Michigan, Notre Dame to play Oct. 26 under the lights on ABC

Not surprisingly and only fitting, the Michigan-Notre Dame game at Michigan Stadium on Oct. 26, the final game in the series for the foreseeable future, will be played in primetime.

Kickoff was announced Monday and will be carried by ABC at 7:30 p.m. Michigan opened the season with a night game against Middle Tennessee State, winning 40-21, to go 5-0 in night games at Michigan Stadium. This will be the second and last night game of the season at Michigan Stadium.

Michigan and Notre Dame played the first “under the lights” game at Michigan Stadium in 2011 with Michigan winning a crazy game, 35-31. The Irish had a 24-7 lead in the fourth quarter when Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson took over and led the Wolverines as they scored 21 unanswered points to take a 28-24 lead late in the game. Notre Dame then regained the lead with 30 seconds left when Tommy Rees hit Theo Riddick for a 29-yard touchdown. But Robinson wasn’t done. Michigan went 80 yards in three plays and Roy Roundtree made his only catch of the game count in a big way — Robinson found him in the right side of the end zone for a game-winning 16-yard touchdown with two seconds left.

The two teams met again at night at Michigan Stadium in 2013 with Michigan winning, 41-30.

Michigan and Notre Dame, called “natural” rivals, played 13 straight through 2014 then took a three-season break before resuming in 2018. The team’s opened the season with Notre Dame winning in South Bend, 24-17. The programs have not, for now, renewed the series after this season.

Notre Dame currently is ranked No. 8 and is 5-1, with its only loss at Georgia, 23-17 on Sept. 21. Ironically, that’s the day Michigan suffered its only loss, 35-14 at Wisconsin. Michigan currently is 5-1 and ranked No. 16. The Wolverines travel to No. 7 Penn State for a night game on Saturday, while the Irish are off on Saturday.

The Wolverines hosted one night game last season, a 38-13 win over Wisconsin. They defeated Penn State in 2014 under the lights, 18-13.

achengelis@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @chengelis