Brian Kelly And Jim Harbaugh Express Desire For A Series Renewal

A recent victim of modern collegiate scheduling logistics, the Notre Dame-Michigan series might soon be renewed — sooner than what would have expected when it was temporarily extinguished in 2014.

On Thursday, Irish head coach Brian Kelly told the South Bend Tribune’s Eric Hansen that “we’re going to make that happen,” meaning a matchup between the sport’s heavyweights sometime in the near future.

“It’s something [director of athletics] Jack Swarbrick and I want to do, and we’re going to get that game back together. We’ve got some challenges, but I think we can pull it off,” Kelly told the Tribune, adding that it would come after the 2016-17 home-and-home series with Michigan State.

Prior to Notre Dame’s home night game against Michigan in 2012, Swarbrick handed then-Michigan director of athletics Dave Brandon a letter informing him that the 2014 matchup would be the final contest between the programs with the Irish opting out of future meetings. That letter has been a source of controversy, with Brandon later saying he was blindsided and with Swarbrick stating he had already informed Michigan of the intention to end the series, with the letter serving as a formal notice.

Regardless of the true series of events, it added an extra element to the series’ final two games. In 2013, Michigan played the ‘Chicken Dance’ over its public address system following a 41-30 victory over the Irish. Kelly’s squad ended the series with a 31-0 shutout of the Wolverines in 2014.

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who has in the past expressed his disdain for Notre Dame as a former Stanford head coach and Michigan quarterback, said Friday he has worked for nearly a year on reviving the series.

While reading between the lines of Kelly’s comments Thursday can make it sound like the programs might play again this decade, Notre Dame’s scheduling reality might make that difficult, considering future series with other elite programs that have since been agreed upon:

2019- Georgia

2022- Ohio State

2023- Ohio State

2024- Texas A&M

2025- Texas A&M

Although its name does not carry the significance of the aforementioned teams, Purdue also has commitments with the Irish in 2020, 2021 and 2024-2026. That list doesn’t even include the five annual games against the ACC, which often come against conference heavyweights Florida State and Clemson.

That could, however, leave an opening for a neutral-site game — possibly the Shamrock Series — in 2018, 2020 or 2021. Adding to the complexity of the logistics with this is whether it is a Shamrock Series game with the TV rights going to NBC, distribution of ticket sales, etc.

Although Notre Dame fans are split between wanting Michigan back on the schedule in some seasons and leaving the Wolverines off in favor of the Georgias and Texases of the world, there is no disputing that the Irish-Wolverines series has featured some iconic moments and a great dislike between the programs.

And, as senior editor Lou Somogyi wrote this morning, Notre Dame holds a slight advantage in all-time winning percentage, currently ranking atop the sport.