Tuesday December 14, 2004 sports. michigandaily. com sports@michigandaily. com ,PORTS I 12 - - - - - ---------- ----------- Rose Bowl * No. 6 Texas vs. No. 13 Michigan " Jan. 1, 2005 * 4:45 p.m. * ABC ANew rontier The Michigan Daily and The Daily Texan exchange words of wisdom before the Wolverines and the Longhorns play on New Year's Day. Longhorns poison Rose Bowl aura Michigan season not worthy of BCS BOB HUNT The Michigan Daily - ucked deep inside a valley at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Rose Bowl is the best place to be in America on New Year's Day. The gorgeous weather - which is almost as big of a tradition as the parade - and the ambiance make The Pasadena Tournament of Roses the best tradition in sports. Growing up in Chicago and Los Angeles, I vividly remember watching the Rose Bowl on television each year with my family. People in the Midwest and West Coast view the event in a similar light, and many hope that someday they themselves will be able to watch their favorite team in Pasadena. 1 That is why I am so glad that the Cal Golden Bears have been invited to play in this year's game. The Golden Bears haven't played in the Rose Bowl since 1959. And while they're not champions of the Pac-10, they've had a tremen- dous year, outplaying No. 1 Southern Cal. in its one regular-season blemish. Cal is clearly deserv- ing of a California dream. a OK, maybe I'm in denial. Maybe I have to accept that Cal's dream has died, and that Texas will be in the Rose Bowl instead. But I'm still not happy about it. You people in Austin, Texas, may be thrilled that you are going to a BCS game. Good for you. The Longhorns did finish 10-1. Michigan can't say that. But I know that any of the other corporate- whore BCS games would have sufficed. I'm here to tell you just being happy about mak- ing a BCS game is not good enough. This is the Rose Bowl, a country club that you don't belong to. You aren't welcome, either. It's a country club that doesn't discriminate against race, sex or any- thing like that. But it doesn't like outsiders crash- ing the party. The Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences don't just have tie-ins to the Rose Bowl, they OWN the Rose Bowl. The game is actually owned in a consortium with the two leagues. The reason it even joined the BCS in the first place was to give the two leagues a fair chance at the national title. But for college football's best game, it's been nothing short of a disaster. Thanks to some com- plaining (No. 3 Kansas State was snubbed from the BCS in 1998, creating the provision forcing the Rose Bowl to pick Texas), some begging and TONY DING/Daily Senior receiver Braylon Edwards is hoping that this season's Rose Bowl turns out better than Michigan's 28-14 loss to Southern Cal. last year. PHIL ORCHARD The Daily Texan Digging up smack about Michigan didn't turn out as easy as I origi- nally planned. If the national media couldn't see it, how could I? Put it this way. Texas has never played Michigan in the storied histories of both programs, so I can't point to score- board. I don't know anyone from or near Michigan. If I hadn't flown over it once, I might even be skeptical of its existence. I asked around to see if someone could offer a morsel of slam against these Wolverines. Nothing. I looked online and rifled through its famous history and 11 national champi- onships. Nothing. I dusted off my encyclopedia, read about the Great Lakes State and looked at pretty pictures of the Rust-Belt belt buckle. Nothing. Maybe all I knew - other than that Michigan has a big stadium, a history similar to that of the Longhorns and a cool fight song - are the same tired cli- ches I'm sure you get from your friends in Columbus and East Lansing each year. Michigan football fans suck. The 85,000 orangebloods that stumble in and pack out Longhorn games would drown out the Big House's 111,000. Or so I heard. Michigan had to pay its basketball players. Or so I read. Detroit truly is terrible place to play and watch sports. Or so I saw when those two chumps in Pistons jerseys waddled onto the court and challenged Ron Artest to a fist fight. But in all actuality, Texas and Michi- gan are strikingly similar and seem like the perfect New Year's match. Both schools have a pesky and rather delusional ag school claiming a share of their beloved states, as well as a lesser school from a lesser state keeping tem- pers flared. Both are top-notch public schools seeping with a type of self-perpetuating arrogance about our greatness that pisses off our rivals and makes us, well, great. It should be part of football fairytale. Texas in the Rose Bowl (first time in Longhorn history) against likewise tradi- tional powerhouse Michigan (also a first). It'd all be perfect - if Michigan actually deserved to be in the Rose Bowl. Beneath this incessant West Coast whining about Texas's BCS "steal" is hidden a far more shameful fact that too many seem willing to overlook. Michigan (can replace with BCS bot- tom-feeders Pitt and Virginia Tech) rep- resents all that is ugly and wrong about the BCS. If tradition still mattered, it would be Cal and Michigan (actually Michigan and USC, with Cal still going to the Holi- day). That's a given. Texas would fulfill its BCS dreams against Utah in Tempe, and no one would complain. But tradition began to die with TV contracts and when student athletes became pawns in the bigger money game. Now we have a system that is fatally flawed and in dire need of change. All that's left is controversy, broken hearts and teams like Michigan - squat- ters in undeserved BCS spots. The Wolverines lost twice, to not-so- great teams not named Oklahoma or USC, yet still received an invitation to the party. Meanwhile, Cal gets screwed and Texas gets blamed. Apparently Texas -not the system, not the teams like Michigan who lost twice and eked out wins to Michigan State, Purdue, Minnesota and, gasp, San Diego State - is the problem. Or so the national media would like you to believe. When exactly did Michigan do any- thing impressive this season? Mack Brown may be justifiably criticized for pleading with his media - but it's not as if Lloyd Carr would ever even need to, playing in the lackluster Big Ten. Bottom line, Texas beat five teams with seven or more wins and bounced back from the annual Oklahoma loss admirably. Michigan had a nice season not really worthy of a Rose Bowl, but will be in Pasadena regardless, as if it were their birthright. But we're glad it's Michigan, this traditional underachieving powerhouse. Two great programs. One easy win. If you're looking for a way to silence these whining critics, a blowout should suffice. Phil Orchard serves as senior football writerfor The Daily Texan. A bleeding- heart sentimentalist, Orchard laments the corrosion of tradition in college football daily. He also thinks Roy Williams looks lost in Detroit. Orchard can be reached at phildavid@mail.utexas.edu. some abuse of the system (I wonder who voted the Longhorns second in the final coaches poll?), the Longhorns are heading to Pasadena. The people of the San Gabriel Valley are prob- ably dreading the thought of seeing thousands of people with burnt orange shirts and cowboy hats walking around Old Town Pasadena. Let's just say they won't be ready to "Hook 'em Horns" on New Year's Day. Assuming next year's national championship game is not a Big 10-Pac-10 affair, we are in the middle of a five-year stretch where there will be just one traditional Rose Bowl matchup. Likewise, there's one conference that has been most repre- sented in the "Granddaddy of Them All" in my four years in Ann Arbor - The Big XII. Yuck! You can tell me all you want about how The Big XII is superior with its vaunted North Division champion Colorado, but its teams do not belong in the Rose Bowl. As someone who covers football in the Big Ten, I don't really know anything about Texas, nor do I care to learn. The closest I've ever been to the state of Texas was the afternoon I ended up in Norman, Okla. You heard of it? Despite Texas's inability to beat Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout every year, there's some- thing that boggles me even more about the Long- horns. How does Oklahoma mess with Texas every year in recruiting Lone Star State kids? Texas is supposed to be the better school, and Austin is sup- posed to be the better city. Adrian Peterson grew up a Texas fan, and finished second in this year's Heisman race ... as a Sooner freshman. Well, I guess that's OK. You know, Charles Woodson is from Ohio. Texas does have this year's Doak Walker Award winner, Cedric Benson. But this is the player who said publicly that he'd rather win the Heisman than beat Oklahoma. That worked out real well. And Ricky Williams, he's a troubled boy. Have you seen him? It's funny. If the Tournament of Roses Associa- tion didn't decide to spruce up its festivities in 1902 with a football game, the bowl system may have never been created and Mack Brown would have the playoff he clamors so hard for. Instead, he's poisoning the Rose Bowl. Bob Hunt is a football writer and sports editor at The Michigan Daily. While he is upset, he says he won't hold it against Texas fans. If you recognize him in Pasadena, he may even buy you beer. He can be reached at bobhunt@umich.edu. Blue vs. Last year's Rose Bowl game had everything the "Granddaddy of Them All" is supposed to. It featured the Pac-10 and Big Ten champs - in Southern Cal. and Michigan, respec- tively - and even national champi- onship implications, even though it wasn't supposed to. Texas: Pasadena matchup should be close It all makes this year's game between No. 12 Michigan - com- ing off an upset loss to Ohio State in November - and No. 6 Texas - which snuck pass Cal in the BCS Standings thanks to some help in the coaches' poll - somewhat of a letdown. I MICHIGAN PASSING OFFENSE VS. TEXAS PASSING DEFENSE: This matchup comes down to how fresh- man Chad Henne performs in his first bowl game. The honorable mention All-Big Ten quarterback has grown exponentially dur- ing his freshman season. In his last game, Henne threw for 328 yards against Ohio State, but a fourth-quarter interception on the Buckeyes' goalline ended any chance of a Michigan comeback. Texas's secondary is mediocre, but it features a talented safety duo. Junior Michael Huff, a first-team All- Big XII performer this year, is arguably the nation's top strong safety, while senior free safety Phillip Geiggar earned second-team All-Big XII honors. Edge: Michigan MICHIGAN RUSHING OFFENSE VS. TEXAS RUSHING DEFENSE: True freshman running back Mike Hart burst onto the scene this year, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors with 1,396 rushing yards. Hart is coming off his least productive effort as a starting running back - 18 rushes for just 63 yards against the Buckeyes. The Texas rush defense gives up just 106 yards on the ground per game (14th in the nation). Up front, the Longhorns fea- ture two talented defensive tackles in Larry Dibbles and Rod Wright - both second- team All-Big XII picks. But the defense is paced by all-everything linebacker Derrick Johnson, who has racked up some gaudy numbers (128 tackles, 19 tackles for loss and an unbelievable eight forced fumbles). Edge: Texas TEXAS PASSING OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN PASSING DEFENSE: The Longhorns' efforts to run the ball with quarterback Vince Young and run- ning back Cedric Benson may hinge on how effective Young is through the air. Texas managed just under 164 yards passing per game - a number bested by 104 Division I teams. Wide receivers Tony Jeffery and David Thomas are the team's two leading pass catchers, but nei- ther posted more than 400 yards receiv- ing this season. Michigan coughed up 241 yards passing to Ohio State's meager aerial attack, and cornerbacks Marlin Jackson and Leon Hall will likely be in man-to-man coverage as the Wolverines try to stuff the run. If the Longhorns have success in this category, it will be a long day for Michigan's defense. Edge: Michigan run - like Michigan State's Drew Stanton and Ohio State's Troy Smith , - have dominated the Wolverines this season, so Young should be a handful. And with starting defensive end Larry Harrison likely out due to legal problems, the result is potential trouble for the Wolverines. Michigan will probably stack seven or eight defenders in the box - and even that might not be enough. Edge: Texas Need a better travel bag TEXAS RUSHING OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN RUSHING DEFENSE: With the second-ranked rushing attack in the nation, Texas features one of the country's best one-two punches. Case in point: In the Long- horns' 26-13 victory over Texas A&M to close the year, Benson and Young combined for 272 yards - 168 and 104 yards, respectively. Quarterbacks with the ability to SPECIAL TEAMS: If a big play is made on special teams, it will most likely come from Steve Breaston. He was just getting back in a groove, and now he's had over a month to rest. Punter Adam Finley has been solid for the most part, and kicker Garrett Rivas fin- ished the season 16-for-21 on field goals. Michigan's kickoff coverage has been stellar all season long. The Longhorns are solid on special teams, but not outstanding. Their punt and kick return units are near the bottom of the Big XII, and punter Richmond McGee averages less than 40 yards a punt. As for their kicking game, when Texas scores, it scores in sevens; kicker Dusty Mangum drilled 45 extra point See MATCHUPS, page 15 for this season? Choose from our great selection of versatile 0 < ;