Brady Hoke says Notre Dame 'chickening out' of Michigan rivalry

Notre Dame's decision to back out of future matchups with Michigan has at least one notable detractor: Michigan's head coach. Brady Hoke said that Notre Dame was "chickening out" of the series speaking at a luncheon in Grand Rapids Monday, according to mlive.com.

Notre Dame surprised Michigan shortly before the teams played last year by opting out of the 2015-2017 meetings between a pair of teams that have played every year since 2002. Hoke felt that their decision to abandon the Michigan rivalry - one that's seen some heated matchups in the past few seasons - instead of series with other Big Ten rivals as Notre Dame enters a scheduling association with the ACC was a sign of weakness.

"They're still gonna play Michigan State, they're gonna play Purdue, but they don't want to play Michigan," Hoke continued. "I don't know how they made that decision ... I really do ... But anyway, that's a great national rivalry game. It's a great game."

Michigan and Notre Dame are the No. 1 and No. 2 team all time in winning percentage, and No. 1 and No. 3 in all-time wins, and the 40 matchups between the two squads include some classics. Each of the games between 2009 and 2011 saw Michigan score a winning touchdown in the final 30 seconds.

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