Gator Bowl : All posts

eye on the wolverines: Rich Rodriguez's biggest regret, Michigan football team's defensive woes and more Gator Bowl thoughts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The numbers look like football’s equivalent of a grisly accident scene.

The Michigan football team’s defense allowed 458 points and 5,860 yards this season, both the worst marks in the school’s esteemed history. Opponents averaged 35.2 points and 450.7 yards per game.

Astounding numbers.

None worse than the yardage total. In 2009, the Wolverines defense gave up a then-record 4,720 yards. This year, they smashed the record by 1,140 yards.

Mississippi State 52, Michigan 14: A comprehensive guide to Gator Bowl coverage

Some Michigan fans brought a message to the Gator Bowl.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Your serve, Dave Brandon.

The Michigan athletic director has said for weeks that he'll evaluate football coach Rich Rodriguez and his program once the season was over. He said that again Saturday to the Associated Press, noting, "I probably won't have more to say until the back half of the week."

That season ended Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., with a 52-14 loss in the Gator Bowl to Mississippi State, the Wolverines' worst bowl loss in program history.

Michigan struggled on offense, defense and special teams against the Bulldogs and finished the season 7-6, leaving Rodriguez with a 15-22 record in his three seasons at Michigan.

Staff writers Pete Bigelow and Rich Rezler and photographer Melanie Maxwell covered the game in Jacksonville. Here is your guide to our coverage.

Game Balls: Chris Relf, Mississippi defense and Martavious Odoms pick up accolades

Pete Bigelow hands out game balls after Michigan's 52-14 loss to Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl, with four being the best:

Associated Press: Dave Brandon says a Rich Rodriguez decision probably won't come until 'the back half of the week'

Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon plans to talk to coach Rich Rodriguez about his future soon after both are back in Ann Arbor.

"After traveling back in the next day or two, I plan to sit down with coach Rodriguez to go through the evaluation I've been talking about for months," Brandon said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press a few hours after the Gator Bowl. "I probably won't have more to say until the back half of the week."

Notebook: Gator Bowl loss looks a lot like previous Michigan games, Mississippi State overcomes flu and more

Linebacker Obi Ezeh and the Michigan defense gave up 491 yards of total offense to Mississippi State.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Gator Bowl followed a maize-and-blueprint that has been laid out for much of this Michigan football season.

Quarterback Denard Robinson racked up impressive offensive statistics, drives stalled because of turnovers and kicking problems, and Mississippi State became the latest Wolverines opponent to march up and down the field at will.

Robinson gained more than 300 total yards for the ninth time this season. And the Bulldogs became the ninth Michigan opponent to gain more than 400 yards in a 52-14 thumping at EverBank Field on Saturday.

“As a head coach, you've got to be understanding of all the phases and had we been a little bit better certainly at times defensively, there's no question we would have won more games,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said. “I mean, I'm stating the obvious there.”

Gator Bowl defeat casts doubt on futures of Rich Rodriguez, Denard Robinson at Michigan

Tight end Kevin Koger and the Michigan football team had trouble explaining why they struggled so much Saturday against Mississippi State.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Asked if he thought the implications of a disastrous Gator Bowl performance would influence a decision on his future, Rich Rodriguez declined to answer the question.

“You’re asking the wrong person,” he said.

Asked if he thought he’d be coaching the Michigan football team again next season, Rodriguez repeated his response.

“You’re asked the wrong person,” he said, before adding, almost as an afterthought, “I do.”

But when it came time to explain what transpired on the field Saturday during a 52-14 loss to Mississippi State in the team’s first bowl game in three years, no one else could better explain.

Despite solid return game, kicking blunders keep Michigan's special teams from being special

Michigan slot receiver Martavious Odoms is dragged down by Mississippi State sophomore Johnthan Banks in the first half of the Gator Bowl.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Martavious Odoms’ return to the Michigan football team gave the Wolverines a special teams boost, but the continuation of season-long kicking problems more than canceled it out.

The junior receiver exceeded rehabilitation estimates and saw his first action during Saturday’s 52-14 Gator Bowl loss to Mississippi State since breaking a foot against Michigan State.

Odoms made the most of his one catch, hauling in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Denard Robinson that put the Wolverines ahead 14-10 in the final minute of the first quarter.

His biggest impact was on the kick return team. Odoms, who returned just one kick in the six regular-season games he played, started there Saturday. He had seven returns for 163 yards, including a long of 41 yards.

opinion: The fall of Rich Rodriguez and Michigan football is hard to process

Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez answers questions Saturday after the Gator Bowl.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - He wasn’t Les Miles, and in retrospect, that was his first mistake.

Rich Rodriguez arrived at Michigan amid a crisis. Michigan football fans clamored for the popular LSU head coach three years ago. When he didn’t materialize, Rodriguez inherited a rift that never healed.

He’ll leave amid another crisis, this one of his own creation.

A humiliating loss in the Gator Bowl on Saturday made sure of that. After a month of preparation, the Michigan football team turned in a 52-14 stinker against Mississippi State.

There was the worst-case scenario for the Wolverines, and then there was what occurred Saturday.

Rich Rodriguez gets endorsement from Michigan football player Mike Martin

Mike Martin

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- While most Michigan football players deflected post-game questions about coach Rich Rodriguez’s future, Mike Martin steadfastly supported the current Wolverine coaching staff.

For nearly 30 minutes, different reporters approached Martin in the tunnels below EverBank Field on Saturday afternoon with similar questions. The answers were the same: The junior defensive tackle thinks Rodriguez and his staff should return to Michigan next season.

Martin said he will talk to teammates about presenting their opinion to athletic director Dave Brandon when they return to Ann Arbor after the 52-14 loss to Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl.

“That’s something we have to do collectively, I think,” Martin said. “If it comes to that, we would do that, yeah.”

Some of Martin’s teammates, standing among pockets of reporters nearby, gave more predictable replies to similar questions.

Sophomore linebacker Craig Roh: “I’m just going to work as hard as I can during this off-season and let everything else happen how it may.”

Slideshow: Images from Mississippi State's victory against Michigan in the Gator Bowl

Mississippi State took control of the Gator Bowl with a 21-point second quarter as the Bulldogs routed the Michigan football team, 52-14. Photographer Melanie Maxwell captured the action.

Mississippi State routs Michigan football team in Gator Bowl

Robert Elliott and the Mississippi State football team had plenty to celebrate Saturday at the Gator Bowl.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - An extra four weeks of practice, an opportunity to heal from key injuries and a change in venue.

None of it mattered Saturday.

When the Michigan football team finally took the field for the Gator Bowl, it turned in a performance reminiscent of so many others from this tumultuous season.

The offense flashed encouraging signs, including big runs from Denard Robinson on the game’s opening drive. But the Wolverines defense and special teams were dreadful.

Mississippi St. 52, Michigan 14: Chris Relf's 3rd TD pass extends Bulldogs' lead in Gator Bowl

Morgan Kovacs, 14, Heather Klatt, 19, and Kayla Kovacs, 16, all of Curtis, Ohio, pose in front of a jaguar statue in front of EverBank Field before the start of the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. Morgan and Kayla are sisters of Michigan football player Jordan Kovacs.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Fourth quarter

Mississippi State 52, Michigan 14: Chris Relf found Michael Carr with a 31-yard touchdown pass to add to the rout.

Third quarter

Mississippi State 45, Michigan 14: Vick Ballard again. This time he scored from 7 yards out to tie the Gator Bowl record for touchdowns by a running back (3).

Mississippi State 38, Michigan 14: Vick Ballard scored on a 1-yard run as Mississippi State continued to move the ball against Michigan, scoring on a 14-play, 80-yard drive.

Missed field goal: Michigan's Brendan Gibbons missed a 35-yard field goal with 11:51 to play in the third quarter and now is 1-for-5 this season.

Join AnnArbor.com for a live chat during the Gator Bowl

After a two-year bowl hiatus, the Michigan football team is back in the postseason for a Gator Bowl game against Mississippi State. Join AnnArbor.com for a live chat throughout the game. Rich Rezler will bring you play-by-play from the pressbox at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Michael Rothstein will moderate and more staff members are likely to chime in.

Bowl time: The mega guide to the Gator Bowl: Michigan vs. Mississippi State

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

WHO: Michigan (7-5, 3-5 Big Ten) vs. No. 21 Mississippi State (8-4, 4-4 SEC).

WHERE: EverBank Field, Jacksonville, Fla.

WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

ODDS: Mississippi State is favored by 4 1/2 points, according to sportsbook.com.

SERIES RECORD: First meeting.

BROADCAST INFORMATION: TV: ESPN2; Radio: Michigan Sports Network (local affiliates), Sirius Ch. 122, XM Ch. 143.

with slideshow: Images from Friday's Gator Bowl parade and pep rally

The Michigan marching band had a busy day on Friday, starring at the alumni association's pep rally at the Jacksonville Landing Entertainment Complex on Friday afternoon and then appearing in the Gator Bowl parade.

Michigan fans in Jacksonville happy to be back at a bowl

Michigan fans greet the Michigan marching band during the Gator Bowl parade through downtown Jacksonville on Friday afternoon.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Nicki Pfefferle grew up in Ann Arbor, attended Dexter High School and Eastern Michigan University, and now lives in Whitehouse, Ohio.

Yet as she strolled along the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville Friday afternoon, she couldn’t help but feel like she was home for the holidays.

Pfefferle’s step-father, Jon Falk, is the Michigan football team’s equipment manager. From 1987 through the Wolverines’ last bowl appearance following the 2007 season, the family spent the holidays in warm-weather locations.

“This is Christmas to me,” Pfefferle said amid the crowds and noise at the Gator Bowl parade. “Florida, California, whatever. This is normal. Being in Michigan the last couple years was not normal to me.”

Notebook: Martavious Odoms is 'full go;' kicker will be situation-based and more

Junior wide receiver Martavious Odoms is "full go" for Saturday's Gator Bowl, coach Rich Rodriguez said on Friday.

AnnArbor.com file photo

JACKSONVILLE - The Michigan football team will have one of its top offensive players back in the lineup for Saturday’s Gator Bowl.

Coach Rich Rodriguez said Friday that junior receiver Martavious Odoms, once thought to be lost for the season to a broken foot, will be “full go” against Mississippi State (1:30 p.m., ESPN2).

“That’s probably the most pleasant surprise from a health standpoint. We didn’t think Martavious would be able to play at all, the rest of the year, after his injury,” Rodriguez said. “His rehab came along well, I think the training staff did a good job and Martavious really worked hard.”

Odoms was Michigan’s active career leader in receptions (86) and receiving yards (929) when he was injured against Michigan State. Sophomore Roy Roundtree surpassed Odoms in both categories during his six-game absence.

“You’ll see him in there rotating the same as the starters and getting back to the same role he was in earlier in the year, which is pretty exciting for us,” Rodriguez said.

Slideshow: Images from Jacksonville and the Gator Bowl press conferences

Coaches and some players from the Michigan and Mississippi State football teams sat down for a press conference Friday in Jacksonville, one day before the Gator Bowl (1:30 p.m., ESPN2). AnnArbor.com photographer Melanie Maxwell captured the scene.

Rich Rodriguez: Tate Forcier's future with Michigan football team 'undetermined'

Michigan sophomore quarterback Tate Forcier completed 54 of 84 passes for 597 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Tate Forcier’s future with the Michigan football team is unknown.

One day after Michigan officials announced their backup quarterback was ineligible for the Gator Bowl, coach Rich Rodriguez said Friday he didn’t know whether Forcier would return.

“His status with the school is as a student, first and foremost,” Rodriguez said. “That’s undetermined at this point.”

Rodriguez said he did not learn of Forcier’s academic status until Thursday. Forcier, a true sophomore, flew back to Detroit shortly thereafter Thursday night.

Poll: How will the Michigan vs. Mississippi State Gator Bowl turn out?

Mississippi State is a 4.5-point favorite entering the Gator Bowl on Saturday against Michigan. That's just a betting line. What do you think is the most likely outcome?