In the 2018 and 2019 seasons Michigan and Notre Dame will be taking a break from each other. The two schools have faced each other 39 times over the years with many of them being quite dramatic. This has become one of the more entertaining out of conference rivalries in college football.

How does this relate to Minnesota? Well there are quite a few Gopher fans who have been clamoring for Minnesota to get Notre Dame on the schedule. Many wanted the Irish to be the opponent for the first game at TCF Bank Stadium. But that game never took place and a series has never been scheduled. Even during the tenure of Joel Maturi, a Notre Dame alumn, these two teams never met on the gridiron. The typical response was that Notre Dame was not interested in scheduling another Big Ten program on top of their regular series with Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State.

Well, with today's announcement it appears as though there might be room for a Big Ten school to face the Irish. This would be a fun event for Gopher fans and I believe there is a pretty strong Irish alumni contingency in the Twin Cities who might also enjoy a visit from their favorite leprechaun. So Gopher fans need to call Joel Maturi to exert any influence he may still have to make this happen. And you Irish fans need to flood your school with calls clamoring for a visit from the Irish to TCF Bank Stadium in 2018.

These two programs have met just five times. Clearly Minnesota's tradition cannot match Notre Dame's but at one time these were both national powers and it would certainly be a non-conference matchup to look forward to for Gopher fans.