Michigan and Notre Dame on Thursday announced that they "will resume" their football series on Sept. 1, 2018, at Notre Dame Stadium, after the series "took an indefinite hiatus" following the '14 season, according to a front-page piece by Mike Vorel of the SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE. The teams will then play at Michigan Stadium on Oct. 26, 2019. To pull it off, UM "discarded its home-and-home series" against Arkansas that was previously slated to kick off the '18 and '19 seasons. UM reportedly paid $2M "to shutter the series." Michigan also moved a '19 home game against Rutgers to "sync with Notre Dame's schedule." Notre Dame's agreement with the ACC, which mandates that it "play an average of five games per season against ACC opponents in order to remain a conference member in other sports, significantly hampers" AD Jack Swarbrick's scheduling flexibility. Vorel writes Swarbrick's "frosty relationship" with former UM AD Dave Brandon, who resigned in October '14, "further solidified the stalemate." But time and the appointment of new UM AD Warde Manuel "has healed old wounds and allowed for a shared future" (SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, 7/8).
RIVALRY RESTORED: Manuel said that the program "is having 'on-going discussions' to extend the new series with Notre Dame even further." In Michigan, Brendan Quinn noted as of now "nothing is finalized" beyond the '19 game. The reconciliation between the schools "grew inevitable in recent months." Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly "echoed each other in a singsong cadence of unity even while in the midst" of the '15 season and the two have "remained on the same page" ever since (MLIVE.com, 7/7). In Detroit, Angelique Chengelis notes Manuel had "made clear almost immediately after taking over" as AD earlier this year he "wanted the rivalry to return." Meanwhile, a schedule rotation that has Michigan-Notre Dame "playing two years and taking two years off might be ideal, but clearly scheduling far into the future has levels of challenges that Swarbrick and Manuel are negotiating" (DETROIT NEWS, 7/8).
LITTLE ROCKED: In Arkansas, Tom Murphy reports Manuel on Wednesday emailed Arkansas AD Jeff Long that Michigan "would pay a cancellation fee" of $2M to get out of the two-game home-and-home series. Long was "not pleased at the late cancellation, which gives him limited time to find a replacement." Long: "It's going to be far more difficult than $2 million worth of pain to get a Power 5 team scheduled." Long and Brandon "agreed to the two-game series in the fall" of '12. Long: "At the time we signed it, the thinking was from Dave Brandon that they don't break contracts. I didn't anticipate them breaking a contract." Long said that his preference is to "replace Michigan with a home and home set against another Power 5 school" (ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, 7/8).
