Saturday, December 11
Tide, Wolverines set for historic clash
Associated Press

MIAMI -- Alabama and Michigan hope this will be the first of back-to-back trips to the Orange Bowl.

	Shaun Alexander is ready to tear up the Orange Bowl turf.

The teams, two of the winningest programs in college football history, will play Jan. 1 in the Orange Bowl, the site of next year's national championship game.

No. 5 Alabama (10-2), the Southeastern Conference champion, beat Florida 34-7 Saturday to earn an invitation to the New Year's Day bowl, where it will face perennial Big Ten powerhouse Michigan, 9-2 and ranked eighth.

It will be the third meeting between to the two storied programs.

The Crimson Tide beat Michigan 17-14 in the 1997 Outback Bowl in Tampa. The Wolverines won the only other meeting, in the 1988 Hall of Fame bowl in Tampa.

In 1997, Alabama needed a long interception return from Dwayne Rudd to get a victory for Gene Stallings, who was coaching his final game. Alabama coach Mike DuBose was the defensive coordinator at the time.

"I thought it was one of the great defensive teams we played against," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said Sunday.

Though the Wolverines lost, they went on to win a national title the following season in the Rose Bowl.

"There was no question that they were a very talented football team and I knew that there were just bigger and better things ahead for them, just like I think there's bigger and better things ahead for both of our football teams this year," DuBose said.

Alabama tailback Shaun Alexander, a Heisman Trophy candidate, broke a long run to seal the Outback Bowl win.

"We know Shaun Alexander very well," Carr said. "We recruited him at Michigan, and I've had a number of people tell me that he is the best back in the country."

This Orange Bowl had hoped Florida would make a return trip to South Florida for New Year's Day. The Gators beat Syracuse in the Orange Bowl last season and would have guaranteed a sellout.

Nonetheless, Orange Bowl executive director Keith Tribble is optimistic the Alabama-Michigan matchup will sell tickets.

"We couldn't have had two better teams from two better conferences representing our bowl," Tribble said.

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