Rumor: Capitol One Bowl intends to pair Michigan and Texas A&M

Remember the last time Michigan played a heisman winner in a bowl game? Some one que up tebow getting planted gif. Don't like the thought of that offense though.

Ugh, that's just teasing me. The OC who just royally let us down vs the OC I dream about coaching our offense. I actually prefer our chances against Georgia a little better.

is better for us than a win over A&M.

capitol one bowl you speak of? Does it have anything to do with a grudge match between Boehner and Pelosi on the national mall?

be revenge for that BS loss to A&M in the mid nineties Alamo Bowl, i remember us getting hosed by the officials in that game.

Maybe we can beat them 41-3 ala the 1977 game, good times

Shoelace vs Johnny football. Why am I picturing the final battle between Neo and agent Smith? Photoshop anyone?

Mattison is a great D-Coordinator who has a month to prepare. Our O shouldn't have a huge problem moving the ball unless  we get in our own way (Borges). I actually love our chances against anyone in the country save Oregon  and Alabama. Notre Dame is going to the NC thanks for our six turnovers. Then we lose to an undefeated OSU team by 5.  We have a good team this year, and we can definately compete with A&M.

i got the game in 1995 if u guys wanna relive it..... dont know why u would but i think most would have gotten over this loss by now.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kp-zaY_ioU

Well Borges had a great gameplan in the Sugar Bowl....

Johnny Football vs Devin is what I prefer to see with sprinkles of Denard.

this game is going to be a lot of 4 man rush.

I'm so happy to see the word "rumor" and school names in a headline that doesn't involve realignment.

I think we have a fair chance considering Denard should be healthy by then.

Fug it.  I think the Aggies are doable.  Not as doable as Florida or Georiga, but if Borges can do his job and piece something together that let's this offense live up to it's potential for once, Michigan can compete with A&M just fine.  Mattison will put together a defense, one that will get scored on inevitably, but keep them in check allowing the aforemenetioned other Coordinator to utilize his weapons and score some points themselves.

I'm looking to save $2000 in December to see Denard play for the first and last time. Yes, you are allowed to donate.

I would loooove to play the Aggies. Shutting up these loudmouth dipshit A&M fans down here would be nice.

Why not take the buzz that goes along with playing Johnny Football and a team being pushed as the hottest in the country? More fun and PR. A&M, Bama, Georgia, LSU, Florida are all on a similar level. We may pull an upset, we could get rolled. But let's  do it against the highest profile opponent.

How many of you veterans were on here in 2007 before we played FL and Tebow saying we were going to get rolled by 40? If Borges does his job (because we know Mattison will with a month to prepare) we can handle A&M. I feel like if it was up to some people on this board we wouldn't play a game until Shane Morris SO year. Hoke isn't Rich Rod, and this is Michigan for god's sake. We aren't scared to play anyone. 

Didn't Ace mention Capital One had representitives in the booth a few games ago? I think they've had their eyes set on Michigan for a while now.

Johnny Football?

I prefer the lsu matchup and storyline, but Johnny football vs the d&d football factory is fine.

I'm surprised that the Cotton Bowl isn't going after A&M. They must be salivating over the idea of a UT-A&M matchup.

They were dominant. As a Mississippi State season ticket holder, I have seen some good teams live. Over the past two years, only the 2011 Alabama team and this year's A&M team dominated us at home. Their O line protected and got good push. Johnny can run or throw. A&M likes to run deep routes with a run/pass option. If no one is open, all of the second level defenders are 30 yards downfield and Johnny has much green in front of him. He makes good decisions about when to run; A&M fans don't have to scream at their TV's to get him moving. This matchup is scary to me. The only thing that helps Michigan is the defensive players have experience in practice with a pretty good running QB.

I used to live in Texas (Cool Story, bro), and lived there just long enough to develop a healthy loathing for Texas A&M.  Due to that, I try to pay enough attention to them so that I can knock my Aggie friends down a few notches every year when they tell me in preseason how the football team is going to win the National Championship, be relevant, and invent cold fusion.

I would normally welcome the opportunity to play them and show them how a real football team looks.  However, this year is different, and this might be the only team I wanted to play less than even Alabama.  Like teenagers to My Chemical Romance, A&M scares the living shit out of me.  It took them a good chunk of the season to get into rhythm with a new offense, but now that they have, it pains me to say that they are currently one of the best 2-3 teams in the country.  I believe in Greg Mattison, but that offense is frightening.  “Johnny Football” gets a lot of credit, but Kliff Kingsbury appears to have the makings of an awesome offensive coach.  He coaches with a ton of passion and has had terrific results at both Houston and A&M (although it has to pain Aggies to have a Red Raider coaching their offense).  Our defense is going to have their hands full, and if Borges can’t figure out how to best utilize the Denardevin offense then it could get ugly.

Add actual football to an Aggie fan base that will travel extremely well (and still revels in beating us in the ’95 Alamo Bowl) and a Michigan fan base that already traveled to its bowl game (Dallas... I know, I know, thanks Dave Brandon), and it could feel like a home game for A&M.  Not to be entirely negative about this match-up, but there are a lot of teams I would have rather played. 

excitement and hope, which is great.  But quite honestly this matchup scares the living shit out of me.  Mainly because they beat the team that beat us by 27, on their home turf.  Small sample size and all that but still, A&M has improved every week since the close LSU loss.

Battle of great fight songs, QBs, teams. 

I'll wait until it's official though. I remember hearing Michigan-houston being a lock for the Sugar Bowl. And I have a hunch the Cotton Bowl is going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at getting a Texas-TAMU matchup. 

If this matchup came to pass, here is where these teams are right now on a broad statistical level.

First, the Sagarin Predictor ratings would estimate that Texas A&M is a 10.7 point favorite, which isn't insurmountable - as others have mentioned, we have a defense that can keep us in virtually any game, which we have seen.

As for raw productivity, Texas A&M averages 317.25 yards passing each game, whereas we average 198.08 yards (much of the improvement coming lately for us). They manage 235.08 yards on the ground on average, and we are at 187.33 yards rushing on average. By the numbers, as you might expect, we have the better defense, of course - 155.17 yards of passing given up to their 248.42 yards, and for rushing, we give up 156 yards per game to their 140.92, so they are fairly comparable rushing defenses.

As for scoring offense and defense, in short, we score less but they tend to give up more (by an average of 4 points). This would be an interesting game for us and them, I think, if it ends up happening.

could be a fun head-handing. No one wil expect us to win, but if we do it will be some redemption for Alabama--everyone can say how much the team grew through the season. 

And hopefully, the team really improves over the practice period. 

Reasons for Pessimism: They were the only team to beat Alabama (29-24), and they did so on the road. They’ll have the likely Heisman Trophy winner at QB and the nation’s third-ranked total offense. The best offense Michigan faced in 2012 was Nebraska (26th in total offense) in a loss. In games against other offenses ranked in the top 50, Michigan barely beat Air Force (41st) and lost to Alabama (43rd), Ohio State (47th) and Notre Dame (48th). Five of Michigan’s eight wins came against the nation’s 90th (Michigan State), 110th (Minnesota), 114th (Iowa), 118th (Illinois) and 124th and lowest (Massachusetts) ranked total offenses. 

Reasons for Optimism: They lost twice this season (both at home) in close games to Florida (20-17) and LSU (24-19), two teams like Michigan with high-rated defenses and low-rated offenses. The last time Michigan played against the Heisman Trophy winner in the Capital One Bowl game, the results for Michigan were positive. 

...just don't like the idea of cheering against Johnny Football.  Not gonna lie, I've got a bit of a man crush.

I remember the last/only time we played TAMU. Was not long after the Bo-to-TAMU thing, iirc. They had a barefoot kicker, all the rage at the time, and I think they were a favorite in that game, which we won, 41-3 (again, going from my middle aged memory here, Internet). I'd like to see this matchup.

I don't want any of that.

and combining that with Borges's disinterest in developing a game plan designed to keep our opponent off-balance, it's going to be a tough task regardless of which SEC team we play.

I'd love to hear Greg Mattison's private thoughts about Al's offense.

I do not see this ending well.

I don't like a four-loss Michigan having to play a two-loss SEC team in a bowl.  Then again, since TAMU played SMU and surprisingly competent La Tech for their "difficult" non-conference games, while Michigan played Bama and ND, maybe the paring is more even than a lot of people think.  

Part of me wishes that Ohio hadn't cheated and affected the B1G's depth this year, but I am enjoying their "undefeated but we cheated" angst so much that I am more than happy to put up with whatever happens in the bowls.

We would have to score about 40 points. TA+M is much better than Iowa. I have LARGE doubts Borges will open this offense because the O line has been so ineffective running the ball. Want to see this game because I live in Florida but TV may be a better place.

matchup.  I hope this is true. 

The Louis Tech game does show that there D can be scored upon.  Wisconsin gets hammered for beating Utah St. close, but Texas A&M didn't for playing Louis Tech close.  Louis Tech lost at home to Utah St.  With that being said if Wisconsin wins this matchup won't happen any way.  No one is giving Wisconsin much chance, but Nebreska has not been the same team away from home at all this year and they only beat Wisconsin by 3 at home.

Not official until Sunday, but Johnny Football's going to Disney World. Capital One Bowl will pick Texas A&M

I think the Big Ten end of things depends on who wins on Saturday? 

I'm not looking forward to playing A&M if only because Kevin Sumlin is going to have 6 weeks to prepare a game plan against us.  I think we'll get scored on early and then settle things down and have to play a bit of catch up.  Granted, Mattison has the same amount of time, but Sumlin put up plenty of points on Alabama with one week's preparation.  I have zero faith that Borges's game plan will compete favorably with Sumlin's.  Zero.

The all Male cheerleading team that grabs each others balls should be to UMs advantage. Not a joke. http://michiganzone.blogspot.com/2006/10/and-this-is-tradition-because.html

Pretty sad that we're hoping to play well despite our offensive coordinator rather than with his help.