Brady Quinn reacts to Notre Dame renewing rivalry with Michigan State

Former Notre Dame quarterback and current college football analyst Brady Quinn approves of the Irish adding Michigan State back to the schedule and he took to social media to react to the rivalry being renewed.

The home-and-home series, which is set to be played in 2026 and 2027, was announced on Thursday. Both games are expected to be played in September and Notre Dame will host the first of their two meetings.

“Love this!! @MSU_Football is always a battle,” Brady Quinn posted. “Hope to bring back more of these rivalries.”

Love this!! @MSU_Football is always a battle. Hope to bring back more of these rivalries. https://t.co/BDzMoAgZQd

— Brady Quinn (@Brady_Quinn) June 27, 2024

Notre Dame and Michigan State have played 79 times in their history, and Notre Dame leads the all-time series with a 49-29-1 record. That record includes two wins vacated by Notre Dame. Their most recent meeting came in 2017. The Irish won that game 38-17.

The game itself goes back to 1897 when Michigan State was still Michigan Agricultural. In 1949, the two schools decided to make this a trophy game and, since then, both sides have competed for the Megaphone Trophy.

Since the trophy was introduced, Notre Dame leads the series 33–27–1. At different points, both teams have eight-game winning streaks, with the Irish winning eight games in a row on two different occasions.

Along the way, there have been some very notable games played between the two teams including in 1966. In that game, the two sides tied 10-10 in what was deemed the Game of the Century with the two teams coming in ranked first and second in the country respectively. However, it is controversial for Notre Dame deciding to play for the tie late, knowing they would stay first in the rankings.

To the point Brady Quinn made, these rivalry games are games Notre Dame used to play much more often than it does now. There are plenty of reasons for that but one of them is the Irish’s deal with the ACC, which has the school in the conference for all sports but football while still requiring Notre Dame to play at least five ACC teams a year. Then, when other rivals like USC, Stanford, and Navy are added to the schedule, there aren’t many slots left annually to play old rivals from the Big Ten, like Michigan State, Michigan, and Purdue.

For his part, Brady Quinn played at Notre Dame between 2003 and 2006. During that time, the Irish played the Spartans four times and went 2-2 against them. Oddly enough, in each case, it was the road team that won the Megaphone Trophy.