Sugar Bowl

The Sugar Bowl features a great matchup between the Big 10's Michigan Wolverines and the ACC's Virginia Tech Hokies. Michigan had a resurrection under first-year coach Brady Hoke. Many in Wolverine-land were hoping for Jim Harbaugh, and Hoke was surely not anyone's first choice, but he did very well, and landed Michigan in a BCS Bowl. Some may question whether 13th-ranked Michigan or 17th-ranked Virginia Tech were deserving of their invitations, given that teams such as Boise St. were left to play in minor bowls, but College Sports is "Big Business," and there's no denying the attraction of these two programs.

Both teams arrived at this spot by virtue of their defenses. Michigan ranked 18th, and surrenders just 317 ypg (after ranking 110th last year), while Va Tech allows just 313 ypg and finished 13th nationally. Of course, U-M can also move the ball with its dynamic quarterback, Denard Robinson, and a solid running back in Fitzgerald Toussaint, who rushed for over 1,000 yards this season.

Va Tech is led by ACC Player of the Year David Wilson, who averaged 125 ypg rushing the ball for the nation's 6th best mark. Unfortunately, he had a bad game against Clemson in the ACC Championship Game (32 yards), and the Hokies were upset by the Tigers, 38-10.

Both schools will be looking for a bit of redemption after getting blown out in their Bowl games last season. Michigan fell 52-14 to Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl, which was ex-coach Rich Rodriguez' death knell, while Va Tech was annihilated by Stanford, in Jim Harbaugh's final game as the Cardinal's head coach.

The pointspread on this game opened at Michigan -1, and has crept higher to -2.5. The over/under rests at 51 points. Since 1980, Michigan is 14-13 ATS in Bowl games, while Va Tech is below water at 9-12 ATS. This season, U-M was 8-4 ATS while Va Tech was an extremely poor 3-9 ATS. Both teams played more unders than overs (UM 7-5 Under; VT 3-8 Under). This will be one of the most exciting games of this 2011-12 Bowl Season.

Good luck, as always...Al McMordie