Bragging Rights

Michigan's win over Notre Dame Saturday night gives the program and its fans bragging rights with the Fighting Irish for a very long time.

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Fourteen years. 

2019. 2020. 2021. 2022. 2023. 2024. 2025. 2026. 2027. 2028. 2029. 2030. 2031. 2032. Eight months of 2033. 

That's how long Michigan fans will have bragging rights over Notre Dame following the Wolverines' absolute destruction of their Midwest rival Saturday.

The two teams are set to resume their series with ND's trip back to Ann Arbor in September 2033 and the Wolverines' trip to South Bend in 2034, the two schools announced earlier this weekend. 

Until then, the Fighting Irish will have to live with the indignity of an embarrassing 31-point loss to Michigan while Maize and Blue fans can revel in a decade-plus of jolly ribbing and scoreboard pointing (and as someone that knows plenty of Golden Domers, I will relish this). 

Michigan and Notre Dame have always had a unique rivalry. For U-M, beating ND doesn't help the Wolverines win the Big Ten East and earn a trip to Indianapolis, but the game has always carried with it more-than-bragging-rights implications.

More similar than dissimilar, Michigan and Notre Dame hold themselves up as bastions of doing it the right way, the best combination of academics and athletics in the Midwest (and arguably the country). The programs compete for the same recruits, for the same students, and for the same glory. 

Within the scope of college football, when these two programs play, their fan bases understand it is likely an elimination game for the playoffs (or previously, for a BCS appearance). It can also be the difference between a New Year's Six bowl game or just another ho-hum postseason contest as the two are preferred by high-ranking bowl officials and TV executives because of their massive appeal. 

Beating Notre Dame matters. And vice versa. 

Think about these Michigan football seasons: 2011 (11-2, Top 12 finish), 2007 (sending Lloyd Carr out on a high note), 2006 (11-0 start, No. 2 heading into THE game), 2003 (Big Ten champions), 1999 (10-2, Orange Bowl champs), 1997 (national champions) and on. 

Considered U-M's greatest seasons in the past 25 years, all of them included a victory over Notre Dame. 

The flip side is also true: 2014 (a 5-7 season leading to Brady Hoke's dismissal), 2012 (8-5 and the start of Hoke's demise), 2008 (a 3-9 campaign), 2005 (U-M's first five-loss season since 1984), 1998 (a thud 0-2 start coming off the national championship season) and on and on. All of those forgettable years included a loss to the Fighting Irish. 

There are of course outliers - Michigan beat Notre Dame in 2009 amid a 5-7 season and 2013 en route to a 7-6 year while losing to ND in 2004 in what became a Big Ten Championship team - but chances are, if the Wolverines beat the Fighting Irish, they had a season worth remembering. 

It remains to be seen if that will be this season. If U-M capitalizes on this victory, beats Maryland, Michigan State and Indiana, the Maize and Blue will enter its regular-season finale against Ohio State 9-2, with hope and the belief they can take down the Buckeyes (it may not happen, but at least there would be hope). 

The Blue and Gold, meanwhile, could finish 10-2, though their slate does pose some challenges - they welcome 5-2 Virginia Tech next Saturday, are at 4-4 Duke, host 6-1 Navy, host 4-4 Boston College and will finish their season at 4-4 Stanford. 

However Notre Dame's season unfolds the rest of the way, they won't have bragging rights over Michigan for the remainder of 2019, and for a very long time thereafter. 

Those belong entirely to the Wolverines, for 14 more years.