It starts at 8:00 PM east coast time. Box and BCO are running the show so play nice and go Hokies!

Thanks to kind Internet souls like mgodisney I was able to efficiently watch five Michigan games yesterday (Ohio State, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State and Notre Dame). The Wolverines improved each week during the season. That's coach speak, but it's true. In their final two games against Nebraska and Ohio State, Michigan was a complete team with a lot of confidence capable of moving the ball and playing good enough defense.

I know we're playing Michigan, but let's talk about Iowa real quick, more specifically Iowa-Michigan. Watch this, or as much as you can tolerate, or for as long as it takes you to realize there's a high probability '08 Stinepring is calling the plays for the Hawkeyes.

Beads. Everyone is going to try to give and get theirs while in New Orleans so let's have a little fun.

If the season has to end, it might as well walk away on Bourbon Street. From December 31st to January 10th Nawlins is the place to be. If I were living the dream, I'd spend New Year's Eve on B-Street, enjoy the Sugar Bowl two nights later and stay for the BCS national championship. The level of drunkenness for a near fortnight would surely land me in AA upon my return home. A small price to pay. Unfortunately, I can not go to the Big Easy this time around. I was there in 2000 and 2005. It was a damn good time. For those of you going, ball out for those of us who can't. A few words of advice for the newbies, keep your head on a swivel and not just for the sight of exposed boobs. If out of the corner of your eye you notice a 6'3" woman in lingerie, it's not a woman. Also look down from time to time. Walking through a pile of NOPD horse shit on Bourbon Street isn't going to help get you any positive attention from the opposite sex.

Monday, January 2nd

The Rose Bowl 10 Wisconsin vs 5 Oregon -6 5:00 pm ESPN

It's the defense stupid. That's the main reason for Michigan's turnaround in 2011. You can see the trend quickly in chart form courtesy of /r/cfb. If you'd prefer long-ish form Andy Bitter has you covered.

Oft-criticized defensive coordinator Greg Robinson had never run the 3-3-5 scheme former coach Rich Rodriguez preferred and was forced to work with many of the assistants Rodriguez brought with him in 2009-10. The Wolverines' defense, which had always been stout under ex-coach Lloyd Carr, dropped from 24th nationally in Carr's final season to 82nd, 67th and 110th in Rodriguez's three years.

Enter Mattison, who used to coach at Michigan, Notre Dame and, most recently, the NFL's Baltimore Ravens from 2008-10.

A proponent of the 4-3 defense, Mattison's scheme better suited Michigan's personnel, with defensive lineman Mike Martin (54 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 3 sacks) and Ryan Van Bergen (41 tackles, 12 TFls, 5 sacks) starring up front.