Only the second night game ever in Michigan Stadium will be played Sept. 7, and it promises to be a very special event. So special, in fact, that the school has created an “Under the Lights at the Big House” logo for the occasion, the last time that Michigan will play Notre Dame in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the foreseeable future (Notre Dame, while remaining an independent in football, has agreed to annually play five games against Atlantic Coast Conference teams going forward, meaning that something had to give after 2014 – and that is Michigan). The Wolverines lead the rivalry between the two winningest programs in college football history, 23-16-1.
This will mark the third consecutive year they've met under the lights, including last year in South Bend, when the Irish won a defensive battle, 13-6. In the first nighttime match-up, in Ann Arbor in 2011, Michigan won 35-31 on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Denard Robinson to Roy Roundtree with two seconds left.
This year’s game will be used to posthumously honor Michigan halfback Tom Harmon, who won the 1940 Heisman Trophy. Harmon (“Old 98”) will be the latest Wolverine honored as a Michigan Football Legend, a program started two years ago with a salute to 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard. Others elevated to “Legends” status are Bennie Oosterbaan, former president Gerald Ford, Ron Kramer, and the Wistert brothers – Francis, Albert, and Alvin.
Harmon was a pilot for four years during World II, then spent two years with the Los Angeles Rams before becoming a top national sportscaster. His son, Mark Harmon, played quarterback at UCLA, then turned to acting. He currently is the star of the popular CBS crime series “NCIS.”
