Keyshawn Johnson goes on an ill-informed rant about USC leaving Notre Dame behind

Keyshawn Johnson is a great USC Trojan. Keyshawn Johnson is also so far off the mark with his latest rant, I don't know where to begin.

The former USC All-American wide receiver, Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 NFL Draft had a passionate response to the news that the USC-Notre Dame annual game was going to be paused for a few years. The timing of the game and USC's unwillingness to bend at the knee to cater to all of Notre Dame's demands are the primary reasons this is happening.

Johnson has always given me the impression he's a pretty smart guy that doesn't just scream at trees, but this rant was highly disappointing given the reality of the situation.

I can appreciate Johnson's emotions, but this is cringworthy.

USC has a responsibility to itself and the Big Ten

"We runnin' from teams now? We runnin' from Notre Dame? Hell, why don't we run from Oregon and Michigan and Ohio State and Wisconsin. Why don't we just not be in a conference."

Okay, USC is in a conference. It's called the Big Ten. The Big Ten requires the Trojans to play nine conference games. That might include Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon because those are conference opponents. 

Notre Dame is not in a conference. They are an independent FBS program. The Irish don't have a nine-game conference schedul or any responsibility to a conference. If USC decided not to be in a conference, this game would probably still be on the schedule because it would be mutually beneficial. Right now, it's much more beneficial to Notre Dame than USC.

USC has to prioritize its conference and this decision was based on the fact that the Notre Dame game, as it's currently structured, doesn't fit in with their primary scheduling responsibility. No one is running from anyone else. USC is just looking out for USC's best interests.

"This is crazy. It really is crazy when you think about it. Michigan-Ohio State, one of the biggest rivalries in football. Alabama-Auburn. They ain't canceling that. Why would we cancel our biggest rivalry?
"

Those are all conference games. They are rivalries built within the conference. USC-Notre Dame is not a conference game. USC-UCLA, however, remains because it's a conference game. USC-Oregon will remain because its a conference game. Comparing the pausing of the Notre Dame series to accusations of running from conference opoosition is pretty ridiculous. 

This isn't the college football you grew up on

"I grew up on the Notre Dame-USC rivalry."

That makes two of us. I grew up watching Notre Dame play Penn State until Penn State joined the Big Ten in the early 1990s and that annual series had to end. I grew up watching Nebraska—Oklahoma and then Nebraska joined the Big Ten and that annual series had to end.

USC isn't in the Pac-10 like it was back when you played there. That conference as we knew it is gone and being re-birthed as a bloated version of the Mountain West. USC had to join the Big Ten and that meant Notre Dame had to either be willing to play on more favorable terms or be gone.

This is football in 2025. We're heading to super conferences and the TV contracts that are paid for these conference broadcasting rights want to broadcast more conference teams playing more conference games. Change is tough. I get it. We don't have to like it, but that's the way it is.

Johnson and the USC brass need to have lunch

Whatever the issues are with Johnson and Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley or Johnson and the current USC Athletic Director Jen Cohen or anyone in the athletic department is unknown to me, but it's pretty clear they exist. 

Maybe it's time for both parties to get together and hash these problems out. Get your people to reach out to the USC people, and they will probably explain to you their entire thought process. As a former player, you're probably owed that. But remember everyone wants the same thing for USC athletics — success. Before you question their intentions, maybe you should hear their side of the story.