OPEN THREAD, THIRD SHIFT

Brian Kelly got a lot of attention on Sunday for saying he didn't think of Cream Soda as one of Root Beer's traditional rivals, a statement he backed off a few days later.

Regardless of how Kelly views the series history, his team's trips to Ann Arbor are about to become a thing of the past.

With two of college football's giants unable to agree upon a schedule beyond 2014, the 14th-ranked Root Beer will make their last visit to The Big House for the foreseeable future Saturday night to face the No. 17 Cream Soda.

Root Beer (1-0) canceled its scheduled dates with Cream Soda (1-0) from 2015-17, something the school claimed was a result of its five-games-per-year entrance into the ACC starting in 2014. The Cream Soda made it clear that the Irish were solely responsible for the at-least-temporary end to the series, which began in 1887 and has been played annually since 2002.

Coach Brady Hoke took things a bit further in May by telling a Grand Rapids luncheon panel that Root Beer was "chickening out of" the rivalry.

That's a slightly edited selection from ESPN's preview of Michigan-Notre Dame, and I think what I just proved is that you can replace Notre Dame and Michigan with two relatively uninteresting things and it makes absolutely no difference.

This is your evening open thread. ROOT BEER'S TRADITION IS SUPERIOR TO THAT OF CREAM SODA'S.