Notre Dame and Michigan Renewed Rivalry?

Can and will Notre Dame and Michigan renew the rivalry?

Lets be honest, we both want it! Notre Dame and Michigan ended their series with each other after ND moved to the ACC, where they have to play 5 to 6 ACC games a year. Of course no one was a fan when the Irish announced that Michigan would be one of the regular series games being booted out in favor of an ACC match-up.

I’m sure we all remember Brady Hoke’s opinion.

"“The Notre Dame, that rivalry, which they’re chickening out of … they’re still going to play Michigan State, they’ll play Purdue; they don’t want to play Michigan.” (Brady Hoke calls out Notre Dame, para. 3)"

Well  Brady Choke…I mean Hoke, for once I agree with you. I had trouble wrapping my head around why the Irish chose to drop Michigan as well. I know that Michigan isn’t the top rivalry for Notre Dame and vice versa, but it’s a game everyone wanted to see.

I personally would take a series with Michigan over almost every normal competitor for the Irish besides for USC, no one touches that series. The Navy series has to be played out of mutual respect, Michigan State is always a great matchup to watch, and I love that the classic “Catholics vs Convicts” series is coming back, but honestly I would drop anyone of those games for Michigan.

So is it possible? Well ever since the split, we have heard from both sides that they want it to happen, but scheduling makes that harder. Both teams schedule so far in advance that you can’t just throw in a contest. In face ND has some ACC games scheduled all the way up to 2025.

There are a few opportunities available in a few seasons to scratch in a game here and there but it would be awhile for a true series to get going again. Not to mention that it would have to work for both schools obviously.

With Notre Dame having to schedule a hand full of ACC games a year and Michigan being apart of the Big Ten, who knows how possible this is. Michigan only has a few non-conference games a year and would they really elect to make one of those games against a strong ND team, or  rather play a “cupcake” game?

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I think this becomes more interesting with the playoffs and playoff committee now a factor. Do you choose to play the more difficult contest and chance a loss for the chance to add the respect of the committee, or do you just elect to get the almost automatic win (unless it’s against Appalachian State).

I would love to see this series come back to life, that way my hate for Michigan can become personal again, but I just don’t see it happening at least for a while.