VIEW FROM THE MIDWEST: AUGUST 31, 2007

Irish Schedule An End to Rivalries
With Purdue and Michigan State

By Paul Smith / smith@collegeblitz.com

Chesterton, Ind. » According to multiple Notre Dame sources, the Fighting Irish future football schedules will take on a radically different look.

Oh, of course, Navy will still be there. "They stood by us when we were badly undermanned (during World War II)," one Monogram Clubber said. "And as often as not, it's a tough game" (even though the Irish have won 43 straight.

So will U.S.C., which has been there, seemingly since leather helmets were all the rage.

But the absence of Purdue and Michigan State, which have been Irish schedule regulars since the Ozzie and Harriet days -- Purdue since the radio version (1946), Michigan State since 1959, when the Nelsons were A.B.C.'s liveliest sitcom.

On for at least the next 20 years, probably beyond, will be Michigan, which most Irish fans think is virtually as big a rival as Southern Cal.

"We are very happy to have Notre Dame on our schedule -- it's a battle between two of the nation's
premier programs," U-M coach Lloyd Carr told the Ann Arbor News during the Wolverines' training camp.

With the constant changing of Bowl Championship Series bowl criteria, the battle for T.V. space and with Notre Dame's national cachet, plus the 12-game schedule, some Irish officials felt the time had come to make some changes.

One will be more frequent appearances of Big East teams on the schedule. Most noticeably Pitt.

"It's kind of tough to lose rivals like Purdue and Michigan State, because we've been playing them forever," the Monogram Club alumnus said. "But we agreed to play some Big East teams."

The Irish have a longstanding rivalry with Pitt, but other Big Easters with little relationship with Notre Dame -- Syracuse and Rutgers -- will begin to appear, and possibly West Virginia, which has achieved consistent nationally-competitive stature over most of this past generation, will show up as well.