Former Colorado QB Uses Notre Dame-USC News to Revive Another Dying Historic College Football Rivalry

College Football traditionalists have been vexed for a while, and it’s easy to understand why. The sport has been drifting further and further from what made them fans in the first place. This community-driven, intimate pastime woven together using tradition has evolved into an elusive, global phenomenon. Often dictated by money more than passion. The epidemic-like wave of conference realignment fanned the flames of this last year. Blue-chip programs like USC and Oregon broke away from their historical Pac-12 habitat and converged all the way in the Big 10. Without even mentioning the logistical issues this invites, it didn’t sit right with their own fans and the wider CFB sphere alike. But with all this said, there’s one danger looming over the sport that could low-key be fatal. As hyperbolic as that sounds.

At the crux of what makes College Football tick, what makes it thrive, are its rivalries. Forged over decades of detest and distaste for various reasons. You’ve got geographical rivalries like the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn. You’ve got rivalries that spawn from pure, unadulterated animosity like The Game between Ohio State and Michigan. Heck, you’ve even got political ones like the Holy War involving BYU and Utah. The list is incessant and is the absolute best thing about the sport. However, these games have become sparse over time in terms of frequency. The Lone Star Showdown between Texas and Texas A&M, for instance, returned in after years of absence. An absence that had to do with scheduling conflicts, which, again, largely stem from money-driven decision-making. Colorado alum and CFB analyst Joel Klatt has sprung into action after yet another historic rivalry fell prey.

The USC and Notre Dame rivalry goes back a century. They’ve competed 95 times for the Jeweled Shillelagh Trophy since 1924. Even for the uninitiated who aren’t familiar with this hostile rivalry, that stat alone epitomizes it. The game has been a mainstay, omnipresent. But that, unfortunately, may not be the case going forward. Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde reported earlier this week that the two parties aren’t close to agreeing on an extension. The ultimate victim of this scheduling conflict shall be the fans. A travesty that is, at least from the outside looking in, easily avoidable. The Trojans and the Irish should play no matter what. The genesis of this issue being the boardroom is what makes things egregious. Alas, Joel Klatt took to his namesake show amidst the conversations around fading rivalries. He discussed a list with a simple yet intriguing premise.

“Joel Klatt’s Top 5 games that should be scheduled every single year” included his alma mater, Colorado, versus their old foes Nebraska. A fixture that hasn’t been too prevalent recently. The two sides played essentially every year from 1948 to 2010. But only twice in the next 13. ‘23 and ‘24 saw its return, but it’s absent from the schedule in 2025. Klatt slotted this game in at #2 on his list and laid forth his rationale. The Colorado native prefaced his argument by acknowledging how he has a “bias of proximity and heartstrings.” And how “This is the rivalry that I grew up on. This is a rivalry that made me, personally, fall in love with college football.” But, even with his neutral hat on, he said, “We should have Colorado-Nebraska every single year.” This, again, is a game that’s in limbo owing to scheduling disagreements. Begrudgingly, this is a feature of the rest of Joel Klatt’s T5 list as well.

The rest of Joel Klatt’s shortlist is, unfortunately, facing a similar fate

Joel Klatt kicked off his shortlist befittingly topical. The USC-Notre Dame rivalry came in at #5. Well, Klatt’s voice does hold weight in the College Football realm and this shouldn’t fall on deaf ears. But it doesn’t seem like he’ll get his wish for this game to be a non-negotiable staple on the schedule. Klatt mentioned how the game isn’t scheduled after 2026. As well as how USC head coach Lincoln Riley himself is a proponent of the game.

In the 4th spot came Kansas-Missouri. The Border War has been a classic, but is also under threat. Which also applies to another rivalry further south i.e the Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes. Klatt slotted this one at #3, calling it a “no-brainer.” This is a fixture that is up in the air post-2025, with nothing scheduled down the pipeline. The #2 game was, of course, the aforementioned Colorado-Nebraska rivalry.

 Coming in at the top spot is the Bedlam Series. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have been going at it for well over 100 years. Perpetual arch nemesis that have shaped the sport as we know it with the classics they’ve delivered in that time. But Bedlam didn’t play out in ‘24, and it’s not going to be played any time soon. You can mark this one down to the Sooners realigning to the SEC last year. Which circles back to the previously mentioned issues around realignment and its byproducts. Hopefully, sensibility can prevail in the future and schools give the people what they want. After all, the fans are the biggest stakeholders of the sport. 

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