Thanks to this weekend’s overtime win, Coach Steve Burns and his Wolverines are headed to the final four.  Did you know that the Michigan men’s soccer offices are upstairs at Yost along with Red and the hockey program?  I asked him today if he had any advice for Burns and crew as they prepared for the trip to Santa Barbara: “No, not really.  I like the way his team has done it.  When you’re a coach sometimes you have to lead your team when things aren’t going well, and you have to get out of the way and the players take over and lead when they are going well.   It’s a question I asked him last week, ‘Who’s leading the team, the coaches or the players?’.  He said the players.  I said, ‘Good,’ because that’s the way it should be this time of year.” “The advice is keep doing what you’re doing.  It doesn’t get any tougher, it just gets better.  It sounds like they are in every game and they know how to win on the road.  This will be great for them.” “You know what?  Those guys have worked so hard in that soccer office over the years and it’s nice to see them finally get rewarded on the field and in the NCAA tournament.” On his vicinity…

Update 12/7:  A new prize option, the Ufer Meechigan t-shirt, see below.    <insert snarky caption here> Rich Rod was a bit subdued in the press conference today, here meeting with the media before the video portion.  That’s Dave Brandon in the background fiddling with his Blackberry.  He was at the Junge Center today to formally accept the Gator Bowl bid.  mgoTim has the nuts, bolts, twigs and berries for you. One item of note for the uniWatch crowd: Michigan will don the home blue uniforms in the game according to Dave Ablauf of Media Relations. (Hat tip to reader Brian S. for asking me the question earlier today). Got a winning caption? Submit it in the comments of this post.  If someone comes up with an epic caption you’ll get one of these awesome Bo Schembechler wearing headset shirts compliments of the wonderful folks at Moe’s/Underground Printing.   Update 12/7: Or, how about this beauty?  Hot off the press the Bob Ufer ‘Meechigan’ t-shirt:

via U-M Media Relations: Comments from Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez About playing in the Gator Bowl … “We are excited about the opportunity to play a very good Mississippi State team in the Gator Bowl. They run a first-class operation and our players will really enjoy the experience. I’ve always enjoyed my previous experiences at the Gator Bowl.” About playing Mississippi State … “Mississippi State is a great team and has been consistently ranked among the top 25 this season. Dan Mullen and his staff have done an outstanding job. It should be a great matchup and we look forward to playing them on New Year’s Day.” About his past trips to the Gator Bowl … “I have been fortunate to have coached in several Gator Bowls and I also played in it. They do a great job of hosting the teams and making the bowl experience a memorable one for the players. I look forward to seeing many of the Gator Bowl representatives who have become friends over the years.”