Apparently, the talk of the Irish and Michigan taking a little time off was premature. The AP has reported that Notre Dame and Michigan have signed an extension running the series out for another 20 years, all the way to 2031.
While I have been quick to throw the Irish under the bus, the original reasons for the talk of a break in the series made economic sense to both schools (Michigan wanted ND and Ohio State to alternate years in Ann Arbor; the Golden Domers wanted the same type of deal with Michigan and USC on alternate years in South Bend). Better season ticket packages to take care of the loyal masses--in some ways, this actually was the right thing for the fan.
However, the idea of no Michigan-Notre Dame game for 2 years seemed unthinkable to many (and I'm sure TV executives raised some noise). As much as we'd like to consider this an annual rite of fall, the matchup doesn't quite have the history of others. Case in point, Michigan is the school that introduced football to Notre Dame, yet they only played 2 times from 1909-1977. Now, in the last 30 years, it's been seemingly every year--with some fantastic results and moments. However--reality says it's been played 23 of the past 30 years. The Irish have played Air Force for 27 of the past 42 years, but no one clamors for the Falcons like a time honored tradition.....
But objectively its history is limited compared to other relationships that the Irish have. For example--the USC game has been an annual event since 1926 (with a brief hiatus during WWII). The series with the Naval Academy is the second longest continuous series in college football at 80 years ('continuous' is not to be confuses with 'competitive'). Heck, the discontinued series with Northwestern gave the Irish their nickname.
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