Big Ten rivalries not top priority for Notre Dame

Soak up Satuday's Notre Dame-Michigan game. It's one of the last times you may see that match-up.

The schools have a signed contract through 2017, then rotate off one another's schedule. While the schools are likely to resume their series in 2020, it's probable they won't play one another annually past that point.

Notre Dame will join the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports by 2015 or possibly earlier. The football program will remain independent but play five games each year against ACC teams - each school once over a three-year period. That rotation begins in 2014.

“They are going to the ACC, and they need to do what they need to do for them,” Michigan Coach Brady Hoke said. “If it continues, great, and if it doesn't, then we'll move forward.”

With games against Navy, Stanford and USC, it's likely Notre Dame's rivalries with its nearby Big Ten foes will shift to rotational - rather than permanent - status.

“It's obvious that we will not be able to maintain every rivalry every year,” Notre Dame Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick said in a news conference. “Getting to California each year is very important to us. So Stanford and USC rivalries will be retained, and of course our history is Navy is unique. And after that, we are going to work to maintain as many of our traditional games as we can.”

According to the Detroit Free Press, the Michigan State-Notre Dame contract is set through 2031, with interruptions in 2014-15, 2020-21 and 2026-27. The Lafayette Courier-Journal reports Purdue's contract with Notre Dame expires after 2014. The Indiana schools have played one another every year since 1946.