Irish to blame for the demise of rivalry series

After a century of meeting on the football field, USC and Notre Dame are not currently scheduled to meet again. This, by all accounts, is a terrible shame.

- By Ryan KaRTJE

Outside of L.A., the college football world has placed the blame for the rivalry’s demise squarely on USC's shoulders. Notre Dame made sure that was the case when its athletic director, Pete Bevacqua, ran to Sports Illustrated last spring, immediately after USC made an offer torenew the series for one year.

As PR moves go, it was a smart one: By firing the first missive, Bevacqua knew that Notre Dame could shape the narrative around negotiations. And ever since, as Bevacqua hoped, Notre Dame has been cast by much of the national media as valiantly attempting to save the rivalry at any cost, while USC looks like its running scared away from it.

Whichis really quite ironic, if you know the recent history of how Notre Dame has handled its rivalries.

‘Thirteen years ago, minutes before the two schools were set to face offin South Bend, former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick famously handed then-Michigan athletic director Dave Brandona letter as notice that Notre Dame intended to cancel the remainder of their ri-

valry series. It was as passive aggressive as scheduling changes get. Brandon didn’t even read the letter until after the game.