Onward Notre Dame: The Michigan Rivalry

you know if you had to pick one game from this entire series to embody what this series means to both schools there's no better example in the [Applause] embodied every characteristic of this series to talented teams to coaches who were legendary a great deal on the line animosity by both fan bases and by both teams so a big play here for the Michigan Wolverines Michael Taylor does I can't call the sickle my players can tear Taylor will not step on there's better John by Callie the game was delayed in the second half for an extended period of time because their fans were making too much noise and the Michigan players couldn't hear their quarterback signal now a little halt have gotten into the act he's down on the sideline and he's asking the crowd that's not a quiet down they're not gonna do it when you live in this region you run into people all the time that are either diehard Michigan fans or diehard Notre Dame fans and you can flip that people that don't like Notre Dame and people who don't like Michigan so the rivalry is everywhere the emotion is everywhere to be quite frank it's more than a healthy dislike these two teams hate each other what makes a good football rivalry there's got to be his success on both sides I make it can't be lopsided when two teams play over a long period of time and the game is always you have to have similar type programs but with different themes behind them good and evil I think that's what makes for a good story the games have to mean something and they really and there has to be a dislike between the two schools and there's a dislike between Notre Dame and Michigan that's for sure I think it says something that I've shaken the hands of every opponent I've faced I've never shaken the hand of a Michigan football player not ordained in Michigan it's a hate hate relationship we have to close win too much and play too tough for it to be any different it's bad blood trust me I'm from Detroit I was recruited by Michigan but you know what the best high school players in Michigan go to know today when you meet somebody said I went to the University of Michigan interpretation they couldn't get into Notre Dame about it the main thing you have to think about when you think about the Michigan Notre Dame rivalry is the proximity we're competing for a lot of the same student-athletes a lot of the players know each other a lot of the coaches know each other fan bases are very familiar with both programs it's a great rivalry that way if you've ever driven between Michigan and Notre Dame you see that there's nothing but cornfields in the summertime a few lakes highways deer and there's not much between them it feels like it is a backyard rivalry as much as any they are so close one hundred and fifty miles as all that separates the campuses I really didn't understand the close proximity until that second year when we had to go there and I remember coach Oates like you better gas that bus all the way up because I'd be damned if we spent any money in Michigan at the gas station it was that kind of an atmosphere a lot of the alums are family members or friends neighbors people who know each other and people who know what these football Saturdays mean in these towns in these communities and to these fan bases if you want to go to a great University in the Midwest if you were Catholic Notre Dame with the largest Catholic University in America Michigan occasionally had the honor in the late 1800s and early nineteen hundreds of being the largest university from an enrollment standpoint of any in America that was always part of the core of the two schools missions was to be the best at what you do and so you have those two universities when they clash the results are memorable for the brand the Michigan football you got to beat Notre Dame and they said they know today needs to be Michigan over a span of over 130 years Notre Dame and Michigan have met on the football field just over 50 times but those contests have filled the nation's memory with moments neither schoolyard the my kegels and doors [Applause] anyway [Music] [Applause] [Applause] spectacular roads you are ever going to see these are the two most popular schools in the history of the sport nobody's won more games than Michigan Notre Dame has a history that is unmatched in the sport with great games championship teams the place the venue what the school has stood for over the years these are two unique iconic schools that stand alone in the Midwest in terms of what football means to this part of the world and what it's meant for over a century the Notre Dame Michigan rivalry is Smash Mouth blue collar and personal this rivalry starts at the very beginning in 1887 the first game the Irish ever played was against Michigan Michigan was really the first example of big-time college football way back in the late 1800s and Michigan's introduction to Notre Dame of how the sport is played and how you build a program was a lot of the reason Notre Dame took off and had success Notre Dame basically asked Michigan to teach Notre Dame how to play football and Michigan did that Michigan was a power back in 1887 when the two teams played for the first time and over the next twenty plus years the two teams played eight times and Michigan won all eight games it took Notre Dame nine games to finally beat Michigan at which point feeling Yoast the next year's canceled the series and refused to play Notre Dame for the remainder of his tenure in fact under Dame did not play Michigan again until the 1940s as Notre Dame was focused on growing his football program Michigan was focused on standing in the way Michigan had been king of the Midwest and wasn't ready for new competition in the Western Conference Michigan Notre Dame is a unique rivalry in that it is so old and the teams have hardly ever played in the first 90 years of the rivalry they played 11 times and it was what was happening off the field that was the most dominant thread through the whole rivalry Notre Dame had frequently reached out to Michigan asking to play and Michigan always came up with a variety of reasons as to why it would not work out not only that Michigan refused to play Notre Dame but heõs convinced the rest of the teams in the Western Conference but not to play number two forcing Notre Dame to go out and play a national schedule [Music] Notre Dame tried to get into the big 10 when it was formed in the late 1890s and kept knocking at the door by the time Rockne became coach in the late nineteen teens 1918 he was with he picked up that ball and was knocking even harder she was playing Big Ten teams which angered Yoast he didn't like it that Notre Dame had the advantages of being in the conference without being in it and finally in 1926 the Notre Dame hierarchy tried one last time to get into the big ten that was it from 1926 onward Notre Dame says fine you want us to be the national school away from the Midwest that's what we'll become and we'll be great at it and did they wanted to be the big boys in the area and they didn't want any competition Notre Dame was held back was held out because I think Michigan knew what this program was could become and what it has become and I don't think they wanted that competition deokjin retired so Fritz Kreisler was entirely in charge of athletics at Michigan he didn't like it that the in all the great Catholic prep schools across America but those kids if there were any good would be urged by their priests and by their coaches that way gotta go to Notre Dame's while Michigan wouldn't play Notre Dame most of the century the batter was off the field in recruiting Notre Dame was attracting the best athletes in the country from Catholic schools even those in Ann Arbor so the few continues now you got to remember Rockne and Leahy to this day percentage-wise are the winningest coaches in the history of the sport so was their athletic jealousy involved in the earlier break off of course there was was there again with the second long break off between 1943 and 78 of course there was athletic jealousy was a huge part and probably the thickest thread through all of it you know what I never knew that that sounds like something the Michigan we do it really does see I mean that's just Michigan for you big product couldn't tell you right now why they did that they just did like Notre Dame and that's why we don't like them I guess we should say thank you that to Michigan for creating lines in the sand that didn't need to be there because their efforts now have helped to create the most successful brand in all of college sport we're always going to take here at the University of Notre Dame we're gonna take any negative and turn it into a positive that's just what we do that's how we operate we operated at a high level we compete at a high level and you know good for us good for us Thanks Michigan we appreciate it Thanks indeed with no nearby opponents willing to play the Irish and no conference that were welcome to small Midwest Catholic school the football team boarded a train for New York and altered the course of college football with the historic upset over Army and the Ford pass heard round the world the small Catholic school captured headlines radio waves and the hearts of an America built upon immigrants they won in Texas they won in Southern Cal the Fighting Irish became the nation's team and led many to a loyalty that would transcend generations if Michigan had not kept Notre Dame out of the conference no one knows what the landscape of college football would be today Thank You Michigan indeed Notre Dame in Michigan two natural enemies the school had only played 11 games in 90 years but these Midwest neighbors have reputations of supremacy that conflicted with one another by 1978 Notre Dame had 10 consensus national championships and Michigan claimed the same the local appetite for a backyard matchup were too strong not to schedule each other and new generations of university administrators finally agreed for most of the next four decades Michigan and Notre Dame played almost yearly and the renewed rivalry satisfied the hype and it was great to see the rivalry continued for really generations there was a little angst between the two universities historically it was early in the season and a great tone Center for the college football season you know some of these rivalry games have happened late in the season you know the Alabama Auburn and you know Notre Dame plays USC at the end of the year but Notre Dame Michigan started the year and whoever lost that game was out so it was huge there was no playoff system so it's all about how you look throughout the season and then moving up in the rankings because people were going to vote whether or not you were playing in a national championship so it's a big game you know you all eyes are watching every writer all the people voting are watching this game so you had to go out and really perform performing poorly could really damage you for the rest of the season get past Michigan there's no team out there that has a combination of toughness and town there's a lot of talented teams out there a lot of tough teams out there but it's hard to be both it's a really big risk playing such a big opponent but momentum is gonna be great for you if you win the game conversely if you lose the game it's gonna hurt your momentum we don't have a preseason and you don't have the opportunity to see what you look like versus other teams all that training can't be all that preparation everything you do it all leads up to that moment where you gotta be able to put it together week one when Notre Dame aligned itself with the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014 it maintained football independence but agreed to schedule five ACC teams annually the non-conference scheduling guidelines of the Big Ten and the ACC became too challenging to maintain the series with Michigan on an annual basis so the 2014 contest in South Bend would be the last scheduled game for the foreseeable future the 2014 game had all the intensity and emotion that any Notre Dame Michigan game would have 875 but this game had something extra because both sides knew this was the last time Notre Dame in Michigan were going to play for not only the foreseeable future but the belief at the time was that it was going to be a long time before these two teams would get together again on the football field this is a great opportunity you may not see a Michigan game you know for a while I mean these are the two winningest programs in college football and that's for a reason there's an immense amount of pride both teams want to win this football game and run a battle and fight to the very end you know what to do you know how to do it don't let your brain don't let your mind get in the way of being a great football player today play the game play it fast play the way you've been playing since you've been a little kid here come the Irish sold out 80,000 plus lucky fans tonight because this one has turned into one of the toughest tickets all season in college football now I remember seeing them go out and show miss Kay how Notre Dame plays football [Applause] and garner whips it out in this time with no way that is Matthias Farley were they textbook tackle and a loss of two [Applause] the rats 46-yard of [Music] and our second goal this number is called and McDaniel opens the story puts Notre Dame up seven to nothing fourth and three and Olsen gets the first down but now it's third and goal Dolson throwing it to the endzone to a mere Carlisle Notre Dame has a minute 24 left but as you mentioned no timeouts third and that short Golson going for the end zone and a leaping grab mate by fuller Michigan in our house not knowing when we were gonna play them again was definitely a sweet feeling second and six and this is Carlisle going in for the score Dargis looking punches way now he's scrambling and fumbles the football and I believe Notre Dame has it I remember the sweet taste of victory and I'm looking forward to getting that again rinse it now setting up for what's gonna be about a 42 yard field goal attempt well no problem there it's just the way it's gonna end first time the Wolverines ever shut out in the history of this series I'll never forget stepping onto that field you know under the lights and then looking up at the scoreboard and seeing 31 0 the importance of the final score in South Bend was not lost on the Irish the public route snapped Michigan's 30-year streak without a shutout for a series that began with the very first whistle in 1887 the final whistle in 2014 had a nice ring to it and I like the sound of that in 2016 Michigan and Notre Dame announced a home-and-home series beginning two years later on September 1st these two teams will meet in South Bend to start the season and rekindled the hate affair that has colored the history of these two schools under the lights prime time nor today Michigan it's going to be epic it's kind of a battle for bragging rights if you will you know both these teams feel like they got something to prove this year and they want to get back on top in college football a lot of work has really taken place in shaping and forming this football team since we don't play in a conference we obviously want to be the best in the country but we want to take the kind of being the best in the Midwest as well [Music] it's been six months that we've begun working for this day we expect to dominate Michigan and not because they're inferior but just because we are indeed you don't play inferior opponents we want to play the best of the best Michigan is the best of the best and they give us their best our best is just a little bit more [Music] it's a monumental game against two monumental programs that do not like each other this has started in this thing of eighteen hundreds they don't like us and we don't like them we talked about attacking adversity okay and what happens University had said we attack it not shying away from but embracing who we are as a program and racing the fact that we have one of the hardest schedules in the country that's what we're about that's what we train for everyone knows that you know to be Michigan it's not easy it's gonna be a tough gam it's gonna be a tough fight it's almost proving that you're the more physical team or just almost the essence of football it's it's just a big it's just a big deal it's missing this is a game that doesn't happen too often the rareness of the occasion definitely makes this rivalry special Michigan's gonna regret teaching us how to play football [Music] you

Channel: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Views: 64,496

Rating: 4.768889 out of 5

Keywords: university of notre dame, fighting irish, college, university, sports, michigan, rivalry, yost, fielding yost, catholic, jack nolan, mike tirico, john kryk, indi jackson, knute rockne, reunion game, shutout, rivals, midwest, football

Id: YIyB1rle6yM

Length: 22min 4sec (1324 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 30 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/MaddenRegular]

I’ve literally been waiting for this video since I saw the game scheduled. So glad they came through!

[u/bosstone42]

Some of the pettiest shit talking and I absolutely love it