— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) July 7, 2016
This is not only a great day for Notre Dame and Michigan football fans but all of college football fans. Ever since the heated rivalry ended in 2014 college football fans have been clamoring to get this series back. It's been in my lifetime one of the classic early season match ups between the two winningest college football programs all-time.
UND.com released a press statement on the renewal of the series...
The University of Notre Dame and University of Michigan athletic departments announced jointly on Thursday a two-year, home-and-home football series beginning in 2018.
Notre Dame and Michigan will play September 1, 2018, at Notre Dame Stadium, and October 26, 2019, at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
“Today is a great day for Notre Dame, Michigan and college football fans across the country,” says Notre Dame vice president and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick. “Shortly after Warde Manuel was hired as Michigan’s athletic director, he and I began working to make this renewal of the series possible. That we could get games on the schedule as soon as ’18 and ’19 required a lot of work by our staffs and some great cooperation by the Big Ten, ACC and other schools that were on our future schedules.
“While the schedule commitments of both Notre Dame and Michigan make an annual series impractical, we’re optimistic that additional games can be scheduled in the future.”
"I’m excited to see Notre Dame and Michigan, two brand-name programs, get back together on the football field,” says Irish head coach Brian Kelly. “Both programs have a long and storied history of success. We’re talking about the two winningest programs in all of college football.
“We’ve wanted to make this happen for quite some time. We wouldn’t be able to make today’s announcement without the work from Jack (Swarbrick) and other members of our administration. This is a win for everyone involved, not just those at either institution, but both fan bases and fans across the entire college football landscape.”
On a personal level I'm thrilled Michigan is back on the Notre Dame schedule. ND replaced Michigan with Texas on their schedule and while it's exciting (I'll be in Austin!) it doesn't make the blood boil or goosebumps tingle when you talk about the classic ND vs Michigan games. These two programs fan bases hate each other and now with Jim Harbaugh back in the Maize and Blue I'm sure there will be more fuel to the fire.
Catholics vs Khakis should be a top 10 college football game every season. In 2018 and 2019 whomever wins the game will have the inside track to the College Football Playoff. You can't beat that if you are a college football fan.
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