10 Best Players from the Michigan-Notre Dame Rivalry

Saturday night, one of college football’s great rivalries comes to an end, at least for now.

When Michigan and Notre Dame meet at Notre Dame Stadium, it will mark the final scheduled game between the longtime rivals until at least 2020. 

CBSSports.com's Jon Solomon says the rivals are preparing to say goodbye, at least for right now. 

Two years ago, the Fighting Irish opted to end the series with Michigan, citing the need for greater scheduling flexibility, including an agreement which will see as many as five ACC teams per year come onto the Irish’s schedule, beginning this fall.

That ends what has been one of the game’s more tightly contested rivalries. Since the series was renewed following a 35-year hiatus in 1978, Michigan holds a 15-14-1 edge, with a number of the games featuring big performances and thrilling finishes.

There have been a number of impressive individual efforts since the series resumed, afternoons that captured fans’ attention for one reason or another—depending on who you were rooting for.

Here’s a look at the top 10 players of the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry. Players were evaluated by their statistical performances and contributions to their team’s efforts.

10. Notre Dame K Reggie Ho

JOE RAYMOND/Associated Press

Reggie Ho was a very unlikely hero for Notre Dame in 1988.

When Notre Dame fans look back at the Fighting Irish’s 1988 national championship—the last national title in program history—they always remember a most unlikely hero.

Kicker Reggie Ho stood only 5’5”, 135 pounds and was playing his first collegiate game on Sept. 10, 1988 when Michigan visited Notre Dame Stadium.

The Irish grabbed a 7-0 lead on Ricky Watters’ 81-yard punt return, but from there on out, the offense was all Ho.

He booted a 31-yard field goal late in the first quarter for a 10-0 Notre Dame lead, and after Michigan fumbled the ensuing kickoff, he added a 38-yarder for a 13-0 lead.

The Wolverines fought back for a 14-13 lead, but Notre Dame drove again, and Ho’s third field goal of the day—a 26-yard try—gave the Irish a 16-14 edge.

Michigan retook the lead with a 49-yard field goal from Mike Gillette, but the Irish had one strong drive left that, again, wound up short of the end zone.

With 73 seconds left, Ho booted his fourth field goal of the day, giving Notre Dame a 19-17 lead.

Gillette missed a 48-yard try as time expired, and Notre Dame had a thrilling two-point win.

Ho scored 13 of the Irish’s 19 points on the day, and without him, a national title likely wouldn’t have happened.

9. Michigan TB Jamie Morris

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Jamie Morris was one of Michigan's top backs of all time.

Jamie Morris played at Michigan from 1984-87 and left as the Wolverines’ all-time leading rusher, with 4,392 yards.

He has since been passed by Mike Hart and Anthony Thomas, but he remains Michigan’s leader in career all-purpose yardage with 6,201 yards. He was a versatile back who ran well, returned kicks and caught passes out of the backfield.

And while Michigan’s 24-23 victory over Notre Dame in 1986 isn’t even among his top 10 all-time best performances in terms of all-purpose yardage, it is one that won’t be forgotten easily by longtime Michigan fans.

Morris scored all three of the Wolverines’ touchdowns (two on the ground and one through the air), and Michigan needed all three of them.

Notre Dame kicker John Carney missed an extra point and a field goal with 13 seconds left, allowing Michigan to hang on for a hard-fought victory in Lou Holtz’s Notre Dame debut.

8. Notre Dame TE Kyle Rudolph

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Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph had a historic day against Michigan.

2010’s Notre Dame-Michigan game is remembered as Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson’s breakout game—Robinson scored the winning touchdown in Michigan’s 28-24 win with just 27 seconds left.

But Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph was plenty impressive as well.

Rudolph caught eight passes for 164 yards, the most ever by a Fighting Irish receiver against Michigan, including the Irish’s biggest play of the day.

With 3:41 left, quarterback Dayne Crist connected with Rudolph for a 95-yard touchdown that gave the Irish a 24-21 lead.

Robinson’s heroics made Rudolph a footnote, but his day was well worth remembering regardless.

7. Notre Dame TB Ricky Watters

Duane Burleson/Associated Press/Associated Press

Ricky Watters was one of Notre Dame's most versatile backs ever.

During a four-year career at Notre Dame, Ricky Watters distinguished himself as one of the Fighting Irish’s best all-around players, which prepared him for a stellar NFL career.

Watters piled up 2,424 all-purpose yards and 23 touchdowns. During his Notre Dame career, the Irish went 4-0 against Michigan and won a national championship.

Perhaps Watters’ most memorable game against Michigan came as a sophomore. He returned a punt 81 yards for the game’s first score and a 7-0 Notre Dame lead. It would be the Irish’s only touchdown of the day, as kicker Reggie Ho added four field goals in a 19-17 victory.

Without Watters and Ho’s efforts that day, the 1988 national championship likely never would have happened.

6. Michigan QB Devin Gardner

Tony Ding/Associated Press

Devin Gardner enjoyed one of his best games against Notre Dame.

Devin Gardner still has one game left in his Michigan-Notre Dame career, but the Wolverines’ senior quarterback has already had an impressive run against the Fighting Irish.

In 2012, Gardner, then a sophomore receiver, led the Wolverines with three catches for 40 yards in a 13-6 defeat.

A year later, Gardner was Michigan’s starting quarterback, and he put together one of the Wolverines’ best all-around games against the Fighting Irish.

Wearing No. 98 to honor Michigan great Tom Harmon, Gardner piled up 376 all-purpose yards and accounted for five touchdowns in the Wolverines’ 41-30 win. 

That included a 61-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Gallon for the game’s first touchdown and a four-yard touchdown to Drew Dileo with 4:18 left to seal the victory.

Gardner had one bad interception but went 21-of-33 passing for 294 yards before an NCAA-record crowd of 115,009 in Michigan Stadium. It was a performance Wolverine fans won’t forget anytime soon.

5. Michigan QB Rick Leach

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Rick Leach played a huge role in the first Michigan-Notre Dame game in 35 years.

1978 was one of the most significant games in the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry. It was the teams’ first meeting in 35 years and was billed as the “Reunion” game.

It pitted two of college football’s top quarterbacks in Michigan’s Rick Leach and Notre Dame’s Joe Montana, garnering national attention.

Leach, who was struggling with an ankle injury, didn’t play well in the first half, going 3-of-14. According to MGoBlue.com's Steve Kornacki, Leach had to convince Michigan coach Bo Schembechler to let him stay in the game.

"

At halftime, he took me into that little coaches' office at Notre Dame and basically called me every name in the book. He said, 'If you are worth your salt, you will perform. But if you aren't after the first two series of the second half, I will go with someone else.'

Bo left that door cracked for a reason. Everybody on the team heard him, and they all came to me and gave me a hug. They said, 'To hell with them — let's go after it.' And I went out and played better.

"

In the second half, Leach completed five of six passes, three for touchdowns. He connected with tight end Doug Marsh for two scores and added a 40-yard touchdown to wingback Ralph Clayton.

Michigan ran the triple-option, and all three scores came off play-action passes.

Leach completed only eight passes on the day, but that didn’t matter much, given the Wolverines’ final result: a 28-14 victory.

4. Notre Dame LB Manti Te'o

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o had an incredible career against Michigan.

Denard Robinson was a significant thorn in Notre Dame’s collective side, but the Fighting Irish got their revenge on him in his final Michigan-Notre Dame game.

In 2012, Irish defenders intercepted Robinson—Michigan’s senior quarterback—four times in a 13-6 victory.

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o intercepted Robinson twice, returning the picks for a total of 28 yards. The Irish improved to 4-0, a win that helped propel them toward an undefeated regular season and a berth in the BCS National Championship.

It wasn’t Te’o’s only standout effort against Michigan. A year earlier, he piled up 13 tackles in a loss to the Wolverines.

3. Michigan QB Denard Robinson

TONY DING/Associated Press

Denard Robinson was a constant thorn in Notre Dame's side during his career.

Notre Dame ultimately got the last laugh against Denard Robinson, intercepting him four times in 2012’s 13-6 win, but the Fighting Irish were very happy to see Robinson, or Shoelace, as Michigan fans called him, exhaust his eligibility.

In 2010 and 2011, Robinson broke Irish fans’ hearts with a pair of thrilling last-second victories.

In 2010, Robinson made just his second career start against the Irish. And what a start it was. He put up 502 yards of total offense (258 rushing and 248 passing), a single-game record for a Michigan quarterback.

He posted three total touchdowns. The last, a two-yard touchdown with 27 seconds left, lifted the Wolverines to a 28-24 victory.

“Our offense came together," he told The Associated Press. "The offensive line blocked, the receivers catching, everything was clicking. ... I'm a team player and I don't look at stats."

A year later, Robinson put together an equally thrilling performance in Michigan Stadium. He piled up 446 yards of total offense (338 yards passing and 108 rushing) and five total touchdowns in the Wolverines’ 35-31 victory, a wild, back-and-forth affair.

Tommy Rees’ 29-yard touchdown pass gave Notre Dame a 31-28 lead with 30 seconds left, but Robinson wasn’t done. He connected with Jeremy Gallon for a 54-yard gain, and he followed that with a 16-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Roy Roundtree with two seconds left.

“It’s never over until you see zeroes on the clock,” Robinson told the AP.

2. Notre Dame WR Raghib Ismail

Scott Anderson/Associated Press

Raghib Ismail had the game of a lifetime against Michigan in 1989.

1989 marked one of only two No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdowns in Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry history (the other coming in 1943), and Raghib “Rocket” Ismail made sure fans would never forget it.

Entering the game, Notre Dame, the defending national champion, was ranked No. 1 with a 13-game winning streak; Michigan was No. 2 with a 10-game win streak.

With Notre Dame clinging to a 7-6 lead at the half, Ismail changed the game’s complexion on the second half’s opening kickoff, returning the kick 88 yards for a touchdown.

After the Wolverines had closed within 17-12 in the fourth quarter, Ismail provided the dagger, returning the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and a 24-12 lead.

''The only job I have to do is to make one person miss,'' Ismail told Malcolm Moran of The New York Times. ''When everyone takes care of their blocking assignments and I make one person miss, we do pretty well.”

In one of the series’ biggest spotlights ever, the Rocket had the afterburners turned up to 11, earning him a place in Fighting Irish fans’ hearts forever.

1. Michigan WR Desmond Howard

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Desmond Howard is one of the most revered players in Michigan history.

Twenty-three years ago, Desmond Howard claimed the 1991 Heisman Trophy as one of college football’s top all-around players.

The road to the stiff-arm trophy began in a September game against Notre Dame with one of the most famous plays in the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry’s history. In Ann Arbor, it is known simply as “The Catch.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Michigan held a 17-14 lead and faced fourth and about a foot at the Notre Dame 26. Michigan quarterback Elvis Grbac saw Howard isolated in single coverage on the right side of the field and lofted the ball to the right corner of the end zone.

Flanked by a pair of Irish defenders, Howard laid out and made a miraculous grab for a touchdown. Michigan held on for a 24-14 win, and Howard’s Heisman campaign was born.

He had 62 receptions for 950 yards and 19 total touchdowns, including a kick-return score and a punt-return score. But he’ll always be remembered for “The Catch.”