Tg The Michigan Daily michigandaily~com December 3, 2012 Michigan to face Michigan football team is spend- ing New Year's Day at the Out- South Carolina in back Bowl. The Outback Bowl, which is S vtback Bow vn held at Raymond James Stadium New Year's Day day afternoon that it had selected the 19th-ranked Wolverines as its By BEN ESTES Big Ten representative. Several Daily Sports Editor hours later, the bowl announced that South Carolina would be Break out the Bloomin' Onions Michigan's opponent, as antici- and get the barbie fired up - the pated. Most prognosticators believed before the official announce- ment that South Carolina would be chosen to represent the SEC. The Gamecocksare ranked 10th in the BCS standings and were the logical choice for the Out- back Bowl, with other SEC teams Georgia, Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M reportedly headed to other bowl destinations. Thpe Outback Bowl has the third pick of Big Ten teams and SEC teams. "We are excited to represent the Big Ten in the Outback Bowl," Michigan coach Brady Hoke said through the football team's offi- cial Twitter account. "The SEC is an excellent conference and we look forward to the challenge of facingthem on New Year's Day." The selection to the Outback Bowl could be seen as something of a letdown for the Wolverines. It appeared that they would be chosen for the slightly more pres- tigious Capital One Bowl -which. has the second pick of the Big Ten and SEC - had Nebraska won the Big Ten Championship Game. But the Cornhuskers' blowout loss to Wisconsin pushed them to the Capital One Bowl instead of the Rose Bowl, which in turn then relegated Michigan to the Outback Bowl. The Outback Bowl, formerly the Hall of Fame Bowl, has been a traditional New Year's Day game since 1989, when it was first played on that date, and thus car- ries a relatively solid reputation among bowl games. In a release from the athletic department, Athletic Director Dave Brandon said he was excit- ed for the Wolverines' selection as well. "The University of Michigan happily accepts the invitation to play in the Outback Bowl on New See OUTBACK BOWL, Page 3B Michigan salvages split with shootout victory Freshman guard Nik Stauskas made his first career start, scoring a game-high 22 points in Michigan s victory. Wolverines hold off Bradley in road test By MICHAEL LAURILA Daily Sports Writer BIG RAPIDS - After the Michigan hockey team suffered its firstshutoutloss ofthe season in a dismal 5-0 defeat against Ferris State on a Friday night that saw the Bulldogs score three second-period goals and two more in the third, 42 sec- onds into Saturday's series fina- le it looked like the trend would continue. With MICHIGAN 0 a four- FERRIS STATE 5 on-four MICHIGAN 3 after both FERRIS STATE 3 teams earned a quick penalty, Ferris State notched its first goal of the game when freshman goalie Steve Racine mishandled a Bull- dog slap shot and the rebound was easily deflected into the back of the net. The trend of easy Bulldog goals stopped though when the Wolverines (3-6-1 CCHA, 5-8-1 overall) scored three first- period goals. And despite a late comeback effort that saw Ferris State (6-3, 7-4-2) tie the game in the third period, Michigan was able to pull out a shootout vic- tory and somewhat salvage the weekend with two points. SARAH SQUIRE/Daily Juniorforward Luke Moffatt scored the game-winning shoutout goal. By EVERETT COOK Daily Sports Editor PEORIA, Ill. - Carver Arena, home to Bradley basketball, is built like a pit. The stands rise high above the players MICHIGAN 74 in almost BRADLEY 66 every direc- tion, a sea of red peering down on the court from the high-rising nosebleeds. Bradley went 7-25 last season, but the crowd from the school of 6,000 was loud from the begin- ning of the Braves' game against the No. 3 Michigan basketball . team Saturday. The student sec- tion was right next to the Wol- verine bench, so when guard Tim Hardaway Jr. laid on the floor to stretch, several waving plungers followed. The junior stretched within inches of a tool normally used for toilets, not the stands of basketball games. It was in this pit, in Michigan's first true road game, that coach John Beilein decided to play all five of his freshman. Four of them have played this season, with varying degrees of frequency. Forward Glenn Rob- inson III was the lone starter. See ROAD TEST, Page 3B "We knew. they're a good team so we expected them to battle just as we do," said senior forward A.J. Treais. "If they score a goal, we got to get right back at them and refocus:I think we handled that a lot bet- ter (Saturday). Obviously yester- day we let them off the hook." When the Wolverines have allowed the first goal of the game this season they have posted just a 2-6 record. The boisterous Ewigleben Ice Arena crowd only gave Ferris State that much more momentum after the Bulldogs scored in the first minute. But with 13:02 remaining in the first period and Michigan on its heels, Treais knocked in his 10th goal of the season after senior forward Kevin Lynch perfectly screened Ferris State goalie C.J. Motte. This started the succession of Wolverine goals. Two minutes and twenty sec- onds later, freshman Cristoval "Boo" Nieves scored another rebound goal to make the score See SPLIT, Page 3B BRUSH WITH BRADLEY. The Michigan basketball team tapped into its depth at the guard positions to push past Bradley during a tough bout in Peoria. Page 2B ON TO THE SWEET 16 The Michigan volleyball team rocketed past host No. 9 Louisville to earn a Sweet 16 berth. 'M' will face Michigan State on Friday. Page 2B lw