UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 26, 2005

Lloyd Carr

COACH CARR: We were going to invite all of you to play golf this afternoon, but the weather won't allow that, so I apologize for that. Going to have Angelique play in front of me. Just kidding. I'll take any questions you have.

COACH CARR: No, I didn't look at it (laughter). I think we left too many points on the board in the first half. We missed two passes to Avant that were big plays. We dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone, and we came up short on fourth and one. We left a lot of points there. In the long run, we had great field position the first half, so we just weren't able to take advantage of it. The second half, the field position change. Wisconsin's punter did a tremendous job. It was our inability in the second half on offense, our first five possessions, we didn't do anything with it. Of course, in there we had a couple of turnovers which left our defense at the short end of the field. Of course, the one turnover after a personal foul penalty gave them first down at the 12 yard line. They converted for a touchdown. I thought we played very hard. It was a very physical football game. I thought the effort, the intensity, all those things were good enough to win. We weren't able to capitalize on the opportunities we had. In the second half, we had a good punt return. (Indiscernible) brought the ball back to midfield, but that was negated by a block in the back. We took over the ball inside our own 10. Then we miss played a kick-off and ended up with poor field position. I thought the good things were I think LaMarr played the best game since he's been at Michigan. I thought he was outstanding. I think he's having a great year. He's on his way to being the player that we expected him to be. I thought Alan Branch had his best game. Of course, David Harris was outstanding. Willis Barringer had a good game. We did some good things. I think our inability to stop them there at the end, we had a couple chances, we just didn't get the play done. But I think the main thing is we were on the field too long. You can't expect the defense, in terms of a 30-minute half, to be on the field for almost 21 minutes. I expect much more than we gave.

COACH CARR: I hope he plays. I think Mike has done everything. There's nobody wants to play more than he does. The truth is we're not going to know here until he gets out. He (indiscernible) practice tomorrow. We'll just see where he is.

COACH CARR: Well, I expect them to respond like the people they are. They're people of character. They are a group of people who want very desperately to be as good as they can be. I don't worry about their attitude, work ethic and their spirit. They're good people. They understand, you know, when life isn't going the way that you want it to, you have to meet it, and you have to live it, do the things that you're capable of to the best of your ability.

COACH CARR: Well, I think the measure of any team is how it responds when things don't go the way they want them to. Certainly we're just trying to do on a daily basis -- we're just on a daily basis trying to do the things that will enable us to get better. We had -- we're a better football team than we were a month ago. We have a lot of young guys on this football team. Kevin Grady did some good things in there. Max Martin did some very good things in there. Mario Manningham made some big plays. He made two great plays without the football, great blocks that he delivered. We've got some young guys that are gaining with their experience, and we're just trying to improve on a daily basis. That's what the season's about.

COACH CARR: Well, I think we've got some depth in there. Yeah, it's always an advantage when you can rotate people in there. That's part of not only trying to develop depth, but trying to keep people fresh.

COACH CARR: Well, I thought Gabe played much better on Saturday.

COACH CARR: Well, I think we've got some guys that are pressing because they're not playing like they want to play in every occasion. I think sometimes that happens. I think Steve may be pressing a little bit because he's a guy that has such high expectations. But if you look at the film, you'll see that Steve Breaston played extremely hard. He played extremely well without the football. But, you know, I think when you're not playing your very best, sometimes you press. But I think in all those cases you have to persevere, you have to continue to fight and get yourself out of it.

COACH CARR: Well, I think confidence is something that is an interesting part of anybody's makeup in any endeavor. Sometimes it's better than others. I think more than anything else, if you have the ability to do the things that you want to do, which Steve has, then you have to focus in and not let all of the pressure get to you because the more you press, the worse it gets. But I think he knows his coaches and teammates have great confidence in him. I don't have any question that he'll come out of this.

COACH CARR: Well, I think the key, you know, is to have people that are very passionate about what they do, and I think we have that. It's important for the seniors, the guys that have been around, to make sure they set the tempo, they set the expectations in terms of the roles that people have to play. I think we've always had that here. We have good people in this program. They'll respond positively.

COACH CARR: I think our biggest problem has been offensively getting the ball in the end zone. We've had ample opportunities in the red zone that would have impacted all those games, and we have just not been able to execute, you know, the things that we need to do. You know, I think there were such high expectations, and as I alluded to earlier, sometimes you press rather than letting things come to you. But I see a team that has got a lot of parts to it that have changed on a weekly game basis, and sometimes that impacts your performance. In the meantime, we've got a lot of guys gaining experience. We just have to put it together.

COACH CARR: No, I don't think you do that at all. I think my message was that all we have to do to be a very good football team is do the things we're capable of doing. Nobody's being asked -- nobody has to do anything extraordinary. We just have to play better together and stop making the mistakes. It begins with turnovers and penalties. Those types of things in the big picture, when you really look at a game, you look back at first turnovers. We've lost the turnover battle in both of our defeats. We certainly had too many penalties on Saturday. Those things have a way of really impacting a game - sometimes in a way that's not so obvious.

COACH CARR: Well, I don't think I can make this any more clear. I have great confidence in Chad Henne.

COACH CARR: Well, I think it's the nature of defensive football today. No matter who you are on a weekly basis, you're going to have to reorientate yourself to a new scheme. And certainly this is about as -- if you compare the two offenses that we faced last week and we'll face this week, they're about as different as you can be, and yet both of them are based on being able to run the football. But that's really the end of it. They are different. It's very difficult because the formations are different, the type of running plays you're going to see are much different, and of course this week you've got a guy that can really throw it, you've got guys that can catch it, and you've got outstanding backs in the backfield, and a big, strong, powerful offensive line. I don't think there's any question, I don't think we're going to play a better offensive football team this year. I think their defense is a defense that has a very good scheme. They're big, strong, powerful guys in the front and at linebacker. Yeah, they're a great challenge.

COACH CARR: Well, I think, you know, any time you're playing an outstanding football team, you're motivated. I think that's the bottom line.

COACH CARR: That's not part of my thinking.

COACH CARR: No, I don't think he's pressing.

COACH CARR: I think he's doing a lot of good things. I think, you know, there's plays that he made in there that are excellent plays. He made some great throws. You know, the timing on some of our routs, a lot of times when you study it from your standpoint, it's very different from what I see. When a crossing receiver is delayed, either he gets jammed by a linebacker or he gets hung up in there, then the timing is disrupted. I'm not saying he's throwing the football right now as well as he's capable, because he isn't. But, you know, I think there are some things that we can do to help him from a mechanical standpoint. But I don't think he's the problem. I think he's part of the problem. We're all part of the problem. I'm part of the problem.

COACH CARR: Well, I think Chris Graham and Prescott Burgess and David Harris are all playing very well.

COACH CARR: Well, I mean, how many linebackers you going to play? You want me to change to a 4-4? I'll entertain that. I take your points very close to heart.

COACH CARR: Well, I think you have to win this week, you know. I think you have to on a daily basis work hard, maintain a positive attitude. What I know is that we have good people. To me, I don't care what you're doing, that's where it all starts. We have people that care, people that are passionate about the game. When I looked at that film, you show me somebody that wasn't playing hard, you show me somebody that wasn't playing physical, because I don't see that. As long as a football team is improving... But in this game, there's a very fine margin between winning and losing. You have to be able to do the most important things, and in this particular game, the most important thing in the game, outside of playing hard and doing the things you're supposed to do, is to take care of the football.

COACH CARR: You know, I can't remember (laughter).

COACH CARR: Well, I don't expect either one of them back this week. I want to make this clear. Jeremy Van Alstyne, the reason he didn't play, I think it's been written up to something other than the fact that, you know, he's fought a hamstring injury all fall. Until it gets better... It had nothing to do with his effort. That wasn't part of his deal. Mike Kolodziej and others, tests being taken, and we just have to wait and hope that things will work out so he can come back.

COACH CARR: I said they've improved.

COACH CARR: Mike Hart is the complete football player. I mean, if you believe it's important to play the game from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, with all of your heart, mind and soul, that's what Mike Hart is. He's a great football player.

COACH CARR: Underdog? Well, you know, if you're talking about point spreads, I don't --

COACH CARR: Well, I know this, I don't ever in my life remember going into any game feeling like I was an underdog. I certainly have never experienced that at Michigan.

COACH CARR: Absolutely not. This is what we have this week. It's a great test for us because they have an outstanding football team. What we want to do is come out and just play our best game. Let's play our best game.

COACH CARR: Well, Massaquoi, he's one of those guys that you really appreciate as a coach because he's so tough, he's so competitive, he's so unselfish, he's such an outstanding leader, that it's great to have him even when he's not at full strength. He's a special guy.

COACH CARR: No, no. Massaquoi can catch the football whether he's got a broken hand or not.

COACH CARR: Well, I think he's obviously a talented guy. I think he's surrounded by excellent people. I think he's in a scheme that gives him an opportunity to do a lot of things.

COACH CARR: No. I mean, he could have willed himself to play. There's more than one game, and the injury that he has, you know, it's one of those things, Massaquoi is playing with a screw in his bone. Rueben Riley is playing with casts on both thumbs. There's some injuries you can play with and play relatively effectively if you can endure the discomfort that comes with it. There are other types of injuries where if you play, you make them worse. The key is to make sure that Mike is ready when he comes back.

COACH CARR: Who reported that?

COACH CARR: How did they find out?

COACH CARR: What's the question?

COACH CARR: No. Well, I think, you know, that's up to -- hey, we are who we are. Who is on that field? There's 11 guys out there, and they're guys that want to win. You can't worry about what you don't have. What you have to concentrate on is playing the game together and playing it as hard as you can, not worrying about all the other things that are uncontrollable.

COACH CARR: When you kick the football off, you know, the goal is to get the ball between the hash marks and the sideline, and we didn't do that. Then, of course, Garrett has really improved his kick-offs, but then he kicked the ball in the middle of the field, which didn't make Coach Debord very happy. The thing about Ross is he gets the ball high. If you can get it high and into that corner, then you get the best chance to give your coverage people time to get down there and pin them in there, but we didn't do a good job there.

COACH CARR: Well, he just made a mistake. I've made a few mistakes myself, so I'm very understanding.

COACH CARR: You know, it's hard for me to remember last week. I think if you've been around here, you can go back and talk to the guys with the 1997 team, the '98 team, the '99 team. I mean, I don't care what year you're talking about, there's some type of situation that goes wrong. It may be injury. It may be whatever. The most important thing is the way you respond.

COACH CARR: We're just trying to deal with today.

COACH CARR: What I'm trying to do is to stay focused on today and this week. It doesn't matter what role you're playing in any organization; there's a time to look back and there's a time to get ready for the next one. There's always lessons to be learned. That's the wonderful, incredible thing about this game. there's things that happen in every game, there's things that come up from a coaching standpoint, the way you do things, that you know when you make a mistake. You try to learn from those mistakes. I don't know of anything anybody does that doesn't have challenges and learning opportunities. It's the fun part of living your life. If we could go back, we wouldn't choose to be here 2-2, but we are. Let's deal with it. Let's meet it. Let's live it. Let's enjoy it. Let's fight. That's the deal.

COACH CARR: No, no. I think we got a lot of guys that are growing. That's my point. We've got a lot of guys that are playing hard. I think it's about belief and will and desire. We have those things. I have every confidence.

COACH CARR: Well, I think you do all that groundwork in the wintertime and in the fall and training camp. On a weekly basis, there's a reality check. Here we are. This is where we are. This is what we have to do. That's daily. But it's certainly, in terms of the schedule, weekly.

COACH CARR: Well, we've got a lot of guys we've worked at return. Steve has done a good job on the returns. He hasn't had a lot of help there. I mean, a week ago he had a big return where he had some help. But in terms of the kickoffs, when you're playing a guy with Steve's ability, that motivates the other team, too. You have to give them credit. They've done some good things. As far as what he has done in the return game, he's done fine. You know, he made a mistake there, which he'll learn from.

COACH CARR: No, I really expected him to go fast because it was very obvious from the first practice. During the summertime, when he was here, our players were all talking about what he could do. What I had seen him -- I saw him play basketball as a senior in high school, I saw the film. What he's done and what he will do, I don't think any of it will surprise me.

COACH CARR: Well, I can't say that. I didn't expect Adrian Arrington to get hurt. Certainly his opportunities have increased because of injuries. He's done a wonderful job with those.

COACH CARR: I can't remember that. I think our front seven, I think we're much, much better than we were a year ago. Now, we have to see because, as I mentioned, this test is a great test for us. I think we'll be excited about that. It's not just the defense. It's about field position. It's about what you do with the football offensively. You can't go into a thing thinking everything rests on the defense, because it doesn't. That's why it's a team game.

COACH CARR: Yeah, he's back and ready to go.

COACH CARR: Michael Hart? Good forbid. I don't want to redshirt Hart. I don't want him back here in five years. Well, technically, yes. That's certainly not going to happen. I mean, I don't see that happening.

COACH CARR: Day to day, no. He's more than day to day, but he's working at it.