The Chronicle of Ann Arbor reported: "The weather was fine, and the contest was witnessed by a fair crowd of spectators, but one that might have been larger.

"[2] Two of the players on Michigan's 1887 team, George Winthrop DeHaven, Jr. and William Warren Harless, had previously attended the University of Notre Dame.

In October 1887, DeHaven wrote to Brother Paul, who ran Notre Dame's intramural athletics program, telling him about the new game of football.

[3][7] The Notre Dame student newspaper, Scholastic, reported:"It was not considered a match contest, as the home team had been organized only a few weeks, and the Michigan boys, the champions of the West, came more to instruct them in the points of the Rugby game than to win fresh laurels.

"[6]Newspaper accounts differ as to whether the football game started at 10:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m.[4][5] The proceedings began with a tutorial session in which players from both teams were divided irrespective of college.

[6] For the first 30 minutes, the teams scrimmaged in a practice game with Michigan "exchanging six men for the same number from Notre Dame.

President Walsh thanked the Ann Arbor team for their visit, and assured them of the cordial reception that would always await them at Notre Dame.

[5] The Notre Dame paper reported: "At 1 o'clock carriages were taken for Niles, and amidst rousing cheers the University of Michigan football team departed, leaving behind them a most favorable impression.

[5][9] The game had been scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m., but was delayed until 4:00 p.m. John Duffy scored the first touchdown, and the goal was made for a 6–0 lead.

[5] After Michigan's visit to South Bend in November, football became a popular game on the Notre Dame campus.

On March 24, 1888, the Notre Dame student newspaper reported, "Mr. DeHaven writes from Ann Arbor that the boys of the University of Michigan have such pleasant remembrances of their Thanksgiving game here that they are anxious to play here again.

"[10] In his history of the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry, John Kyrk contends that two of the players who DeHaven recruited for the trip, G. Briggs and E. Rhodes, were non-student "ringers.

The game was played at Green Stocking Ball Park before a crowd stated to be as low as 300 and as high as 800 spectators.

"[12] The second game of the spring trip was played on the Notre Dame campus, after the players were taken on a boat ride in St. Joseph's Lake.

The spring games were a disappointment in that the Michigan football team had not allowed its opponents to score a single point since November 1883—a span of more than four years.