Michigan football vs. Notre Dame reboot: Social media reacts

Notre Dame and Michigan football fans rejoiced Thursday, as the two schools announced their storied and heated rivalry will return in 2018 after seemingly ending a few seasons ago.

Needless to say, devotees of both programs were excited by the news, even though the agreement only includes a home-and-home series in 2018 and 2019, with no further guarantees.

Many took to social media to express their happiness about the announcement, with former players, coaches and fans weighing in. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh summed up most people’s feelings when he said the move “makes sense on every conceivable level and is good for football, good for the players and good for the fans,” according to the Associated Press.

However, Harbaugh, master of the Twitter feud, has yet to chime in on his favorite social media platform. Thankfully, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly hasn’t wasted any time picking a fight.

Kelly isn’t wrong. While he has had plenty of success since coming to Notre Dame, and the end of the Michigan rivalry certainly wasn’t his fault (blame Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick and the ACC agreement for that), plenty of fans were still mad that one of the team’s fiercest rivals came off the schedule under his watch.

Even since Swarbrick and Notre Dame infamously and abruptly announced the end of the series in 2012, Kelly has been bombarded with questions about if and when it would resume, so it should come as no surprise that he was spearheading the charge to make it happen.

Speaking of that cancellation, Michigan fans certainly haven’t forgotten how blindsided they felt back in 2012 when the Irish announced just before that year’s contest they would only play three more games against the Wolverines.

Notre Dame did get the last laugh though, winning the series’ final game 31-0, though Irish fans prefer to remember the score as 37-0 after a last-second touchdown was waved off due to a penalty flag.

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Though it’s not as though both sides don’t have ammo when it comes to on-field moments. All told, the teams have met 42 times, with Michigan holding a 24-17-1 edge.

Regardless, there’s certainly no love lost between these two fan bases, to say the least.

The universities are separated by just 150 miles, and even though the rivalry is neither the oldest nor most prolific of either team, they do seem to have a special enmity for each other.

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Still, the one thing Michigan and Notre Dame fans agree on is their approval of the recent announcement.

The resumption of the series is good for college football as a whole. At a time when the quality of nonconference games is finally on the rise, there’s no reason two classic programs such as Notre Dame and Michigan should not be playing. Everyone realizes that.

Well, everyone except anyone in Arkansas.

Next: Arkansas, Bielema take shot at Michigan, Harbaugh for dropping game

With all due respect to Arkansas, it’s hard to feel bad for the Razorbacks. They have two more seasons to find another opponent, plus the $2 million buyout Michigan had to play to cancel the games. It’s not as though the Wolverines are traditional rivals with the Razorbacks.

Maybe it’s just some lingering resentment from Bielema’s Wisconsin days?