Identifying Earliest Season the Michigan-Notre Dame Rivalry Could Resume

The buzz surrounding a resumption of the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry gained steam this week, but the earliest season the storied programs could meet again is more than a handful of years away.

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly appeared on The Rich Eisen Show and suggested the possibility of the series coming back is "trending up." Per Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press, Kelly said:

"

I think that's something that everybody wants to get going and get Michigan back on the schedule. ... I think that sentiment is coming back to the forefront of where college football needs to be. Some of those classic rivalries coming back together. I know we're going to be working hard to see if we can get that done.

"

Barring cancellations in pre-existing schedules, though, the reality is Michigan and Notre Dame won't appear on the same field anytime soon.

For any readers who don't know the story of why the rivalry was cancelled, let's back up.

Michigan and Notre Dame were tentatively slated to play until 2031, but the schools reserved the right to end the agreement with three games notice. Notre Dame exercised that option in 2012, which would ultimately end a stretch of 31 matchups over a 36-year period.

Shortly before the meeting that season, former Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon received a letter declaring the postponement of annual clashes from 2015-17.

Additionally, Michigan—who holds a 24-17-1 overall lead in the series—later announced the teams wouldn't play in 2018 or 2019, either.

Year	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Location
2010	Michigan	28	Notre Dame	24	South Bend, IN
2011	Michigan	35	Notre Dame	31	Ann Arbor, MI
2012	Notre Dame	13	Michigan	6	South Bend, IN
2013	Michigan	41	Notre Dame	30	Ann Arbor, MI
2014	Notre Dame	31	Michigan	0	South Bend, IN

So the story returns to cancellations.

According to FBSchedules.com, Notre Dame has its complete schedule set in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons, as expected.

Recently, the Big Ten elected to schedule nine conference games per season, a practice which will start in 2016. Consequently, Michigan only has three opportunities to schedule an outside opponent. Those spots are filled in 2016 and 2017, also as expected.

The thought of the programs reneging on the announcement of no meetings during the 2018 and 2019 seasons is improbable, too. Since Michigan typically begins conference play around the first weekend of October, any clash with Notre Dame must happen right away.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Notre Dame has two open early-season dates in 2018: Sept. 1 and Sept. 15. However, Michigan is slated to face Arkansas and SMU, respectively.

In 2019, Notre Dame is booked solid in September except for the first Saturday of the month, Sept. 7. However, Michigan has Army on the schedule that weekend.

The outlook isn't much better in 2020, either. Michigan has already agreed to nonconference outings against Washington, Ball State and Virginia Tech. Perhaps Michigan might consider delaying Ball State, but playing two Power Five schools and Notre Dame is a bold decision, to say the least.

Would Michigan be bold enough to ignore a similar choice the next season, 2021? Virginia Tech and Washington are again on the docket.

Unless the brass in Ann Arbor backs out of a contract during any of those years—which comes with varying financial implications depending on the opponent—Michigan and Notre Dame realistically might not face off until 2022.

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press/Associated Press

Even then, Michigan has home-and-home series against UCLA, Oklahoma and Texas to be played out through 2022-2027.

In recent seasons, Michigan rarely played a major opponent as well as Notre Dame, with Alabama in 2012 being the exception. Otherwise, the schedule usually included a directional Michigan school, a MAC school or a non-Power Five team from the East Coast.

Straying from tendencies certainly isn't easy, but Michigan would have to do just that for the rivalry to resume.

Yes, for a team to prove it's the best, it must beat the best. But there's a reason ACC or Big 12 teams don't schedule Alabama, Oregon and Ohio State every year. Playing one lower-conference school each season is a perfectly reasonable procedure.

While fans of Michigan, Notre Dame and classic rivalries deserve to be excited about the matchup potentially appearing on the schedule again, unfortunately, it simply won't happen in the near future.

All recruiting information via 247Sports. Stats from cfbstats.com. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.