The game looms as the last one to be scheduled that early for quite a while. A television deal for that matchup on Labor Day evening expires after the game, and the limited flexibility caused by a 12-game schedule dissuaded the schools from looking to renew it.
"It's certainly a tremendous challenge for our football team," Miami coach Larry Coker said. But it's great exposure for our program, great exposure for our league."
Added Bowden: "The publicity department doesn't have enough money to buy that national attention. If we turn that down, Auburn will grab it or Notre Dame will grab it or Southern Cal will grab it. Everybody wants that night."
Under the rule, the clock will start right after each possession change instead of when the ball is snapped. Rodriguez said the rule will limit the number of possessions an offense has each game.
"It's going to cut down on the number of plays in a game," he said. "It will probably reduce somewhere between eight to nine plays in each game which maybe takes away one more series or one more drive. Instead of having 11 or 12 opportunities to score you may only have 10."
An intriguing sight on Michigan's depth chart heading into Saturday's home opener against Vanderbilt is linebacker Shawn Crable starting ahead of Prescott Burgess.
Crable appeared in 12 games last year and made 14 tackles. Burgess started 12 games, was third on the team with a career-high 81 tackles and was honorable mention all-conference. One of coach Lloyd Carr's chats a year ago worked.
"He brought me into his office and asked me to transfer," Crable said. "He pulled out the papers and said he'd sign my transfer papers for me. I looked at him like, `Man, you're a jerk.' He wanted to motivate me. I left that meeting wanting to do something about it."
This is cache, read story here