Marcus Freeman, Sherrone Moore advocate for return of Notre Dame vs. Michigan rivalry

In the era of conference realignment and expanded league schedules — some rivalries have fallen by the wayside. In the case of Notre Dame and Michigan, those two coaches want to reignite the rivalry between those historic programs.

Over the last week, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman and Michigan coach Sherrone Moore have both come out in support of the playing one another on regular basis. There is a future home-and-home on the books for the Irish and Wolverines, but that’s not until 2033 and 2024.

In an interview with “Bussin’ with the Boys,” Freeman said he would be a “huge proponent” of bringing back the annual rivalry, one that he watched so often as a child.

“I remember growing up watching Michigan play Notre Dame,” Freeman said. “That is such a great rivalry. You talk about two iconic programs. I would love to see that happen in the future, and I don’t know if there’s discussions. I don’t know if it’s on our future schedule, but now that you say that Taylor, I think it is on our schedule in like 2030 or something like that. … We have to get that back going.”

Moore was asked about those comments in his Monday press conference, and he echoed Freeman’s sentiment. Even with the future series scheduled, Moore said he’d like to play sooner if it were possible.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Moore said of reigniting the rivalry with Notre Dame. “Pretty close with Marcus. Yeah, that’d be great to see. And I know we’re aligned to play, I think it’s not until, what? 2032 or something. Maybe we can get that a little earlier. But we’ll see.

“We’re just really worried about the game we’re about to play. But, yeah, 100%, that’s a traditional rivalry that is a staple of college football for sure.”

Notre Dame and Michigan first met all the way back in 1887, but there were long gaps in the rivalry until the two programs started playing almost annually in the late 1970s. From 2002-14, the Irish and Wolverines met every year, and their most recent matchup came in 2019.

Michigan owns a 25-17-1 edge against Notre Dame, and that record will remain the same for a while, unless Freeman and Moore get their wish.