The Big Ten schedule will be difficult enough to manage for USC and head coach
Lincoln Riley, and there is speculation the Trojans could discontinue the annual meeting with Notre Dame, which is still independent, to accommodate a different non-conference opponent.
Still, Riley says that he hopes to see the rivalry continue.
"
I would love to," Riley said Wednesday at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis. "I know it means a lot to a lot of people. The purist in you, no doubt. Now, if you get in a position where you've got to make a decision on what's best for SC to help us win a national championship versus keeping that, shoot, then you've got to look at it.
"Listen, we're not the first example of that. Look all the way across the country. There's been a lot of teams that sacrifice rivalry games. I'm not saying that's what's going to happen, but as we get into this playoff structure and if it changes or not, we get into this new conference, we're going to learn some about this as we go and what the right and best track is to winning a national championship. That's going to evolve."