Big Ten Q&A: Is the Revival of the Notre Dame Rivalry Good or Bad for Michigan?

Satellite camps have wrapped up, media days are on their way and the start of the 2016 college football season is officially fewer than two months away.

With that in mind, let's get to this week's Big Ten Q&A, where we'll tackle the rebirth of the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry, LeBron James' presence at Ohio State, Michigan's quarterback situation and the best media food spread in the conference.

As always, you can send me your questions each week on Twitter @BenAxelrod.

Let's get started.

As a college football fan/observer/critic, I love it. Some of my most vivid early-life memories related to the sport pertain to September battles between the Wolverines and Fighting Irish, which always had a way of shaping each team's respective path throughout each season.

Add Jim Harbaugh and Brian Kelly to the mix, and one would imagine that some of the most intense battles between two of the most storied programs in all of college football will be upon us when the rivalry resumes in 2018.

But for that very reason, I wouldn't necessarily love this move if I happened to be a fan of Michigan football.

Already playing in the ultracompetitive Big Ten East, adding another annual quality opponent to their schedule leaves little to gain and plenty to lose for the Wolverines. Win, and you add just another quality win to your resume, which will already be full with opportunities to do as much thanks to Ohio State, Michigan State and, in most years, Penn State.

Lose, and you leave yourself with little room for error, one more loss away from your playoff hopes officially being on life support.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

And while I ultimately believe that winning the Big Ten championship—especially from the East side of the division—will usually be enough to crash the playoff, we're two years in and yet to see a two-loss team make college football's Final Four.

With the series not being revived for at least another two years, a lot can change, both in terms of the landscape of the sport as well as the Michigan and Notre Dame programs.

But for now—and purely from a competitive standpoint—it's tough to see how bringing back a part of the Wolverines' past will help them in the future.

Since Urban Meyer arrived at Ohio State, his "good friend LeBron" (Meyer's words, not mine), has attended three Ohio State games: the Buckeyes' 2013 Big Ten opener against Wisconsin, their 2014 prime-time showdown with Virginia Tech and the 2015 College Football Playoff championship game.

And while King James was absent from Ohio Stadium throughout the 2015 campaign, it'd be surprising not to see him on the sideline for at least one Buckeyes game this fall.

Which one? It's tough to tell based on his and Ohio State's conflicting schedules.

But if you look at his history of having attended games at The Horseshoe, a clear pattern appears to have developed.

For one, the game has to be big enough for a megastar of James' magnitude to attend. This is a four-time MVP and three-time NBA champion, after all. Despite his love for Northeast Ohio, he's not showing up to watch the Buckeyes blow out Akron or Kent State. Plus, Meyer wouldn't want to waste a valuable photo op with James on a game unlikely to be attended by a who's who of Ohio State recruiting targets.

In theory, the game also has to be early enough in the schedule that it doesn't conflict with LeBron's training-camp schedule with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then again, James did leave a Cavs road trip to attend the national title game in Dallas, so perhaps he could make an exception should the right opportunity present itself, as it did in 2008 when he served as a guest-picker on College GameDay for a late-October battle between the Buckeyes and Penn State.

The only problem is that with an early-season game against Oklahoma being played in Norman, prime-time home games in the first half of Ohio State's schedule are lacking. Right now, I'd pencil James in for an appearance at the Buckeyes' Oct. 29 showdown with Northwestern—especially with the world champion Cavs opening the season at home, where they'll receive their rings—but beyond that, there aren't many other opportunities that meet the King's worthiness.

I'm assuming the "M" in question here represents Michigan.

If that's the case, I'll rely on the same line of logic I typically follow when forecasting recruitments, or even NBA free agency for that matter: follow the momentum.

In most situations, momentum is everything and obviously the best indicator of where something is headed.

Applying that to the Wolverines' starting quarterback vacancy, the front-runner at the moment would have to be Houston transfer John O'Korn. Even before Jake Rudock's time in Ann Arbor had come to an end, most had pegged O'Korn to be his successor, although Wilton Speight's strong spring certainly seemed to shake the situation up.

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

But coming off his victory in the QB Challenge at the Manning Passing Academy, momentum once again appears to be in O'Korn's favor. Obviously, an offseason skills championship isn't going to sway Harbaugh's opinion when picking his starting quarterback next month, but winning such competition certainly seems indicative of O'Korn possessing the talent many believed he did when they first touted him as the next UM starter.

Obviously, a lot can change between now and next month, and it wasn't too long ago that momentum seemed to be favor Speight.

But at the moment, it's in the corner of O'Korn, and the finish line is closer than you'd think.

Since sportswriters (like myself) are often self-important—sometimes more so than the athletes they cover—fans following on Twitter are often inundated with tweets about every game-day experience, right down to what they're served in the press box.

After all, who could forget Maryland's official indoctrination into its new conference with the Big Ten ice cream it served during halftime of a 2014 showdown against Ohio State.

Having traveled to almost every Big Ten stadium in my four years of covering the conference, I fancy myself as somewhat of an expert when it comes to the conference's press box cuisine. As far as the best, I'd have to go with Penn State, which adds some local-ish flavor by serving Philly cheesesteaks to reporters before each game.

The worst? That's not a particularly close call, as Michigan State relies on meal vouchers, which allow visiting media members their choice of a brat or hot dog before each game. I know, I know, free food is free food, but one hot dog is hardly enough to stay full throughout the 8-10 hours that are often required for covering a game.

To be fair, I haven't covered a game at Spartan Stadium since 2014, so perhaps their policy has changed. But rest assured, whether the food is good or bad, you'll be hearing about it from me—and other sportswriters—on Twitter in the coming year.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. Recruiting and class ratings courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings.