Michigan, Notre Dame to resume football rivalry

The University of Notre Dame and University of MI athletic departments announced jointly on Thursday a two-year, home-and-home football series beginning in 2018.

Two of college footballs most storied programs will renew their historic rivalry after a very short hiatus. But it presents a headache for Arkansas. To make room on their schedule, MI will reportedly pay $2 million to opt out of its 2018 game against Arkansas.

The schools ended a series in 2014 after Notre Dame’s 31-0 blowout victory and it was unclear when the two programs would play again. MI does not have an open date in their schedule in 2020.

SEC rules require teams to play at least one non-conference team from a Power 5 league each season. By the time September of 2018 rolls around I expect both programs to be back at among the elites.

As Notre Dame realigned its future schedules with five annual ACC games, it committed to ongoing annual relationships with USC, Stanford and Navy to underline its commitment to a national schedule. “Institutions are permitted to seek a waiver from the conference office when extenuating circumstances exist”. Adding a neutral-site game instead could be problematic because Arkansas plays Texas A&M annually in Dallas at AT&T Stadium.

That’s the Won-Loss-Tie ledger between Notre Dame and MI since the two programs resumed regular matchups on fall Saturdays in *1978.

However, a neutral site isn’t likely to be an option the Razorbacks want to pursue.

Hired by MI athletic director Bo Schembechler in the mid-80s, Long is a former 11-year associate athletic director at U-M. The Wolverines will pay the Razorbacks $2 million to buy-out the contract. An additional neutral-site game could compromise the possibility of playing six games in Fayetteville in a given season. Not only will they play ND on the road, but they will also play Michigan State and Ohio State on the road in that same season, leaving them without a tentpole rivalry game on their home schedule. Arkansas AD Jeff Long questioned the timing of the decision, noting that “the late notice of Michigan’s cancellation makes securing those games [against other quality non-conference teams] substantially more hard”, while HC Bret Bielema said that he was “definitely disappointed”. “While there are many other quality opponents that would help us strengthen our non-conference schedule, the late notice of Michigan’s cancellation makes securing those games substantially more hard”. There is so much rich history between the two programs who just ooze college football greatness, and if the report is to be true, they’ll be locking horns come 2018 for the first time in four years.

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema – a former player at Iowa and coach at Wisconsin – called MI “one of my favorite Big Ten conference rivals”.

Notre Dame gave MI notice that it was breaking off the series just before the 2012 game, as the opt-out clause required three games advance notice.

Notre Dame finds themselves in a similar situation in 2019 when they head to Ann Arbor.

“While it’s never easy to change football schedules”, Manuel said, “I appreciate Arkansas’ Jeff Long understanding of the need for this change.so we could bring this Notre Dame rivalry back to the field”.