The announcement comes just one day after athletic director Tom Goss resigned, ending a 2½-year stay marked by a budget deficit, a stadium controversy and the suspension of the basketball team's leading scorer.

The news stunned Michael Graime, the director of college athletics for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which oversees the game for the National Association of College Directors of Athletics.

Graime was shown a copy of the Michigan release just minutes before Rutgers was to play Seton Hall in a Big East Conference basketball game.

"How about that," said Graime, who was attending the Seton Hall-Rutgers game as a spectator. "What do you know. Unbelievable!"

Graime hoped something could still be worked out.

Warde Manuel, the school's assistant athletic director, said in the release, "We were hoping to play in our first-ever Kickoff Classic but an agreement could not be reached."

When Michigan accepted the invitation to play in the traditional opener to the college season at Giants Stadium, it was provided that the organizers of the game could come up with an opponent that the school was willing to play.

"The opportunity to expose our athletes to the New York area and allowing our alumni and fans from the Northeast to see us play were extremely appealing factors to us," Manuel added. "We hope to be considered for a future Kickoff Classic."

Michigan's only previous preseason game was the 1995 Pigskin Classic, an 18-17 victory that capped the greatest comeback in school history and gave Lloyd Carr his first career coaching win. The Wolverines trailed 17-0 in the fourth quarter but quarterback Scott Dreisbach found wide receiver Mercury Hayes for a 15-yard game-winning TD on the game's final play for the win.