2017 Michigan gameday #13: vs. South Carolina (Outback Bowl)

For one more time as part of the 2017 season it's Michigan Gameday!  Despite the many changes to the college postseason I was very happy that my Wolverines would be playing on January 1, as is tradition.

The 8-4 squad will be matching up with a team with an identical record:  South Carolina.  While a bowl game between unranked teams may appear to be largely meaningless, don't tell that to

From MGoBlog

-The seniors (and possibly some juniors) who'll be representing the Maize and Blue for the last time in their college careers.  That includes upcoming first-round DL Mo Hurst, who bucked the recent trend of draft-eligibles who understandably wanted to avoid injury.

-Young QB Brandon Peters, who can give himself a leg up in next year's battle for the position against some very good incoming talent and Ole Miss transfer Shea Patterson.

OPERATION ORANGE: ✔️#GoBlue #ChadTough pic.twitter.com/PbMJfp0RUQ

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) January 1, 2018

-All of these guys, led by DL Chase Winovich, who dyed their hair orange in honor of Chad Carr, the grandson of retired coach Lloyd Carr, who died of the rare disease DIPG.  Orange was his favorite color, and Winovich created a donation campaign that challenged folks to contribute to a great cause while getting a number of players to dye their hair, and best of all, DC Don Brown to dye his 'stache!

The Michigan money cannon (aided by many others, to be fair) obliterated the original $15,000 goal and as I'm writing this the total has eclipsed $200,000 (which will be matched by recent Ron Weiser).  A great cause led by great people.

-And the fans of Michigan and the conference who'd love to see the Big Ten earn a perfect 8-0 bowl record.

So no, this game isn't meaningless if you think about it for more than 10 seconds.  Hopefully it'll be a way for the Wolverines and their fans to celebrate the old and the new with their first win of 2018.

Let's.

Go.

Blue.

Michigan gameday #13: vs. South Carolina, plus, happy birthday and happy new year!

Before I get to the gameday portion of this post, there's a couple things I need to take care of first.

To start with, HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!  I hope everyone has a safe, productive, and happy 2013, and that each one of you has another great year of blogging and collecting.  Thanks again to all of you who make this hobby fun and rewarding.

No, I didn't mean to insert a "Happy birthday" GIF here--it's time for some Alison Brie!

Next, it's time to celebrate a birthday that's pretty easy for me to remember since it falls on the first day of each year:  today is the one-year anniversary of the creation of this here blog!  A year ago today I finally took the plunge and spun off the Michigan collecting-centric portion of my blogging after thinking about doing so for a couple months.  One year later, I'm definitely happy with the results.  First, I'm no longer annoying the hell out of the mostly baseball-heavy followers of TMV.  Second, I've been thankful for the small following of readers who appreciate some of the posts I've written here, most of which cover additions to my growing Michigan sports PCs.

I have no plans of stopping anytime soon either thanks to the support of readers like you.  I'm also thankful for my co-author, Jeff, who's provided some quality content himself, and made sure at times that this blog had more than one post per week.  It's great to have another voice that's just as passionate about Michigan sports and collecting as I am, and I hope that partnership continues into 2013.  On a related note, if any other collectors would like the opportunity to chime in with some guest posts this year, please let me know and I'll see what we can do!

So thanks again to all of you who have made this second blog project of mine, one that covers a school and hobby near and dear to my heart, worth it.  Here's to a 2013 of great collecting and blogging!

Alright, with all that out of the way, it's time to get down to business.  Even as I write this post, Michigan and South Carolina are both in Tampa, Florida preparing to square off at 1 pm EST in the Outback Bowl.  #18 Michigan finished the regular season 8-4, a bit of a letdown after a fantastic 2011, but the Wolverines look to finish strong against yet another SEC bowl opponent in enemy territory.  #10 South Carolina ended the year at 10-2 with its only losses at the hands of good LSU and Florida squads.

This will be only the third all-time meeting between the teams, and that's one feature of bowl games that I can certainly appreciate.  Consider this one the rubber match as the teams have split the series to-date.  It will be interesting to see how the Wolverine offense continues to grow with underclassman Devin Gardner at the helm due to Denard Robinson's lingering injury issues.  "Shoelace" will be Michigan's wild-card, however, as he could appear at pretty much any position on the field at this point, including rumors of kick return duties.  The Wolverines will need all the help they can get against a talented SC squad highlighted by stud DE Jadeveon Clowney, who's simply been a sack machine and TFL wiz for the Gamecocks.

For myself and my fellow Wolverines fans, here's hoping that Brady Hoke and Denard Robinson have some of the magic of last year up their sleeve as they battle the myth of total SEC superiority.  LET'S GO BLUE!