Notre Dame and USC to not be in primetime this year in LA?

Perhaps not under the lights in LA?

The way things look just under three months before the 2024 college football season kicks off, Thanksgiving weekend could be really important for Notre Dame.

If the Fighting Irish do what is expected and maneuver their first 11 games with no more than one loss, then that west coast trip to USC will almost certainly have College Football Playoff implications.

But could that game possibly not be played in primetime?

It’s hard to imagine but according to Brett McMurphy of Action Sports Network, NBC (who has broadcast rights to the game this year) seems to prefer a different West Coast matchup that night.

It’s a mistype as the Oregon vs. Washington game will be played at Oregon this year but interesting, nonetheless.

It doesn’t matter to me what time you put Notre Dame on and at times I agree with [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] that it’d be nice to get the Irish out of primetime as often as they are.

Notre Dame and USC is almost always played in prime time anymore.  In fact, since 2010, only the 2014 and 2016 meetings weren’t played in prime time and Notre Dame entered those regular season finales a combined 11-11 (7-4 in 2014, 4-7 in 2016).  It’ll be a big disappointment if the Irish enter that game with a record near either of those.

Oregon could realistically be wrapping up their first Big Ten regular season with a spot in the conference championship game on the line that night.  I understand the appeal there, and that NBC doesn’t seem to want to feature the same team in primetime on consecutive Saturday’s (USC is desired to be featured vs. UCLA the week before), but the added national audience Notre Dame with a playoff appearance on the line would bring will be tough to pass up.

Related: An Early Look at Notre Dame’s 2024 Football Schedule