Notes: U-M to wear blue, final BCS notes

Michigan will wear blue in the Rose Bowl, while the travel schedule is starting to take shape, with the Wolverines slated to leave for Pasadena on Dec. 22. Plus, a few last words on the BCS mess from around the country …

First, from the Los Angeles Daily News: "USC will wear its white jerseys for the Rose Bowl and be on the East sideline. Last year the Trojans wore their maroon in the national title game loss to Texas.

The Michigan team will visit Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim with the USC team on Dec. 26. No date has been set for the Beef Bowl at Lawry's restaurant, which Michigan will attend Dec. 27.

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Michigan running back Mike Hart, a finalist for the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back (which will be awarded tonight), joined Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith earlier this week to talk about U-M's BCS snub. For part of the transcript, click here: The Fort, to get to TheWolverine.com's Premium Message Board.

The nation remained abuzz about Florida's lobbying and eventual bid to the national title game Jan. 8, in which the Gators will enter as a significant underdog. Master Coaches Survey coaches John Robinson, Don James and Don Nehlen believed Michigan deserved the right to a rematch, giving the Wolverines the edge in six of 10 categories, with one – wide receiver – a push.

U-M got the nod at quarterback, running back, both lines, linebacker and kicking, while Florida was given the edge at DB, special teams and overall speed.

"The Master Coaches Poll is the only poll that is equipped to give reasons for their decisions," wrote the site. "If the Poll is supposed to pick the two best teams, the Master Coaches Poll pronounces Ohio State and Michigan as number one and number two."

As noted, Florida leaped Michigan in both "human" polls. The list of coaches voting against Michigan read like this:

Chuck Amato, North Carolina State

Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech

Jack Bicknell III, Louisiana Tech

Bobby Bowden, Florida State

Tommy Bowden; Clemson

Jeff Bower, Southern Mississippi

Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green

Art Briles, Houston

Watson Brown, Alabama-Birmingham

John Bunting, North Carolina

Bill Callahan, Nebraska

Larry Coker, Miami (Fla.)

Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State

Darryl Dickey, North Texas

Bill Doba, Washington State

Dennis Franchione, Texas A&M

Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee

Walt Harris, Stanford

Dan Hawkins, Colorado

Pat Hill, Fresno State;

Steve Kragthorpe, Tulsa

Rocky Long, New Mexico

Sonny Lubick, Colorado State

Dan McCarney, Iowa State

Les Miles, LSU

Shane Montgomery, Miami (Ohio)

Houston Nutt, Arkansas

Tom O'Brien, Boston College

Chris Petersen, Boise State

Bobby Petrino, Louisville

Mark Richt, Georgia

Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia

Bobby Ross, Army

Howard Schellenberger, Florida Atlantic

Mark Snyder, Marshall

Frank Solich, Ohio

Steve Spurrier, South Carolina

Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee State

Bob Stoops, Florida

Jeff Tedford, California

Dick Tomey, San Jose State

Tommy Tuberville, Auburn

Tyrone Willingham, Washington

Ron Zook, Illinois

By the Grand Rapids Press count, that's 20-2 from the South that voted for Florida.

"It should also be noted that the South has 22 voters, compared with 13 in the Midwest, 12 in the West, 10 in the Southwest and four in the East. The South virtually can outvote any two regions," wrote the Press editor Bob Becker. "The system is so skewed that Florida had no chance of finishing behind Michigan in the final vote …

"Given BCS history, it's a safe bet the South gerrymandered the board. Fifty percent of the South voting as a block would force near-unanimous votes out of the West and Midwest to turn things around … the system is corrupt. You can't put one-third of the votes in one section of the country and then try to pass off the pairing as worthy."

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Senior defensive end LaMarr Woodley, who won the Lombardi Award last night, said it meant a lot to him to be the first Wolverine to bring the award home to Ann Arbor. He also said he'd be rooting for Ohio State when the Buckeyes play Florida in the national title game.

"If Ohio State wins, then everyone will say, 'Well, Michigan should've been the team that played them,"' Woodley told the Associated Press before the presentation. "And being that Ohio State is in my conference and they're representing us, I've got to go with Ohio State. You can't turn your back on your conference."

Tell that to Illinois head coach Ron Zook. However, Woodley said the Wolverines have shaken off the disappointment of getting snubbed by the BCS.

"Guys were down a little bit, but we have to understand that we put ourselves in that situation," Woodley said. "We allowed other people to control our destiny. If we would've come out, won in Columbus, taken care of our business, it would've never come down to that."

Former Wolverine Tom Brady, however, said best what many people around the country were no doubt thinking, telling Mlive.com, "Anyone who has seen (Florida) play realizes it is a no-brainer. Florida is not very good. I watched that game (Saturday) night and that other (Arkansas) quarterback completed like three passes the week before. They have 18 guys out there throwing passes for Arkansas."

When a reporter countered that Michigan already had its shot at beating the Buckeyes, Brady said, "But that's not the way the BCS works. It is supposed to be the two best teams in college football. I would vote for Michigan to play Ohio State if I had a vote."