Notre Dame schedules home-and-home with BYU, spelling temporary end to USC series

Notre Dame declined an invitation to the Pop-Tarts Bowl, where it would have faced BYU. But the Irish will welcome the opportunity to take on the Cougars in the regular season.

Notre Dame scheduled a home-and-home with BYU, beginning in 2026 in Provo, Utah, the Irish announced Monday. Dates are to be announced. Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported that the BYU matchup is a direct response to negotiations with USC falling apart, and that the Irish and Trojans will not face each other next season.

Dellenger added that Notre Dame and USC are working to restart the series as early as 2030. 2026 will be the first time the Irish and Trojans did not play each other, excluding the “COVID year” in 2020, in nearly 80 years.

“The latest round of discussions among administrators at each school fizzled over the last two weeks — a stunning about-face,” Dellenger wrote. “In fact, the two programs were on the verge of finalizing a two-year extension of their agreement in late November, with USC agreeing to host Notre Dame next season on the traditional date after Thanksgiving and the Irish hosting in 2027.

“However, USC officials determined that the game date was not ideal considering past decisions from the CFP selection committee in punishing schools for losses, especially those late in the season.”

As replacement opponents go, Notre Dame did well with BYU. The Cougars are a program on the rise, and they recently pooled enough money together to retain head coach Kalani Sitake when Penn State tried to hire him.

Sitake has led BYU to back-to-back 11-2 seasons, and unless someone else induces him to enter the transfer portal, he’ll have a returning star at quarterback next season in Bear Bachmeier. A former Notre Dame recruiting target, Bachmeier threw for 2,708 passing yards and ran for 527 rushing yards as the Cougars reached the Big 12 championship game for the first time since joining the conference in 2023.

With BYU in the fold, Notre Dame has 11 games firmly on its 2026 schedule. The 12th could be filled by Stanford, another longstanding rivalry, but nothing is finalized on that front yet.

2026 Notre Dame football schedule

• Sept. 6: Wisconsin*
• Sept. 12: Rice
• Sept. 19: Michigan State
• Sept. 26: at Purdue
• Oct. 3: at North Carolina
• Oct. 31: Navy
• Nov. 7: Miami
• Nov. 21: Boston College
• Date TBA: at BYU
• Date TBA: SMU
• Date TBA: Syracuse

* At Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc.