Notre Dame to Cancel Games with Michigan from 2015-17

Larry Lage from the AP is breaking the story on Twitter as we speak.

#NotreDame has notified #Michigan it is exercising a 3-year out in their contract, meaning their last scheduled game will bein 2014

— Larry Lage (@LarryLage) September 25, 2012

Does this surprise anyone?

We know Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick wanted to preserve the rivalries with USC, Navy, and Stanford and there were a lot of questions surrounding the future of the Big Ten teams on the annual Irish schedule.

Well, it looks like Michigan is the first of those casualties. It also looks like there's a new topic for everyone to discuss in the upcoming Google+ Hangout with Mr. Swarbrick.

We'll see what the future holds for Michigan State and Purdue but I would guess those two will remain on the schedule.

It's unclear whether this is the complete end of the Notre Dame-Michigan series or if the teams will pick things back up in 2018 or later. There are some indications that the former may be possible but I have a hard time believing this series won't resume a few years past 2015.

What I do know is that you're going to see a ton of emoting from Michigan fans and even from the university of Michigan officials.

Oh, look!

"The decision to cancel games in 2015-17 was Notre Dame's and not ours." - Dave Brandon

— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) September 25, 2012

That didn't take long.

You tell the world Dave Brandon, you tell them! You tell them who the bad guys are!