Notre Dame announced Monday they were changing up their traditional college football schedule.
The Fighting Irish will add a two-year home-and-home series with BYU for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, and end their annual matchup with USC.
The two schools failed to reach an agreement on extending their rivalry contract, which expired this season. Next year’s game would have been the 97th meeting between Notre Dame and USC and the 79th consecutive game, excluding the COVID-impacted 2020 season.
The series began in 1926 and was only paused for a three-year stretch during World War II and one year for COVID. Notre Dame leads the all-time series against USC 53-38-5 and has won the last three games and seven of the last eight.
Scheduling complications and College Football Playoff changes were at the root of the series’ demise. USC, now a member of the Big Ten Conference, pushed to move the matchup to the front of the schedule, either as a Week Zero game in August or during the first three weeks before the Trojans start conference play.
The USC-Notre Dame game in South Bend typically takes place in October, while the matchup in Los Angeles ends the regular season for both teams. Notre Dame wanted to keep the game in its traditional place on the schedule.
“USC and Notre Dame recognize how special our rivalry is to our fans, our teams, and college football, and our institutions will continue working towards bringing back The Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh,” Notre Dame and USC said in a joint statement Monday. “The rivalry between our two schools is one of the best in all of sport, and we look forward to meeting again in the future.”
Notre Dame will play at BYU in 2026 and the Cougars will visit the Irish in 2027. The two programs have met on nine previous occasions as the Irish lead the all-time series 7-2. The series is tied at one win apiece in Provo while Notre Dame has a 5-1 advantage at home against BYU.
Both Notre Dame and BYU finished outside the College Football Playoff field this season. The Irish finished at No. 11 in the final CFP standings despite 10 consecutive double-digit wins to close the season. BYU finished at No. 12 after an 11-1 regular season and a loss to Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game.