Lllllloyd Carr drives into the sunset

By Rick Morris

Some of the Detroit Red Wings blogs I enjoy reading have a fitting nickname for Detroit Free Press columnist/author/talk show host Mitch Albom: The Delicate Genius. His writing talent and creative abilities are beyond dispute, but he doesn’t have an internal meter to keep his tendencies to become overwrought and maudlin in control. Witness his piece earlier this week bemoaning the circumstances surrounding the departure of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr.

It is quite possible to buy into one of the larger points of Albom’s column: that Carr is a much nicer guy than his gruff public persona would indicate and that he is a rare figure in the sports world with a sense of perspective about the place of his profession. Certainly, Carr’s insight about the worth about sports vis-à-vis the rest of the world is refreshing and necessary, especially in a week when a jerk like Nick Saban wallows in self-pity and compares a football loss to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. But Albom, unsurprisingly, let his fondness for Carr take him too far in this article as he basically suggests that Carr was too morally pure for college football:

"Say good-bye to the good guy, maybe the last of them. Whoever coaches Michigan next will have to be more about business than Carr was, more about national titles, less about hospital visits, more about recruiting, less about philosophy. It is just the way the world works, and the world has moved quickly on Carr. In recent years, you could see the weariness showing on his face, in his jowls, in his eyes, which became steelier and angrier as the silliness grew in college football ... Remember, this is a guy who started in Ann Arbor in 1980, when ESPN was just a Connecticut cable experiment. In his time, he has seen the Big Ten grow to 11, the Rose Bowl go from Granddaddy to group member, and the goal of college football go from playing on Jan. 1 to playing on Jan. 7 ..."

True, Carr’s career coincided with the period in which big money (TV deals, endorsements, sponsorships, alumni organizations, etc.) really ran amok. Point well taken. But to suggest that Carr might be “the last good guy?” What hyperbole. What garbage.

Frankly, one need look no further than Michigan’s archrival to disprove this idiocy. Jim Tressel has worked every bit as hard to uphold academic standards as Carr and has done every bit as much for charitable and educational organizations (both of his parents were heavily involved in education, as is one of his brothers) and has been equally concerned with trying to uphold a good image for his university. Granted, Tressel has suffered his share of off-field embarrassments from his players over the years. But Carr has had a number of wanna-be Terrell Owens types with big mouths over the years (i.e. Mike Hart, Braylon Edwards, Charles Woodson) and he never suffers in some quarters the way that Tressel does for his players’ failings.

Again, I don’t have a problem with what the main thrust of Albom’s column seems to be. College football has become a lot sillier and more like a circus in the last quarter-century – although some coaches have continued to thrive in this climate without selling their souls. And Carr has probably been one of the good guys in the game and has a record better than many. But Lloyd Carr, when it was all said and done, was unable to be any better or worse than a mirror of what was happening in Columbus. When they had a horrible big-game coach in John Cooper, he thrived. When they had a great big-game coach in Jim Tressel, he folded. Frankly, it’s very unfair to the rest of college football to find in Carr’s failures evidence of his nobility. Whether Mitch Albom believes it or not, Lloyd Carr is not a better man than Jim Tressel just because The Vest has pounded him year after year.

OSU/Michigan liveblogging wrapup

By Rick Morris

On the day that Lloyd Carr probably coached his last game in the OSU/Michigan series, the day had a certain old-school, Woody-and-Bo feel to it.

A year after the two teams met in the most hyped and consequential version of college football's greatest rivalry and exceeded the expectations with one of the greatest games ever, the next edition had a bit less at stake and the game had far less excitement. But the outcome remained the same as Ohio State defeated Michigan 14-3 in what might be Carr's final game at the Big House. If Carr does end up walking off into the sunset, this rivalry will be a tremendous reason why as the nearly unprecedented dominance they achieved over the Buckeyes in the John Cooper era has given way to a 1-6 record against the Scarlet and Gray since Jim Tressel took the helm.

A year ago, the #1 Buckeyes turned back #2 Michigan, 42-39, in an absolute classic to advance to the BCS Title Game and relegate the Wolverines to the Rose Bowl. Today, for two teams on the outside looking in regarding the national title picture, the Rose Bowl was the prize at stake and OSU will play there for the first time since 1997, barring a continuation of the extreme set of dominoes falling at the top of the polls in this crazy year.

Michigan's talented trio on offense of quarterback Chad Henne, running back Mike Hart and offensive tackle Jake Long passed up NFL riches a year ago to return for their senior season and to help the 2007 graduating class to avoid an indignity that Michigan had not suffered in decades: losing four in a row to Ohio State. But they were unsuccessful, owing in large part to Henne and Hart having to play through injuries.

In a game that always features so many playmakers for both teams on both sides of the ball, very few of them stepped up today. The two who did the most were both Buckeyes: Chris Wells with 220 yards and 2 touchdowns on 39 carries and Vernon Gholston serving as a constant presence in the Michigan backfield and coming away with three sacks.

Just as Tressel assumed the head coaching job in Columbus in 2001 in what looked to be a hopeless situation, so too does Carr's likely replacement face a disheartening picture in terms of moving back towards parity in the rivalry. Michigan returned a solid veteran core from 2006, the Buckeyes did not, the game was in Ann Arbor and they blew this chance. Even with some early departures to the NFL, Ohio State will still be more experienced than Michigan next year and the game will be at the Horseshoe, dealing the Wolverines a tough hand in terms of avoiding a half-decade without victory in the series.

OSU/Michigan liveblogging third installment

By Rick Morris

Continuing the parallels with the Wisconsin game of two weeks ago, Ohio State had a lot of success in the third quarter running Beanie Wells right at, over and around the defense. Right after a 65-yard Ray Small punt return touchdown was called back, Wells rumbled in from 62 to provide the signature big play the game had been missing and put his team up 14-3. That remains the current score.

Chad Henne left due to the deteriorating nature of his injuries, but has returned to the sidelines. Mike Hart has still had no impact outside of the team's field goal drive in the first quarter, with 43 yards on 16 carries. Wells, who ripped off a long touchdown run as a backup in last year's game, has in his second Ohio State/Michigan game already surpassed Hart's accomplishments in the rivalry, having put up 169 yards on 25 carries to go with his two touchdowns. Brandon Saine has been in the game, tallying 18 yards on 8 carries, but regrettably is still not being used on screen passes.

The talented wide receivers on both teams haven't done anything, in part due to the weather and the quarterbacks' difficulties in battling it.

Just as Michigan was starting to get some momentum in the early fourth quarter off of a long punt return, Jim Tressel appealed the call on the field and won it as the replay judge ruled that the ball should be spotted 12 yards back. Henne returned for an anticlimactic three-and-out that ABC commentator Kirk Herbstreit correctly said would remind nobody of Willis Reed's heroics. Ray Small just recovered a punt he muffed deep in his own territory and the Buckeyes will now continue running the clock down, leading 14-3.

OSU/Michigan liveblogging second installment

By Rick Morris

Ohio State just dodged a huge bullet right before halftime. Todd Boeckman, who is inexplicably not wearing gloves in the freezing drizzle of Ann Arbor and who is throwing wobbling ducks left and right, airmailed one to the Michigan secondary during an implementation of the "wishy-washy, sorta-two-minute offense." A 48-yard K.C. Lopata field goal attempt missed, leaving Ohio State on top 7-3 at halftime.

Earlier, the Bucks took the lead with an 8-play, 44-yard TD drive culminating in a Beanie Wells 1-year touchdown run. They executed a nice blend of rushing and short passing on that drive.

The trend mentioned in the previous post of settling into a ball-control game continues. The Ohio State defense has risen up on a number of occasions, first by holding Michigan to a field goal in the first quarter when they were on a drive with a lot of momentum, then by keeping the Wolverines from advancing late in the first half when they took over on a punt return at midfield, then by forcing the Maize and Blue to attempt a long field goal attempt after the interception at the end of the half. Michigan had taken over at the 50 on that punt attempt because of a previous Zoltan Mesko punt to the Ohio State 4. The Buckeyes ran three plays right into the line and punted from their own end zone, setting up the field position that Michigan could not exploit.

Unlike last year's epic battle, this has been a game of almost no big plays, almost no turnovers, very little controversy to this point and not much to identify it so far as a huge rivalry game except the nonstop mouth and gesturing of Mike Hart. At 42 yards on 11 carries and no impact aside from Michigan's field goal drive in the first quarter, he hasn't yet earned the right to his irritating actions today.