Report: Notre Dame, Michigan to revive football rivalry in 2018

Michigan and Notre Dame are expected to announce Thursday that they are reviving their football rivalry in 2018, according to SI.com.

New Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel had said in March that he would be open to discussing future matchups with the Irish in football after the two programs ended their annual series in 2014 with an unfriendly parting of ways.

"If there are opportunities in the future to bring the rivalry on the football field back, obviously I'd be open to having that conversation," said Manuel, just a couple of weeks after he took over Michigan's athletic department. "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 have played 42 times in a rivalry that goes back more than 100 years but ended when Notre Dame dropped the series to make room to schedule more ACC teams as part of an agreement with that conference.

After that decision by Notre Dame, former Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said it would be "a long time" before the two schools played again. But Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said last September that he thought the possibility of the series returning was "trending up."

The Wolverines lead the all-time series, 24-17-1.

Information from ESPN's Dan Murphy was used in this report.