Michigan and Notre Dame represent two of the top three spots in all-time college football wins and are the top two in all-time winning percentage.
Sounds like a pretty nice rivalry — and it has been.
The two teams first met in 1887 and have played in each of the past 11 years.
They will play each other for each of the next two seasons, but then the rivalry of these two legendary programs will end. It turns out Michigan had no part in the decision and they aren’t all pleased.
The rivalry will end because, as Michigan head coach Brady Hoke said Monday, the Fighting Irish are “chickening out” of playing his Wolverines.
Early last season, Michigan was notified that Notre Dame would not be renewing their annual high-profile meeting after the 2014 season.
Perhaps Notre Dame was scared away by their 16-23-1 record against the Wolverines, or the fact that Michigan seems poised to reinstate itself as an elite college program after a few ugly years.
The rivalry pits two of the largest fan bases against one another and two of the most storied programs in college football history to the same field. The rivalry brought a night game to the University of Michigan’s Big House for the first time in it’s billion-year history.
A shame Notre Dame has to chicken out.