Notre Dame and USC -- or, USC and Notre Dame -- jointly announced that the "greatest intersectional rivalry in college football" will resume in 2030, with a 4-game contract to be played annually from 2030-33.
The rivalry was officially put on hiatus last December after the schools were unable to find dates that worked for both parties. The 2030s games represent a concession toward USC: the 2030-31 games will take place in Week 1 (2030 in LA, '31 in South Bend), and 2032-33 in Weeks 1, 2 or 3.
Through last season, USC visited South Bend in the middle of October in odd-numbered years, and Notre Dame tripped to Los Angeles to close the regular season in even-numbered years. Mirrored with a similar pattern with Stanford, this arrangement allowed Notre Dame to spend each Thanksgiving weekend in California -- at USC in even years, and at Stanford in odd ones.
Conference realignment threw a wrench in that, with USC now playing in the Big Ten. USC was no longer willing to visit South Bend every other October when it was now going to the Midwest (or the East Coast) every other week from September to November.
"USC's historic rivalry with Notre Dame holds a special place in the history of college football, and we are happy to resume a series that means so much to the entire Trojan Family," said USC AD Jen Cohen. "It remains important for us to play this game early in the season, as it allows us to schedule competitively with our Big Ten peers and takes into account the health and best interests of our student-athletes and program."
The Week 1 game in 2030 will be the first in the series's 93-game history played before the month of October.
Notre Dame picked up a home-and-home with BYU to fill the void in 2026-27, and USC's rivalry with UCLA has been moved to Thanksgiving weekend. The Trojans were not able to find a Notre Dame equivalent in non-conference play, and will open San Jose State in Week 0 before hosting Fresno State and Louisiana. USC does not presently have a Power 4 non-conference opponent on its schedules through the end of the decade, according to the FBSchedules database.
With the series fully slated to resume in 2030, there is a possibility it could begin earlier. Notre Dame is scheduled to host Texas on Sept. 9, 2028 and then visit the Longhorns Sept. 22, 2029. The Longhorns are currently non-committal about playing those games as part of their grievance with the College Football Playoff selection committee, having missed the 12-team field last season at 9-3 with a season-opening loss at Ohio State, which they felt was not properly rewarded. If the CFP field remains at 12 (and especially if Texas loses again to Ohio State again next month), the Horns could get out of the major non-conference game business, and thereby open an opportunity to shorten the Irish-Trojans hiatus from four seasons to two.