ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Golden Tate sat at his locker Thursday afternoon and sounded both defiant and somewhat annoyed. He has not played at Notre Dame in five seasons, won a Super Bowl with Seattle and now plays his NFL games in Michigan, about 40 minutes from Ann Arbor.
He understands, though, what the Michigan-Notre Dame college football game means. And he is bothered it is going to be going away after Saturday night.
“I strongly disagree with them getting rid of this game,” Tate said. “For the longest time, Notre Dame-Michigan has been a staple of college football. The fact that they are getting rid of it for whatever reason, I strongly disagree. I wish they would reconsider.
“That’s one of the top five rivalries you think about nationally. I don’t care if you’re in Wisconsin, if you’re in Florida, what are some of the best matchups? Michigan-Notre Dame is always going to be one. So not too happy to see it leave, but hopefully we get the last win.”
Inside the Lions locker room, there are four players who spent at least part of their college careers at Notre Dame. Tate spent three years playing for the Irish under Charlie Weis. TJ Jones and Theo Riddick both played for Notre Dame when it reached the national championship game in 2012. Joseph Fauria started his career at Notre Dame before transferring to UCLA.
And of the three who played their entire careers at the school, none are completely pleased the rivalry is disappearing.
“It’s tough,” Riddick said. “It’s obviously a good rivalry. Both schools profit in terms of the fan base, revenue and everything else. But most importantly, from a football standpoint, it’s been going on for so many years, for it’s going to be in a sense kind of sad for all the fans.”
Jones was on campus when the announcement came down Notre Dame was halting the series. At the time, he said he and the rest of his teammates were surprised by the decision to stop playing the Wolverines.
Then, as Jones continued to play at Notre Dame and eventually left the school, he saw how much was changing within the structure of what the Irish were doing, so it lessened his disappointment in the series ending.
He saw who Notre Dame was scheduling instead – from SEC schools to Texas and, this week, Ohio State. So while one rivalry was going away, other opportunities were showing up.
“It was kind of almost surreal because you knew there was so much about Notre Dame and Michigan over the years,” Jones said. “But with everything else changing, you learn to cope with it, accept it and move on.”