USC-Notre Dame Rivalry The Latest Casualty Of Modern College Football

The slow death of beloved traditions in college football continues, as another all-time rivalry has gone the way of the dinosaurs.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and USC Trojans have played each other every year since 1946 (except for the COVID year in 2020), but it appears that meeting will no longer be an annual or even a semiregular one.

A lot of blame has been thrown back and forth on social media regarding who is at fault here, with USC fans saying Notre Dame is scared to play them, while Irish fans think the Trojans are trying to punish the Irish for not being in a conference and trying to "skate by" on making their own schedule.

Regardless of who is actually at fault, this one still stings all the same.

USC and Notre Dame have given us some of the most memorable games of all-time, with the "Bush Push" of 2005 being one of the most iconic games of this century. The two programs are also some of the most tradition-rich in college sports, so the fact that they haven't renewed their rivalry is a tough pill to swallow.

This has been rumored for some time, but now that it's finally happened, it just represents another death knell in our once beautiful sport.

NIL, an unregulated transfer portal, an ever-expanding playoff system, and even the death of bowl season. They're all crushing the traditions that make college football so unique.

The Trojans and the Irish ending their storied matchup isn't the only casualty of the new era of college football, it's just the latest.

The Big Ten sacrificed great regional rivalries for a budding superconference — giving us their disgraceful "Rivalry Series" in the process — and it looks like the Battle For The Jeweled Shillelagh is their next victim.

The more this sport succumbs to its lust for a paycheck, the more I'm considering taking up hiking on Saturdays in the fall, or, at the very least watching the FCS.

At least that league hasn't been perverted by the almighty dollar yet.