UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 12, 2005

Lloyd Carr

COACH CARR: It's obvious I think in the game, the problem that we had was in the red zone, we got down there four times, got one touchdown, turned the football over twice, and I think that's really the story of the game. Defensively, I thought we played hard, I thought we played physical, and I thought as the game went on we got better and better. I thought we really came out of that game feeling like we can have a good defense and I think with a lot of confidence. We have a lot of improvements to make on both sides of the football, but I do like the way we plays defensively. It was a poor performance the first half. Our inability to run the football put us into too many situations, long distance, yardage-down distance situations. So in the second half I thought we played much better. I thought we ran the football. We had an opportunity for some big plays in that game, but we didn't get them. We broke a run out of there, where we should have a big play, and we don't execute it. We had a couple of passes that we had chances to make big plays on, and then in the final analysis we just didn't execute. Chad Henne uncharacteristically did not play like we've come to expect him to play. Certainly he did not have the help that he needs to get, and certainly when Mike Hart went out, we become a different offensive football team. We're much younger, and so what we've got to do is regroup here, and put an offense out there that will execute and run the football, and do some things to help us get some points on the board.

COACH CARR: Well, I think we're a very, very unlucky team in that regard, and we're not -- we're certainly not at full strength. I think we've lost some great football players, but, you know, that's part of this game. It's the unfortunate part because a guy like Massaquoi is playing in his last year at Michigan, and to lose him for a while, I can't tell you -- and I'm not going to comment on length and when people are coming back, because I don't know. I'm certainly during the course of a week not always going to tell you about injuries because that puts our team at a disadvantage, and I hope you understand that. And if you don't, you should. Because when a team knows ahead of time who is not going to play, that helps them, so it's nothing about anything else than that. So Mike Hart, I will say, he came yesterday. The spirit is willing, there's no -- Mike Hart is one great football player. That's what I can tell you, and he wants to play. But we've got to see how he comes tomorrow, because the flesh is not always able.

COACH CARR: Well, I'm not going to get into that. I told you, call his mother. (Laughter).

COACH CARR: Well, I think Ryan Mundy, I just don't feel very good about where Ryan is. He's not been able to practice like he needs to practice. So I'm not optimistic there.

COACH CARR: Well, I think more than anything else, we went to the shotgun offense. Just had a lot more experience there. And of course when Matt Lentz went out, we moved Adam Kraus to guard. So that's part of the rotation in there. Kraus has played both positions.

COACH CARR: That was Bihl.

COACH CARR: Well, I can't tell you exactly. He played some in there.

COACH CARR: Well, I think that's the challenge no matter what happens. You've got to get ready to go again, because you've got to assume that everybody you play is going to be looking forward to playing you. And certainly, I think that's always the case at Michigan. But I think that's true for anybody in any sport and any business. You'd better be trying to figure out what happened and find some solutions to the issues that you face, but you'd better be zeroed in on the next deal. That's what we've got to do, absolutely.

COACH CARR: Well, I think, you know, that when you don't have continuity, when you're putting people in other positions or new people, there's no question that it affects your communication. There's a lot of things that go on at the line of scrimmage. For example, you know, Rueben Riley played very, very hard. But he's at a new position, and so he's working with a new guy over there at right guard in Matt Lentz. So there's all kind of things that go on there. There's a comfort level in playing beside a guy all the time. But, you know, that's part of our challenge. That's part of the deal.

COACH CARR: Well, I think it depends on, for example, a year ago, David Baas moved over there. But David Baas was a fifth-year guy and he had worked some in the spring. But he made an incredible transition. Most of the time, it does not go as well as it did with David Baas. He was an exceptional athlete. And so moving from guard to center is I think an extremely difficult thing to do, because you've got to snap the football before you do anything else. And the communication, the protections, you know, there's a communication there, not only that, but you're doing something different. And when you -- you know, you're aligned against different personnel, so you know, it's a challenging position to play anyway in the offensive line. Next to quarterback I think it's the most difficult place to play on the football field.

COACH CARR: I can't tell you that. I think our offense is predicated on the quarterback making progression reads. He's got the first thing to do, the first guy to look at to check, and then he's got to be able to come off and go to two and then down to three. In that game there were some times he didn't do that and that's very, very unlike him. He's a sophomore; I think we're all surprised, I was surprised, and yet I shouldn't be because he's a young kid. We are a different football team, with Michael Hart in there. I think Michael Hart is really special, and so Chad had some people in different positions in there, and he didn't have Massaquoi. So there's an inexperience factor I think that impacted him. He made some great plays. But you know, he'll settle down. He'll learn from this. This is all about trying to learn from every game, and that's the wonderful thing about this game. This game will humble you. This game will teach you a lot of things if you just are tough enough to stay focused on what you're trying to do. And I guarantee you Chad Henne is tough enough and smart enough, and he'll be back and he'll be better for this. But, you know, it's not easy.

COACH CARR: Well, I will -- I don't want to get into that.

COACH CARR: I wasn't tempted to take Chad out at all and that has nothing to do with Matt. You know, I think you have to fight your way through some adversity. I think that you have to fight your way through some up-and-downs.

COACH CARR: Well, that's what we're trying to do.

COACH CARR: He knows exactly what he did wrong. And you know, the thing -- the first interception -- the interception to start the third quarter his first read was a tight end. The tight end was almost immediately a no. And had he gone, had he said no and gone to his second read, Jason Avant was wide open. But he didn't enforce the ball, which I've seen. The best will do that, the best, and that's what he did. On the fourth and five, the same thing happened. You know, so he'll learn from it.

COACH CARR: I'm not going to evaluate him. From the standpoint, I'll say, this inexperience -- experience, I've said this a hundred times, is a wonderful thing. But it's hard to get without suffering. That's a young player, a big game, playing more than -- he played over 50 plays, so you start with that. And you know, he had a lot of things coming at him. He did some good things, but he made some mistakes that he's going to have to learn from. I think he will.

COACH CARR: Whoever is in there is going to play. You mean take the tailback out -- oh, another one. I'll mention that, too, Terry Malone.

COACH CARR: Well, I think the main thing for our team is that we understand that we're not at full strength. But that's something we can't -- we're not going to dwell on. We're going go forward here and hope that some of those guys can come back. But the truth is, it is what it is. And we've got to understand that, you know, every guy in that field has got a job to do, and he's got to do it as well as he can. If he does it as hard as he can, if he plays as hard as he can with every bit of his heart and his mind, then whatever happens, we will be -- we can accept that. So it's about doing the very best we can, and that's what we'll do, because we've got people that have good character. They care deeply, and nobody is more disappointed than they are. So we're not going to dwell on any of the things that we don't have any control over. We've just got to go to work and become the best team we can be and that's what we're going to do.

COACH CARR: Well, I think Carson Butler is absolutely a factor depending on how long Tim is going to be out. I don't want to have to do that, but I've got to figure out, find out or decide how long we can go without using him. We'll just have to see how that goes.

COACH CARR: No, I think all of the replays that they reviewed were correct. Well, I think he scored -- on the first down play, Chad Henne was in the end zone. Leo Henige knocked their two technique two deep in the goal line. Now, the problem that we're going to have as we go forward is I certainly would have asked for that play to be reviewed, but I'm not sure there would have been enough to overturn the review. The truth is, that as an official, you can't be thinking, well, they will get it in the box. I mean, you've got to make that call. I think the longer we go here, there will be coaches who want to -- the coach wants to decide what the review is. Now, you know, there's a lot of people that don't want to get into that in college football because the rules and the time that it would take. And I'm not proposing that, but I can tell you that if you're asking for somebody to -- if some things are reviewed and some aren't, then you have controversy and the whole purpose of this thing was to avoid controversy. And I'm not -- I'm not talking about the officiating. I'm just saying, that call, that's my judgment, and like you, I have the right to voice my opinion. I respect your right.

COACH CARR: Well, I think we played very hard. I think we played very physical. That was a hard-hitting football game. I mean, everybody on that field laid it out. From that standpoint, people can say, well, you know, the offenses didn't do certain things. That was a hard-hitting football game. I thought we played collectively much better. In other words, guys were where they were supposed to be. And you're going to always have some things that you look at the film and say, well, this shouldn't have happened. Well, no, but the other guy is pretty good. The other guy made that happen. I thought we played -- David Harris made a world of difference in there. Harris is I think capable of being an outstanding linebacker. I thought Chris Graham played well, and we were much better up front, much better.

COACH CARR: Well, I think Jerome has experience. I think Fred has a lot of confidence in him. I want to see what Max Martin can do. You know, the toughest thing for young backs is pass protection. That's the amazing thing about Mike Hart. Mike is so smart and walked in here, I mean, what he did a year ago is just amazing. So now we've got to find a way to be able to throw the football, and that means protecting, but I want to get a look at Max Martin because Max can do some things and we'll see how that goes.

COACH CARR: Well, I encouraged him to come back. I talked to him about how I understood all of the things that he had been through. But he had made an unbelievable investment here, and he had been through more than the average guy goes through as far as injuries, and I think he was very, very frustrated. I think, you know, Leo, he doesn't talk much, but he plays the game like you want him to play it. I just told him, you won the starting job, you've got to go after this, because if you don't, you're going to look back ten years from now and say, I wish I would have stuck it out; I wish I would have come back for that fifth year. I think right now, he's awfully glad that he did because he's doing a good job and he's having a lot of fun and he's playing a lot.

COACH CARR: Grant is a smart guy. Early in the game he let the ball out once and, you know, I think what I liked about him is he had a couple of bad plays on the first series, but from then on, he played -- he played very well. He's tough, he's smart, and he competes. I mean, those are the things I like about him.

COACH CARR: Well, he'd better get his degree, because based on what he did on Michigan replay the other night, I wouldn't hire him. I'm just kidding now. I'm just kidding. Pierre, I love you. I would hire you to take Bronstedder's (ph) place next week. I think if we did anything to improve that show, to improve the ratings, Pierre should take over for Bronstedder. Bronstedder can take over for Lipsom (ph). And then you can take over for me. (Laughter). I know, I'm bad but not that bad.

COACH CARR: I think that's an excellent point. I think depending on most high school backs are recruited for the way they carry the football. And I think, you know, by and large, if you look at high school football players today, there's a lot of one-back teams, there's a lot of spread teams. And we are a drop-back football team where the back must first know what the protections are, and those protections can change at the line of scrimmage. So that changes what your assignment is. There may be three linebackers in there on one defense, and you've got to know which of the three you've got to take. Then the next down, there's only two and then there are times when nobody comes and you've got to check out and get into the pass, the passing game. So it's not an easy thing to pick up, because you know, the number of repetitions a young player has, and that's why I say, what Hart did was absolutely astounding. But they get better as they do it, but it happens fast. You know, that's the other thing that happens to a young player. Things happen awfully fast out there. It's impossible in practice to get a lot of simulations where it's game speed. We have a part of each practice where we're going against our defense, but you know, you can't do that a lot once you get into the season because you're trying to get prepared for the offense or the defense that you're playing that week.

COACH CARR: The spread offense, they did a good job there, Bohnet, the quarterback; Deslauriers is an outstanding receiver, and I think it starts for them offensively because he can put points on the board. I've been very impressed with their special teams. I think they are doing some things special teams-wise that gives them a chance. It makes it very difficult to prepare, because they are going to -- they are not just an orthodox kicking team. They are going to spread the ball around. You don't know where the ball is going to be kicked off. They are going to -- they have got an interesting punt. So they are going to make it difficult for us to return kicks simply because of the way they punt the football. Defensively, I think they have improved from where they were a year ago. They had a chance to beat a good Cincinnati team, and of course, got a win last weekend. So they are an improving football team. That's an improving football program.

COACH CARR: Well, Harris is big and he's strong and he's tough he likes to play the game and he's a competitive guy. And cease smart. I like everything about him. He really had a tough season a year ago coming off that knee injury. He was never back to where he had been, but he a very good spring, a great training camp until somebody rolled on his ankle and missed a lot of time. Last Wednesday, last Tuesday, I would never have guessed he would play in the game because he was limping around, but Harris came to play, and he made some very, very good plays in there.

COACH CARR: Well, I remember I was coaching at John Glenn High School, and I had three kids, just bought a new car, making $20,000. That's in 1977, '76. And a guy offered me a job, Ed Plevic (ph) offered me a job in Eastern Michigan, summertime, George Manz (ph) who coached here was a great player here, captain, was the head coach at Eastern Michigan. He resigned in the middle of the summer, and I was the head coach. I had a great job, and Ed Plevic offered me a job for $10,700, which I immediately took. The first season I think we went 1-9-1, and I was regretting ever leaving that job. But I had a kid. I was a secondary coach over there, and had a guy named Ron Johnson and Eddie Woods and some great guys. The next year we had a great year, went 8-2-1 I think, and Rocky Ravowitz (ph) was our quarterback. But I was only there about 18 months. Nearly starved to death, but worked out okay. I like Eastern Michigan. I like the people there, good people.

COACH CARR: Well, she didn't think I was very mart smart, which is pretty much the general consensus. (Laughter).

COACH CARR: First of all, I think I made that very clear. And I don't like that term. I wish you would not use that term. I don't have a doghouse. I mean, we're dealing with people here. So I've never had one and I don't like the term. Now, you can use it but I certainly -- and you're not the only one. So, hey, you know, I've always said this. The player/coach relationship is like my relationship with you; you know, it's ongoing. Some days it's great and some days it's not so great. But what you're trying to do as a coach, sometimes you've got to let a guy know what you don't like, and you've got to let him know that what he's doing; he's capable of better. So the coach/player relationship changes, and it changes after they leave, because that's when you go from being a coach/player relationship to friends in almost every case. That's why, some day, we'll all be friends in here, I hope. (Laughter). So does that answer your question?

COACH CARR: Well, let me say this. There's a way of dealing with things when they don't go your way. You know, one of the things that I believe strongly in is I don't care what happens to you, or what happens. Let's don't make excuses. Let's give the other team credit. Let's go back and decide what we could do better, and because if you're -- if you're an organization that makes excuses, you've always got an answer. And that answer will prevent you from getting to where you need to be. So I think from that standpoint, I didn't like what he said there, no. But was I mad at him? No. I didn't like what he said.

COACH CARR: Well, that's what bothers me. He can do both. He's a big guy, he's strong. He's got a good arm and he's in an offense that allows the quarterback to do both, and that stresses the defense. He's done a great job there. Hey, 21 touchdowns in a season, that's a lot of good work. So, you know, I think that's an offense that always gives you a chance to score points. Any time you score points, you've got a chance to win.

COACH CARR: Well, I'm sure it does. When I watch him, I see a very confident guy. And he's been around, he's been through some experiences that absolutely prepare him to come in this stadium. I mean, he's been around.

COACH CARR: I think the thing that happened Saturday, they always defensively have a chance to take a guy out of the game. You can double a guy and now you've got to be able to go somewhere else with the ball. That's why the quarterback is the key in terms of progression reading, knowing what his progression is and getting to the guy that's open, getting to the guy that's being single covered. We've had a chance for some big plays that we haven't made, but, you know, that's all a fine line. The play to Steve in the end zone, I thought the defender made a great play. I hear people say that about a touchdown; well, I think the defender made a great play. So I think, you know, obviously we can all get better, I can sure do a better job and every guy on our team can do a better job.

COACH CARR: Well, I think Tyler, he had some real fluid problems after that game because he left everything. Because Tim was out, he played a lot more than he normally would have played and probably more than we would like for him to play, but I thought he played really hard. I thought he caught the ball well and I thought he did some things to get open and Tyler Ecker is a heck of a football player.

COACH CARR: Well, he was dehydrated. He left everything out there.

COACH CARR: You know you shouldn't ask that question. Yeah, we had to give him some fluids because he didn't have anything left.