The interesting thing is wasn't the Notre Dame-Iowa series cancelled because of dirty play by Notre Dame? Maybe it was a blatant fake injury late in a game that allowed ND to score a winning TD? Can't remember the exact details.
Also interesting that back in the 50's and 60's, Illinois refused to play Iowa for 15 years because of something the Iowa fans did. Not sure what. It's all before my time so I am fuzzy on the details.
Indirectly the Fainting Irish game of 1953 I suspect that was the catalytic converter for ending the series. Games were scheduled out about 10-20 years. The last game in the series was 1968. Forest Evashevski was so upset he became poetic,
"When the One Great Scorer comes to write against our name, He won't write whether we won or lost, but how come we got gypped at Notre Dame".
Notre Dame faked injuries at the end of each half when they were in the red zone running out of time, multiple times. In the 2nd half, two players walking away from the end of the play suddenly drop, simultaneously apparently unaware of which one was supposed to, stopping the clock. Notre Dame would run a replacement in, play another down, and scored at the end of each half this way. Notre Dame was ranked #1, coming into the game. ND had one more game left against USC. But Frank Leahy never coached it, and never coached another game. Grantland Rice a sportswriter decried the tactics of Notre Dame, and was furious. Notre Dame 9-0-1 lost the mythical national title to Maryland, 10-1. Iowa despite finishing 3-3, and 5-3-1 vaulted to #9 in the AP final poll. The game no doubt brought a lot of good attention to the Iowa football program, and helped Evashevski build the program. Wisconsin finished #15 AP 4-1-1 and 6-2-1.
I suspect Evashevski never forgot the disdain he felt for Notre Dame. After he became Athletic Director circa 1961 he stopped scheduling ND. Remember, Iowa usually played ND in Iowa's rivalry week, i.e. the last game of the season, then it ended in 1968. I recall Hayden Fry stating on his call-in show that he would like to schedule Notre Dame. And, I believe I have heard Kirk Ferentz speak several years ago to not wanting to schedule Notre Dame.
I never heard the rumor about a hiatus in the Iowa - ISU series being considered to schedule ND. That's what I have been promoting on this board that we reduce Iowa State's frequency and insert Notre Dame, but didn't figure the Athletic Director considered it.