NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz relished the idea of playing early-season games against Michigan and head coach Bo Schembechler. It always let him and his players know where they stood.

He also had quite a bit of success against the Wolverines.

"I loved playing Michigan and so did the players," said Holtz Friday night at the annual Lou's Lads reunion in the Notre Dame Monogram Room.

"I thought playing them early was a plus because all spring, all summer, all during two-a-days, (the players) knew we couldn't come out of the gate anything but fast. We couldn't ease our way into the season."

After losing 24-23 to the Wolverines in his Notre Dame debut, Holtz and the Irish defeated Michigan four straight seasons - from 1987-90 - including three against Michigan's own legendary coach, Bo Schembechler. Holtz insists the winning streak would have been five had replay been involved, which he said would have overturned an incomplete pass to Joel Williams in the end zone in that 1986 debut.

"I loved Bo and I loved Michigan because if you're fortunate enough to win, you could honestly say, 'We aren't going to play many people better than this. If we're good enough now, and we keep getting better, we really have a chance to do something.' That's how we approached the Michigan game."

Holtz opened the season against Michigan in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1990. The Wolverines were the second team on the Irish slate in 1989 and from 1991-94. Holtz had a 5-3-1 record against Michigan and a 3-1 mark against Schembechler, who retired after the 1989 season with a 24-year mark of 194-48-5 with the Wolverines.

Holtz and Schembechler were cut from the same coaching cloth.

"We both were from the Mid-American (Conference), we both were from Ohio, and we both coached for Woody (Hayes at Ohio State)," said Holtz, who was eight years younger than Schembechler, who passed in 2006. "We both won the national championship as assistant coaches, and we shared a lot in common. Bo and I go back a long time. I loved Bo."

While Holtz agreed that college football is worse off without the Notre Dame-Michigan series - which ends Saturday night in Notre Dame Stadium after 31 games since 1978 - he takes offense, and offers a playful jab, to Michigan's depiction of Notre Dame being "scared" to continue the series.

"You hate to see this come to an end, and yeah, Michigan fans will miss it and Notre Dame fans will miss it," Holtz said. "But let me tell you who's going to miss it the most: the average college fan in the country.

"They'll play somebody else and they'll be excited. But the fans who look forward to two good teams playing each other early in the year is a rarity."

Then came the deadpan jab.

"This idea saying we're cowards," said Holtz with a degree of disgust. "I'd like Michigan to realize we dropped them because we're trying to upgrade our schedule."