A year ago, the Michigan Wolverines spent their holiday break preparing to play in a second straight Rose Bowl against a nationally ranked opponent.

Next week the 20th-ranked Wolverines will leave for San Antonio, where they will make their first December postseason appearance in 10 years _ well removed from college football's brightest spotlight and well out of the hunt for a national title.

Michigan (7-4) faces Nebraska (7-4) in the Alamo Bowl Dec. 28 and the team is hoping to salvage what, in Michigan football terms, has been a disappointing season that culminated in a 25-21 loss to rival Ohio State in the regular season's final game.

A victory would allow the Wolverines to finish the year on a positive note and avoid becoming the first Michigan team since 1984 to finish a season with five or more losses. Bo Schembechler's 1984 squad finished the year 6-6 after dropping a 24-17 Holiday Bowl decision to Brigham Young.

This year, Michigan accepted an Alamo Bowl invitation after Outback Bowl officials chose to invite Iowa to its Jan. 2 game even though the Wolverines finished with the same record as the Hawkeyes and won the regular-season meeting between the two teams.

"We get what we deserve," sophomore quarterback Chad Henne said Wednesday. "We definitely don't want to go down with a loss. Nobody wants to have five losses. I don't know how long it's been since a team here has had five losses and we don't want to be that team."

Players downplayed Michigan's nine-year January bowl run coming to an end, stressing instead the importance of playing well against Nebraska and laying the foundation for next season.

The last time Michigan failed to earn a January bowl berth came in Lloyd Carr's first year at Michigan when the Wolverines lost to Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl following the 1995 season.

"It still feels the same. It still feels like a January bowl, it's just a couple days early," outside linebacker Pierre Woods said. "Are we disappointed? No. Disappointment is Tennessee. They're not going to a bowl game."

Michigan has practiced three times in preparation for its game with Nebraska and will practice five more times before leaving for San Antonio late next week.

Like his players, Carr expressed excitement in facing Nebraska regardless of the date and location of the bowl game. Michigan has played in each of the last two Rose Bowls, losing to Southern California and Texas.

"It's different because we'll be coming home earlier," Carr said. "But from the standpoint of being able to play a game, it doesn't matter if you're going to play in a parking lot, it doesn't matter where you're going to play. It doesn't matter who's there. It's an opportunity to play."