trojans less flexibility on their non-conference schedule. Big Ten teams have nine conference games and only three open slots.<\/p>\n
Speaking at Big Ten media days Thursday, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said he was, of course, hopeful that the series will continue. But not at any cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to play the game. Absolutely. It\u2019s one of the reasons I came here,\u201d Riley said. \u201cBut, also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame, and it\u2019s not to anybody else. I\u2019m the head football coach at USC, and I\u2019m going to back USC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the uncertainty revolves around the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n
The Trojans have lost six of the last seven against Notre Dame. If CFP leaders decide to award four automatic bids to the Big Ten, which is the conference\u2019s preference, a long-term deal to play the Irish might be more palatable to USC. A system with more at-large bids, however, would make it more difficult, from a CFP standpoint, to absorb a non-conference loss.<\/p>\n
An (entertaining and much better) encore for UCLA\u2019s Foster<\/strong><\/p>\n If UCLA improves on the field as much as coach DeShaun Foster did behind the mic at Big Ten media days, this could be a good year for the Bruins.<\/p>\n Foster spoke Thursday and made fun of his 2024 appearance, which included a cringeworthy 72-second opening statement highlighted by this observation about the program he was taking over: \u201cI\u2019m sure you guys don\u2019t know much about UCLA, our football program, but we\u2019re in LA.\u201d<\/p>\n In heading to the lectern Thursday, Foster didn\u2019t shy from that moment. He acknowledged he took some ribbing from players and others after last year\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year I stood up here and reminded everyone that UCLA is in L.A.., which, looking back, might have been the most obvious geography lesson in Big Ten history,\u201d Foster said. \u201cBut you know what? Important things are worth stating clearly. We are in L.A., and we\u2019re proud to be in L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n Underneath all those laughs, though, was a serious message. Foster, embarking on his second season at Westwood, said the moment \u201ctaught me a valuable lesson. Authenticity resonates more deeply than perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n He faces a big challenge. The Bruins haven\u2019t won a conference title since 1998 and haven\u2019t played on Jan. 1 since that season\u2019s Rose Bowl.<\/p>\n Bolstering UCLA\u2019s hopes is the arrival of quarterback Nico Iamaleava from Tennessee. Iamaleava helped the Vols make the College Football Playoff last year.<\/p>\n Northwestern video vibes<\/strong><\/p>\n Preston Stone is a good ol\u2019 Texas boy who starred in high school for Parish Episcopal and then spent four years at SMU. After entering the transfer portal following last season, however, he finally got to visit a team he once admired from afar \u2014 behind a video-game controller when he was 11 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cFor absolutely no reason whatsoever, when I was a little kid playing NCAA 14, I would always be Northwestern,\u201d Stone said. \u201cThey had really cool black uniforms and they had a fast quarterback in Kain Colter, who I used to love playing with in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n So, after touring the campus and meeting Wildcats coach David Braun and offensive coordinator Zach Lujan, Stone was sold on transferring from the Lone Star State to Evanston, Illinois.<\/p>\n \u201cFacilities are incredible, I think we have the best indoor in the whole country,\u201d Stone said. \u201cYou could feel a level of sincerity from coach Braun. That was just different. And first meeting coach Lujan, you could tell from the first couple minutes with him, how incredibly smart of an offensive mind he is. I knew that if I came here they were going to set me up for success.\u201d<\/p>\n Son of \u201cChocolate Thunder\u201d returns to Penn State<\/strong><\/p>\n Penn State\u2019s Nick Dawkins, the son of NBA legend Daryl Dawkins, will be one of four returning starters on the offensive line this season. That might not have been the case had the Nittany Lions not lost to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that game specifically, I was pretty dead set after that for sure,\u201d Dawkins said of his decision to return. \u201cI had some thoughts prior to the season ending, from a personal standpoint for my NFL Draft stock, if it would be the best decision to come back. But when something like that happens, it kind of trumps all the individual stuff.<\/p>\n Dawkins said it became more about the legacy of Penn State football and what he wanted to leave behind for the program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n \u201cMy whole life, I\u2019ve been representing my last name, and my last name has had so much legacy and worth attached to it before,\u201d said Dawkins, an all-Big Ten honorable mention last season. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a part of something bigger than myself, and that\u2019s how I view my life, and Penn State falls right into that category.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n