Back in 1997, Pierre Woods had little interest in debating whether Michigan or Nebraska deserved the title as king of college football. So it’s funny to the Wolverines’ standout fifth-year senior linebacker that now he gets to help decide which of the two will feel better about 2005.

“It’s kind of weird,” Woods said, “but back then I probably wasn’t even thinking about football. I was playing basketball.”

It wouldn’t be long before a Michigan influence began to make Woods think twice about his sport of choice —even though it was because of wide receiver Jerry Rice that he started playing football.

“I had some moves,” Woods said, “just not exactly his.”

He did have Rice’s size, though, before sprouting into a 6-foot-5, 247-pound frame. And when you come from the same Cleveland high school as 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard — who just happened to win the award playing for the Wolverines — well, it was a no-brainer for Woods to leave his Ohio roots when the Maize and Blue came calling.

“Michigan? Oh, man!” he said when asked what’s made his college experience in Ann Arbor so special. “It’s a lot of things. The atmosphere here — it’s just a college town. Nebraska, they don’t have any pro teams, everybody loves Nebraska because that’s the team they grew up watching. The same with Michigan.

“I’m from the inner city and I didn’t want to go to another (similar setting), and I fell in love with Michigan. Friday night (before home games), we’ll go down (into 107,501-seat Michigan Stadium) and it’ll be real quiet. One night I went by myself. You feel that Michigan vibe. It’s a different feeling.”

The pride Woods feels for his school should be a clue to the Huskers about what kind of approach Michigan is taking for Wednesday night’s Alamo Bowl matchup.

The Wolverines were the preseason pick to win the Big Ten Conference but suffered a rash of injuries and dropped three games by a combined 10 points to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio State to finish in a tie for third place.

Of the four third-place teams, Michigan slid to the third-lowest bowl slot, as the Capital One Bowl selected Wisconsin to play in its Jan. 2 game and Iowa was taken for the Jan. 2 Outback Bowl.

Wednesday will mark the first time since 1995 that Michigan —which hasn’t lost more than four games in one season since 1984 —hasn’t played in a more lucrative January bowl game. Of course, it can’t hurt that the Huskers, who shared the two-poll system national championship with the Wolverines back in ’97, are their opponent.

“It’s the same as ’97, because I think the fans wanted the ’97 team to play Nebraska,” Woods said. “That’s my sense and my feeling with the fans. A lot of people have been waiting for this matchup for a long time.”

One thing that intrigues Woods about Nebraska is its West Coast offense, a system that is still in its infancy under second-year coach Bill Callahan.

In the Big Ten, Michigan sees an assortment of spread attacks. But Woods sees something different in the Huskers’ offense.

“I guess preparing for them, it’s kind of hard to get a grasp on their tackles, because they sub so many in,” he said. “That’s something you don’t see much of from Big Ten teams. You’ve got to prepare for all of the tackles, instead of just one. That’s different.

“But their style is a West Coast style, and we’ve prepared for that this whole season.”

Briefly

— Sophomore quarterback Chad Henne sounds confident that Michigan’s offense will suffer no continuity issues from having gone more than a month since its last game. A year ago, Henne completed 18 of 34 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns in the Wolverines’ 38-37 Rose Bowl loss to Texas.

“We’ve got our timing together,” he said. “Really, we try to keep the same game plan going into the bowl game. We might add a couple plays here and there, but we’re off the base formation and base plays. It’s nothing too difficult to handle.”

— Fifth-year senior defensive tackle and co-captain Pat Massey, who’s brother Mike is a sophomore tight end, is looking forward to watching the Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl. His father, Jim, played for and is a graduate of Notre Dame, while his older brother, Jim, played for and graduated from Ohio State.

But first things first.

“They’re definitely more concerned with Michigan than they are their alma maters,” Massey said. “They’ll definitely enjoy the (Alamo Bowl). It’s going to be a different story once it’s over.”

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.