Notre Dame football vs. Michigan: The Death of a Rivalry

Are the Michigan Wolverines still the great rival to Notre Dame football they’ve been historically?

It’s sad really, looking back and realizing how fast life can pass by. 2,240 days. That’s how long it will have been since Michigan has beaten Notre Dame football. The once great rivalry has fallen by the wayside and there isn’t another game scheduled. While Notre Dame has some historic rivalries such as USC and Navy, Michigan just doesn’t have the same fire.

Don’t get me wrong, I hate Michigan. But it has fallen down the list of games I would like to see every year. USC is a game most can get behind as Notre Dame’s biggest rival. Michigan is that annoying uncle at Thanksgiving who peaked in high school. You don’t see them much, but when you do, you’ll hear all about how great they were decades ago.

The Wolverines were supposed to change all this when they hired Jim Harbaugh. He had turned Stanford into a contender, he took the 49ers to a Super Bowl and now he was back at his alma mater to fix their losing ways. But all he did was increase the sales of Walmart khakis in the Ann Arbor area.

It’s a sad state for what was Notre Dame’s longest rival. While the relationship has been full of Michigan pettiness, it had some great moments. Michigan teaching Notre Dame how to play football and counting a pick up game as a win. Or losing to Notre Dame for the first time and refusing to play them for years after.

While the history is there, it isn’t even worth playing them any longer. We are talking about a team that hasn’t won a championship outright since electricity was only in 50 percent of American homes. They tell everyone how great they are but they never win a meaningful game. This only hurts Notre Dame football.

When Notre Dame wins Saturday, it falls into the category of game you should have won. If Notre Dame were to somehow lose, we would have a loss equivalent to losing to Virginia. So once again, why do we still play Michigan?

I can get behind playing Michigan for the same reason we play Navy. While Navy deserves the upmost respect for their contributions to Notre Dame, Michigan could be more like a charity. We can give you a game to make you feel special and important before Ohio State hangs 62 on you.

Saturday will be fun as Jim Harbaugh chokes away another big game and Shea Patterson unravels to the tune of three turnovers. But can we just call it quits on a rivalry that hurts Notre Dame more than helps? Their coach is now more known for pants than he is for winning and the mouth breathers of Michigan will celebrate losing by less than 14.

Michigan will lose, finish the season 8-4 and go on to lose by 20+ in a bowl game against a middle of the pack SEC team. Notre Dame is putting a season at risk for the equivalent of Purdue as a resume builder.

Everything must come to an end, the only problem is that Michigan football peaked 71 years ago and they don’t know when to just go away.