The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN FOOTBALL have never played the Rebels of UNLV. Michigan also announced it will FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK meet a Pac-12 opponent in 2016, when it brings Colorado back to The Big House for the first time since 1997, a 27-3 beatdown of the 15th-ranked Buf- faloes. U-M did not have to agree to a return trip to Boulder, though. The Buffaloes are just 21-50 in their last six seasons. Additionally, the Michigan-Notre Dame series will go on hiatus in 2018 and 2019, with both schools committed to resuming the rivalry after the two- year break. COLLEGE FOOTBALL APPROVES FOUR-TEAM PLAYOFF national champion," college football fans are about to be rewarded. An NCAA presidential oversight com- mittee approved a four-team playoff, beginning with the 2014 season and extending through the 2025 campaign. A yet-to-be-determined selection After years of clamoring for a "true committee will choose the four partici- pants, with current bowl sites hosting semifinals and bidding among cities deciding the site of the national cham- pionship game. The 11 conference commission- WATCH LISTS • Senior quarterback Denard Robin- son and redshirt junior running back Fitzgerald Toussaint have made the list of 65 on the 2012 watch list for the Maxwell Award, presented each year to college football's most outstanding player. Robinson (1,176 yards rushing) and Toussaint (1,041) represented Mich- igan's first 1,000-yard duo since Gor- don Bell (1,388) and Rob Lytle (1,030) in 1975. Robinson also passed for 2,173 yards last year and accounted for a ca- reer-best 36 touchdowns (20 passing and 16 rushing). Maxwell Award semifinalists will be named on Oct. 29, and three finalists announced Nov. 19. The winner will be presented Dec. 6, on the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards show. • Redshirt junior Brendan Gibbons has made the watch list of 30 players vying for the 2012 Lou Groza Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top placekicker. Gibbons joined six other Big Ten kickers on that list. The veteran made good on 13 of 17 ers and Notre Dame athletics direc- tor Jack Swarbrick debated the issues for weeks leading up to the June 27 announcement, which 12 university presidents ratified. The semifinals will be played on either New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, with the title game played the first Monday in January that is at least six days after the final semifinal contest. Most of the details have yet to be field goal attempts (76.5 percent) last season, while knocking through 54 of 55 point after tries (98.2 percent). He connected on all three of his field goal attempts in the Sugar Bowl, including the game-winner in overtime to lift the Wolverines to a 23-20 victory over Vir- ginia Tech. Semifinalists for the Groza Award will decided, but the bowl system — albeit in a different form than its current state — will remain intact, with the Rose Bowl still set to play host to the Big Ten and Pac-12. The creation of the playoff devel- ops a scenario in which all 120 Divi- sion I-A, or Football Bowl Subdivision, programs have access to the national championship game. However, the se- lection committee will consider won- loss record, strength of schedule and head-to-head results, and will place an emphasis on winning a team's respec- tive conference championship. Had this scenario been in place a year ago, the 2011 playoff format may have looked like this: No. 4 Oregon vs. No. 1 LSU be announced Nov. 5, with three final- ists named Nov. 19. The winner will be announced Dec. 6 during the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show in Orlando, Fla. • Fifth-year senior safety Jordan Ko- vacs is one of 84 performers on the watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Tro- phy, which goes to the nation's best defensive player. Kovacs recorded 75 total stops, eight tackles for loss and four sacks last year. The Football Writers Association of America and Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce the five finalists for the Nagurski Trophy Nov. 15, and the trophy is presented Dec. 3 at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. • Redshirt junior offensive tackle Tay- lor Lewan has made the watch list for the Outland Trophy, which goes to the best interior lineman in college foot- ball. Lewan earned second-team All-Big Ten honors by conference coaches last season. The Outland Trophy winner emerges from three finalists that make the FWAA All-America Team, and the winner is an- nounced on The Home Depot College Football Awards program Dec. 6 on ESPN. • Fifth-year senior linebacker Kenny Demens and Lewan have each been added to the preseason watch list for the 2012 Rotary Lombardi Award, which goes to the nation's top down lineman or linebacker. Demens led the Wolverines with 94 tackles last year, receiving U-M's Roger Zatkoff Award as its best linebacker. Lewan remains one of Michigan's most solid, consistent blockers. The Rotary Lombardi Award will be presented in Houston, on Dec. 5. TICKET SALES • Individual ticket packages for the 2012 season have been announced. They are selling in four-game packs that include Michigan State (Oct. 20) and Massachusetts (Sept. 15), as well as two of the other four home games. The packs costs $350, plus a $30 or- der charge. Fans cannot purchase more than four packs. Individual tickets for four contests are also available, at $75 per ticket. Those games with tickets available include Air Force (Sept. 8), Massachusetts, North- western (Nov. 10) and Iowa (Nov. 17). Special Football Family Packs are avail- Fifth-year senior saftey Jordan Kovacs is on the watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which goes to the nation's best defensive player. PHOTO BY PER KJEDLSEN able for the UMass contest. Families can pay $300 for four game tickets, four 2012 season shirts from the M-Den, four hot dogs and small fountain drinks, and four game programs. AUGUST 2012 THE WOLVERINE 63