Notre Dame Football revives rivalry with Michigan State after nearly a decade

The realignment of college football conferences has led to the end of dozens of the best rivalries in the sport. Notre Dame football has been the victim of some of these rivalries and will almost certainly be a victim of several more in the next few years.

That’s why it’s always nice to see Revival of a rivalryeven if it’s just for a few games. Earlier this week, the Fighting Irish announced that the series against the Michigan State Spartans will be revived. And the best news of all is that it will be revived relatively soon.

The Notre Dame football team will face the Spartans. for the first time since 2017 in 2026. The two teams will face each other again in 2027. In other words, they will play each other for the first time in nearly a decade. And the weirdest part is that this rivalry is flaring up again ahead of the Irish’s series against the Michigan Wolverines.

Notre Dame and Michigan State have met 79 times, with the first game being played in 1897. Since 1949, the winner has been awarded the Megaphone Trophy, jointly sponsored by the Detroit alumni clubs of both schools. It has been announced that the trophy will also be part of the two games, the first in South Bend and the second in East Lansing.

The fall of 2026 will mark the 60th anniversary of the famous “Game of the Century”: The 10-10 tie between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Michigan State took place on November 19, 1966 at Spartan Stadium.

It should come as no surprise that the Notre Dame football team leads the rivalry series by a wide margin. The Fighting Irish have a 47-29-1 record against the Spartans. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this game is that it will take place at a time when new MSU head coach Jonathan Smith will have actually established his regime.