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Michigan AD Warde Manuel is open to seeing a return of the Michigan-Notre Dame football rivalry.

(Melanie Maxwell | MLive.com)

ANN ARBOR -- Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly wants to play Michigan again.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is also a fan of the now former Wolverines-Fighting Irish football rivalry.

And now, you can add new Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel to the list of people who would be more than open to seeing a reincarnation of Michigan-Notre Dame on the gridiron.

"When I played here and for many, many years it was a great rivalry," Manuel said Thursday. "If there's opportunities in the future to bring the rivalry on the football field back, obviously I'd be open to having that conversation and discussion.

"I think it's not only great for Michigan and Notre Dame football. I think it's great for college football for that rivalry to continue at some point in the future. So we'll see where that goes."

Michigan and Notre Dame, of course, played the last installment in what is now a former series in 2014 (Notre Dame won 31-0 in South Bend, Indiana) after ND athletic director Jack Swarbick opted out of the annual series before the 2012 game at Notre Dame Stadium.

Former Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon then moved to schedule a variety of other non-league opponents for the Wolverines in Notre Dame's place.

Brandon scheduled home-and-homes with Arkansas (2018-19), Washington (2020-21), Virginia Tech (2020-21), UCLA (2022-23), Texas (2024-27) and Oklahoma (2025-26). The Wolverines will also open the 2017 season against Florida in a neutral site game held in Arlington, Texas.

When, exactly, Michigan and Notre Dame might be able to reconnect with some form of the former series remains unclear.

But Manuel says it'll certainly be something he looks into.

"I don't know. I've been involved in scheduling football for almost two decades now and you can always try to find ways to put things together," Manuel says. "I don't know when the timeline would be, but I'm not worried that we're out (of it) significantly with games. Because even some of the things on the schedule right now, (we're) already having conversations to adjust (things) based on other opportunities they have or we have.

"You're putting those games in place, but they can always be adjusted."

Michigan and Notre Dame have played a total of 42 times since 1887. Michigan leads the series 24-17-1. After several hiatuses, the most recent version of the rivalry saw the Wolverines and Fighting Irish play a total of 26 times from 1985-2014 -- including every season from 2002-14.

Manuel was also asked if he's spoken to the Big Ten about shuffling the Wolverines' annual matchups with Michigan State and Ohio State to alternate home/road years.

Michigan played Michigan State in East Lansing both in 2013 and 2014 and is now on a Big Ten schedule that will see the Wolverines either play both schools at home in the same season or both schools on the road in the same season.

Last year, Michigan got MSU and Ohio State at home. This year, the Wolverines will travel to both East Lansing and Columbus.

Manuel says he hasn't gotten that far yet. But he did admit the situation isn't ideal.

"I haven't had that conversation with anyone (at the Big Ten) and I'm not sure of all the requirements," Manuel said. "We would prefer to have them in opposite years at home and away, obviously. But I think those conversations were had for whatever reason and they are where they are. We'll play them when we play them.

"It's not a priority for me (right now) to go in and say 'I need this shifted.' It's more to understand if there's an opportunity at some point in the future, then maybe. But right now, we'll play them as they go."

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