Joel Klatt: Scheduling Notre Dame 'Doesn't Make Any Sense' For USC, Any P4 Team

Following the decision to end their annual rivalry matchup earlier in December, both Notre Dame and USC have placed the blame on each other for the series going on hiatus. However, FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt is a bit more empathetic toward USC's case for not wanting to continue the series.

In an appearance on "The Herd," Klatt argued that it doesn't benefit teams from the Big Ten or SEC to schedule Notre Dame moving forward because of its upcoming agreement to receive an automatic bid in the College Football Playoff if it finishes with a top-12 ranking. 

"It does not behoove anybody, I can't believe I'm saying this, to schedule Notre Dame because they have such an advantage over these teams that are playing in the Big Ten and SEC [who have] much more difficult schedules," Klatt said Tuesday. "Now, there's this bar, a minimum bar, where all Notre Dame has to do is be in the top 12. With their schedule? That's crazy. Meanwhile, we've seen that in the selection-based model, in the invitational we have in college football, it really comes down to just a number of wins and losses. We saw that this year, we saw it last year, when those 9-3 teams in the SEC were left out. 

"So, if you're USC, you're like, ‘Hold on a second, we have to play nine Big Ten games … and we’re just going to add Notre Dame because, and they have this sweetheart deal?"

Notre Dame's strength of schedule was, arguably, the top reason why it didn't make the College Football Playoff in 2025 despite finishing with a 10-2 record. 

The Fighting Irish lacked marquee wins that other CFP contenders had, but still finished ranked 11th in the final CFP poll. While that ranking made Notre Dame the first team out of the CFP, it would've made