Marcus Freeman is a 'huge proponent' of Notre Dame-Michigan rivalry happening again

In what was the final (scheduled) meeting against historic rival No. 20 USC this weekend, No. 13 Notre Dame put up 442 yards and downed the Trojans 34-24 in South Bend to continue its march to the College Football Playoff.

Due to conference realignment/conferences shifting to nine games however, this rivalry is seemingly going away. This isn’t the first historic rival that Notre Dame has lost in recent history, as it lost its rivalry vs. Michigan following the 2019 season.

That rivalry dates back to 1887 and involved 43 meetings between the two historic programs, which Michigan leads 25-17-1. The last meeting between the Wolverines and Fighting Irish came in 2019, where Jim Harbaugh‘s team dominated 45-14 just a few seasons prior to winning the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2023.

On the latest episode of ‘Bussin’ With The Boys‘, Michigan alum Taylor Lewan openly asked Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman about bringing back this rivalry. Freeman, as he was about the USC rivalry, is a huge proponent for playing these rivalry games.

Marcus Freeman wants to see historic rivalry return

“Oh, I’m a huge proponent,” Freeman said. “Absolutely. I remember growing up watching Michigan play Notre Dame. 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.”

Freeman was almost correct on the time-frame for the return of this rivalry. As of now, the next scheduled meeting between Notre Dame and Michigan is scheduled for Sept. 3, 2033 in Ann Arbor. A game in South Bend is scheduled for Sept. 2, 2034. The 2033 meeting will mark the first meeting of the programs in 14 seasons, but who’s to say they won’t get another game scheduled before then.

“Two of football’s premier programs, Michigan and Notre Dame playing each other makes sense on every conceivable level and is good for football, good for the players and good for the fans,” former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh wrote back in 2016, when the rivalry was announced to be coming back after a four-year hiatus.

As for the rivals this season, now-No. 12 ranked Notre Dame has rattled off five consecutive wins after opening the season with back-to-back losses. Meanwhile, Michigan is 5-2 and bounced back from a 31-13 drumming to USC with a 24-7 win over Washington on Saturday.