Amid the public back-and-forth between Notre Dame and USC about the decision to pause their storied rivalry, former Fighting Irish quarterback Brady Quinn made his thoughts clear. He took direct aim at Trojans coach Lincoln Riley regarding the decision.

Quinn gave a passionate, 6-minute response about the temporary end of the series during an appearance on FOX Sports Radio on Tuesday. He called out Riley’s record at USC, comparing it to his predecessor Clay Helton – Riley is 35-17 while Helton went 45-27 – while also noting his one victory over Notre Dame in four attempts.

In addition, Quinn recalled comments Riley previously made about the future of the Notre Dame rivalry after the USC coach blamed the Irish for failing to come to a deal. That’s part of the reason why Quinn called out the Trojans regarding the situation.

“I’ve said this publicly. It’s rich coming from the guy who basically questioned playing the game, in general, back in 2024,” Quinn said. “And it’s rich coming from him because he couldn’t beat Notre Dame, really, if you look at his record. I don’t know. Is his record any better as a head coach at USC than Clay Helton’s was? Hasn’t won a conference championship, didn’t win it in the Pac, hasn’t won one in the Big Ten, never won a Rose Bowl, hasn’t made the Playoff. He has a worse winning percentage as the head coach of SC than Clay Helton.

“So it’s funny to me, it’s entertaining to me that you hear SC fans defend Lincoln Riley when in reality, he’s been a worse version of the guy you ran out of your program. So you’re defending these comments that he makes. Here’s what’s interesting about it is this is a PR campaign by Southern Cal.”

‘He knew he could no longer compete with it’

Brady Quinn also recalled the rumor mill surrounding Riley while he was at Oklahoma, where there was plenty of chatter about whether he would leave for LSU. Of course, he did not, eventually choosing to take the USC job and replace Helton.

But by opting not to leave for LSU, Quinn argued Riley was running from competition in the SEC. He said it’s similar to what USC with the Notre Dame rivalry.

“If you go through the timeline of how this all started and why this rivalry no longer exists, it really started with Lincoln Riley and his inability to want to compete back when he was at Oklahoma,” Quinn said. “Had the chance to go to LSU. That didn’t work out. Didn’t want to go with Oklahoma to the SEC because he wouldn’t. He knew they couldn’t compete and he wouldn’t compete. So he goes to the Pac-12 for easier, greener pastures, and he hasn’t been able to win anything. Now, he tries to make it easier on himself by not playing one of the most storied rivalries, one of the reasons why you go to SC … one of the reasons why it made SC even relevant is that rivalry every year vs. Notre Dame.

“And this isn’t coming from, like, a Notre Dame perspective on that. That’s the truth. Whether Southern Cal people want to realize that or not, that game brought you to relevance because it’s a storied rivalry [game]. Two programs who are competing for national championships throughout history of college football and have put as many players in the NFL as any in college football. … And he did away with it because he knew he could no longer compete with it.”

Brady Quinn: USC knew Notre Dame couldn’t play 2026 game early

One of the biggest points of contention around the Notre Dame-USC rivalry was when the game would be played. The Trojans reportedly pushed for it to be earlier in the year before Big Ten play, which led to the rallying cry from the Fighting Irish of, “Anytime, anywhere.” Lincoln Riley said this week Notre Dame went back on that mantra.

However, Brady Quinn said USC put out a proposal it knew Notre Dame couldn’t take because of dates already in place on the schedule. He doubled down on his stance that Riley was a factor in the decision not to play the game.

“The truth of the matter is, they offered out a proposal that they knew Notre Dame wasn’t going to be able to play because their current schedule for 2026 that’s already set with some of those early dates, because SC wanted to play before conference play,” Quinn said. “And some of those dates already set. You can’t move that already. They already had to move the Wisconsin Lambeau Field game – that was back during COVID, I believe. So they had to have, like, a makeup through that. That was the reality.

“It would have been like Southern Cal said, ‘Hey, let’s play in 2026, 2027 on Mars,’ and Notre Dame’s like, ‘We can’t get there yet.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, I guess we can’t do the series. I guess you’ll guess you have to find someone else, then.’ And if they cared so much about extending the rivalry, why only do it for two years? Why not just say, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna keep playing this in perpetuity. This is how it’s gonna look.’ It’s because they don’t want to play it anymore, because they got a head coach who knows he can’t win it.”