Old rivals Notre Dame and Michigan square off tonight in “The Big House” in Ann Arbor in a big game for both schools.

The Irish come into the contest ranked eighth nationally by the AP and seventh in the coaches poll with a 5-1 record, while the Wolverines are 5-2, ranked 19th, and battling for a possible place in the Big 10 title game. That chance took a serious hit last week when Michigan lost a showdown with Penn State. For the Irish, a win keeps their national title hopes alive.

ND and Michigan have played each other for a long time, with the first game in 1897. The series has not been continuous, with the record 49-30-1. It excludes 20 regular season wins and two postseason appearances later vacated under discretionary NCAA penalty levied against ND.

Without the vacating of those 20 wins, ND would have the winningest college football program of all time (.7312). But because of that, and the loss to Alabama in the national championship in 2016, Michigan has the winningest percentage at (. 7294).

The Wolverines stumbled a little at the beginning of the season. Michigan had to go overtime to beat Army and then lost to Wisconsin by a 35-14 score. After the Wisconsin game, the Wolverines found their footing and won three straight before last week. The other Michigan wins have been over Middle Tennessee (40-21), Army (24-21), Rutgers (52-0), Iowa (10-3) and Illinois (42-25).

The Wolverines have an excellent quarterback in Shea Patterson, who has completed 116-of-202 passes for 1,522 yards and nine touchdowns. He has also run 48 times for 89 yards and five scores. Michigan likes to run the ball and its top rushers are Zach Charbonnet with seven TDs on 94 carries and 457 yards, and Hassan Haskins with 221 yards on 39 carries and a score. Michigan’s top receivers are Ronnie Bell with 443 yards on 25 catches; Nico Collins, 358 on 19 and two scores and Sean McKeon, 96, six and two.

The game will be televised nationally by ABC with a 7:40 p.m. kickoff.

USC game

The Irish hung on two weeks ago in defeating rival Southern California, 30-27. With 10:27 remaining in the game and ND’s lead cut to three points, the Irish needed the offense, and in particular QB Ian Book, to step up and put USC away. Book did just that in leading the Irish on a 14-play, 75-yard drive eating up 6:54 on the clock for a score and a 10 point lead. USC did manage to come back and score late, but an on-sides kick failed as the Irish recovered and ran out the clock.

Book’s legs carried the offense as his passing stats were again subpar. Tony Jones Jr. had another big night with 176 yards on 25 carries. He rushed for more than 100 yards for the fourth time this season, and third consecutive game.

The return of Jafa Armstrong from the injured list was supposed to help, but the sophomore running back was used sparingly because he was not 100 percent yet. Armstrong carried one time for minus four yards. Book ended up with 12 carries for 49 yards and the winning score, and Jahmir Smith had 32 yards on five carries. Book completed 17-of-32 for 165 yards and a TD. Cole Kmet led all receivers with six catches for 61 yards and a score followed by Chris Finke, who had five for 45, and Chase Claypool, who caught three for 47. Jonathan Doerer was the unsung hero as he hit on three field goals of 45, 52 and 43 yards. Defensively, Asmar Bilal led the team with 11 tackles followed by Alohi Gilman with nine and Kyle Hamilton eight. Bilal had two tackles for losses.

IRISH NOTES

: Notre Dame has lost the last four times it’s played in Michigan Stadium, with the last win coming in 2005. Notre Dame’s last three home games against Michigan (2018, 2014 and 2012) have been prime time Irish victories. Tonight’s game will be Notre Dame’s fourth of the season played in prime time ... During the break, ND picked up some key commitments, taking players away from Georgia and Ohio State. Four-star wide receivers Deion Colzie and Lorenzo Styles Jr., respectively, committed to the Irish. Colzie announced Saturday of the USC game and Styles the next day ... With 21 catches for 265 yards and three TDs in his four games played this season, junior tight end Cole Kmet would be on pace to break Tyler Eifert’s single-season school records for receptions (63) and receiving yards (803) in a 13-game season. Because Kmet missed the first two games of 2019 with a broken collarbone, he’ll play in a max of 11 games most likely. Missing those two games also keeps him out of the NCAA stats until the Irish play their eighth game, and he’s played the minimum 75% of ND’s games ... As noted in the South Bend Tribune, ND’s most noteworthy improvement offensively is its third down conversion ratio. The Irish have jumped from 114th nationally (32.0 percent) to 48th (42.3) ... Book’s pass efficiency ranking nationally dipped after the USC game, falling to No. 23 from No. 16 ... As noted, Armstrong ran only once in the USC game, but reports out of South Bend say he is expected to be at full strength tonight as is graduate student cornerback Shaun Crawford, who missed the last two games with a dislocated elbow ... As ND begins the second half of its season, many projections are being made as to where the Irish might end up when playoff/bowl time comes. Tonight Michigan is favored by two plus points, although the odds started at five points on Monday. This will probably be the last game of the regular season that ND is the projected underdog. For the remaining five games, ND will likely be favored. The College Football Playoff rankings first list won’t be released until Nov. 5. The South Bend Tribune projects that if ND wins the rest of its games the Irish have a slight chance of getting in the final four. However, if they win the rest of their games, they are a sure bet to get one of the New Year’s Day big-payoff games. If not, the Cotton Bowl, scheduled for Dec. 28, is the likely choice ... Brady Quinn, Tommy Rees, Jimmy Clausen, Ron Powlus and Ian Book are the only quarterbacks in Notre Dame history to record four or more touchdown passes in three games in their career. Book joined the group after recording five passing touchdowns against Bowling Green ... Notre Dame remains perfect in redzone scoring percentage, converting on 22-of-22 visits inside the 20. Nineteen of those scores were touchdowns (11 rushing, eight passing). Just two other teams boast perfection in the redzone (Iowa and LSU), and, of those teams, only LSU (31) has totaled more redzone touchdowns than the Irish ... ND and Michigan series has been interrupted due to the Irish joining the ACC. In joining the ACC, ND must play at least five ACC teams each year. Michigan now goes off the ND schedule for a few years. Coming on from the Big 10 is Wisconsin for a two-year set and then in 2021 Purdue returns for a two-year set ... In my preseason picks I have Michigan winning tonight. The big question is how the Wolverines respond after that tough loss last week to Penn State. I will stay with my original pick because of the importance of this game to ND’s future playoff opportunities and head coach Brian Kelly’s knack of not winning these types of games.