UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 18, 2004

Lloyd Carr

COACH CARR: Well, I think obviously there's a lot of very positive things in the Illinois game, things we can learn from and things that are not so positive, but I think the time of possession -- we won the turnover battle in looking at the two turnovers that we had, which obviously had a lot to do with the deficit at the half, 17-10. One of those throws was, my judgment, caused by the wind, it took the ball and was a significant wind. The other one was that Chad misread the coverage and that's something that continues to be a part of his learning process. But I thought the time of possession was significant. That had to do, I think, with the fact that we had some great drives, one of which did not lead to a score, but because our defense came up with a big interception, really twice there in the third quarter, the time of possession, we had an opportunity I think to wear Illinois's defense down, and that's what happens when you have the football as much as we had it. There is things obviously in the kicking game, I'm very disappointed in the penalties, because that's a battle that we lost. But certainly going into a game with Purdue that we have this week in West Lafayette, one of the more difficult places to play, I think, in the country, we have to cut down on the penalties. We have to do a much better job there and we can't have big mistakes and we're going to have to play our best game of the year. Questions?

COACH CARR: Well, I think that you have to look at, he's been outstanding in field goals. That kick -- that wind was across the field, and the snap was good, the hold was good, I think he hit it very well. I think the wind took the ball and blew it out of there. So I don't fault anybody on that play. I think that's Mother Nature. And as we all know, Mother Nature is kind of a powerful force, more powerful than you or I even.

COACH CARR: In my judgment, Jim Brandsted and I were discussing that, and of course everybody just assumes if you do something like that, it's the wrong decision. That wind was so significant there that I think there's times when you would make a decision like that. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Don't raise your eyebrows because you disagree with that.

COACH CARR: That's the deal. That's the deal. That's the beauty of this game.

COACH CARR: Well, I think obviously our coaches have done a great job. I think a lot of the adjustments are made after each series. So a lot of those adjustments, there's no magic in there at halftime. For the most part you would find it very calm, and we're trying to talk about the things that we need to do. We probably already, in many cases, made adjustments. But you do have a chance as a coach, as a coaching staff, to meet for four or five minutes before you go with the players and give them their adjustments. And you may once in a while make a change, you may have an idea, somebody may say, we need to either change this or we need to play more of this coverage or this front would help us. You know, I think that's really it. But a lot of those adjustments are made as the game goes on. The thing that helped us Saturday was in the second half we didn't turn the football over, and we possessed the football. The greatest defense is an offense that possesses the football. It's a team game, but certainly our defense in both theses second halves in the last two weeks have been outstanding. I credit the coaches, I credit their game plan, and I credit the effort of our players.

COACH CARR: I think you always learn in a game like that, I think Purdue has changed. It may not be obvious, but there's some very significant changes that they've made from some of the things they did a year ago, and probably some of those things have to do with what happened on that day. Any time you have something like that happen, you're going to study that film and you're going to make changes. I think they've done that. You can never -- we're going to do some of the things that -- most of the things we've done this year, we're going to try to continue to do and do them better. There's no magic out there. Because when you're spread out, like Purdue spreads you out, there's not a lot of tricks, there's not a lot of things they haven't seen, so it comes down to execution. It comes down to playing your best football game as a team, offense, defense, special team, all those things. But to think you're going to be able to have the same kind of day, you can never plan that. But you can hope to play as hard, and you can hope to play as smart, and you can hope to play your best game of the year. That's the thing I think is critical for us.

COACH CARR: I'm not going to go into that. You can ask the coaches. There's changes there that are different from what they were a year ago.

COACH CARR: Well, I think they had a great chance to win the game, because late in the game they had a lead with the football. I think the turnover was the turning point in the game. But I only saw the last minute and a half, two minutes of the game. So as I've watched the film, I think obviously Purdue is a very, very quick defense. They've been able -- a year ago their major asset, they had a great front four, with three senior linebackers. They don't have the experience, but they've got the same kind of speed and athleticism up front and a very good secondary, a very well conceived defense. I think offensively, they have three offensive lineman back, the best receiver statistically maybe in the history of the Big Ten, and of course a great quarterback, and a running back, Void, that I like a lot. They are a great kicker. It's an outstanding football team.

COACH CARR: I think you're wasting energy and time if you concern yourself with things that you have no control over. We knew when the season started, just like everybody else -- there are two teams we don't play. At some point here when we get to 12 teams, we'll be able to make a lot of money by having a playoff game and that will settle some of this.

COACH CARR: Well, I think the merger, or at least the changing of the ACC, I think is going to have a great impact on college football. I think the benefits or the perceived benefits of a playoff game, a conference playoff game, even though it may not be something coaches and players want, financially that's a major issue and there's just too much money out there for it not to happen.

COACH CARR: I don't have any -- we get an update every six months or so, but there's nothing that I'm aware of in that area.

COACH CARR: I think obviously it will impact it, because right now -- and I think the 12th game is inevitable, unfortunately, but I do think the biggest question that the Big Ten is going to deal with is when they play the 12th game. In my mind, that game should be played so our season continues to end the week before Thanksgiving. Our players deserve to be able to go home for Thanksgiving. They deserve that. If you're going to make rules, take into consideration the players, the guys who go out and spend all that time. There will be a lot of people, all the students will be home at Thanksgiving and all the faculty and all the administrators and all the people that make these decisions, so it's only fair that the guys that play the game are allowed to go home for that vacation. Any other issues you want me to expound on?

COACH CARR: Well, I did see some comments. I saw some comments that Coach Tiller made regarding some of the comments that some of the Wisconsin coaches made. I watched the film closely. I think there are some critical issues here. No. 1 is that we must have rules that protect the player. That's the purpose of -- the major purpose of the rules, to protect the safety of the players. And the major responsibility of the official is to protect the safety of the player. Now, some of the discussion over the rules of the plays that I saw, the rule is clear that if a player is being blocked or being engaged by another player above the waist, he cannot be blocked below the waist by another player. And in my judgment, that happened in this game, that there should have been some penalties called there. That does not mean that those are malicious or it's dirty football, it's just that they occurred, and in my judgment, they must be called.

COACH CARR: Well, he's continued to work hard and he's a guy that's been around. He's done a great job in every area. He's getting a little bit healthier. I think that's the reason.

COACH CARR: Like I always say, it's better to be three hours too early than one minute too late.

COACH CARR: Well, I think when you look -- he's improved physically. Two years ago I think he played against us at the end of the game and he started some games that year, although that was the year that he and Brandon Kirsch alternated some. And Kirsch started the game against us, but I think a year ago Orton made some improvements athletically. I think right now he has got such great awareness of what every guy on his team is going to do. He knows where they're going to be, he knows what the coverages are, he knows where the hot receivers are, and he's got a great arm. I mean, this guy can make every throw you want him to make. It's a combination of experience and ability and intelligence. He's a sharp guy. You don't make some of the plays he makes. He does a great job at the line of scrimmage, which I think speaks to his intelligence and the intangibles.

COACH CARR: I think the first interception is off a zone blitz and any time you're blitzing and playing zone coverage, you're short a man, and so it's very important that the guys who are playing zone take the proper read. Scott made a great read on that play. I was standing directly in line of the flight of the ball, and as I saw the ball thrown, I thought it was going to be a completion, and then all of a sudden, McClintock broke -- I don't think the quarterback saw him, I think he made a great individual read and I think that was partly his experience, partly his ability. He's a guy that can really run. I think the second interception had a lot to do with the call. Jim Herman, you know, you get a lot of -- you see so many criticisms of the dropping eight and rushing three, and nobody talks about the times that it works. In that particular play, he dropped eight, so you had an extra guy down, which creates a very different type of read, because the quarterbacks don't see the eight-men drop a lot, except maybe at the end of the game. But in that particular play, Scott was in the right place, but I think it was the call that Jim made that put him in a position to make a big interception there.

COACH CARR: Well, I think Marlin Jackson made one of the best interceptions I've seen here. It was a great individual effort. The interception that he had -- and what I liked was the fact that I thought for a second there he may run it all the way back for a touchdown. But I think Leon Hall and Markus Curry are getting a lot more attention. People are not throwing the football towards Marlin very much now. That's not to say Purdue won't, but I think in the match ups, you know, they're going to get a lot of action. I think they've done a good job. I think we had three interference calls there, and I think when you bump and run some of those you're going to get, they weren't each 15-yard penalties, because one of them was a spot following a slant, but that comes from being aggressive, but it also is going to lead to tighter coverage and hopefully fewer yards after the catch. That's really what you should be able to get done if you can cover people tight enough. But it all goes back to the kind of rush you have. Every corner I know is much better if there is good pressure on the quarterback than there is if he isn't.

COACH CARR: Well, we have the capability to match up. We have a capability -- for example, I had that same question a little bit ago this morning. For example, if we're playing Braylon Edwards, if we were playing ourselves, we may well want to put, because Braylon is such -- he's such a difference maker, we would either double cover him or we would want to put our best corner on him. And so you make those decisions, I think, on a game-to-game basis. We have that capability. I think it makes it easier, but then it makes it much more complicated. Because now if you're matching up -- now you're not just the right corner or left corner, if there are no tight ends on this side, you have got to see if anybody comes up, if there's nobody you have got to go to the other side. Well, in the meantime a lot of times you see guys running over late, they're not getting lined up right, they're late and that's unsettling. And sometimes the guy that you want to match up on is not in the game. So now you're looking for a guy that's not in the game, and that leads to confusion. So there's a lot of substitution issues that go when you do decide to match up.

COACH CARR: Not yet, but that very conceivably can happen.

COACH CARR: Absolutely. We just have to make sure we cause more than they do. That's the deal. You're going to have some turnovers when you're playing against defenses that are talented, that are aggressive, and I think that's one of the changes. I mean, the defenses you see today are much quicker than the ones we saw 10 years ago even.

COACH CARR: Well, I think obviously he's playing his best football, and that's the thing that we're excited about. He's been banged up. He's not like most people playing in late October. Nobody is completely healthy, but he played very well -- I mean, we expected when we recruited him that he was going to be an outstanding football player. I think last year he really began to come into his own. He played two years ago quite a bit and he still has another year. So to be able to step in there as a starter this year and play as well as he has, you know, has been a great bonus for our team.

COACH CARR: Well, we'll have to see. Time will tell if he has more surprises for me. He's certainly done everything we could have expected, I think, and more.

COACH CARR: Well, I think the thing I've always liked about Leon since the day he got here, he's a very consistent guy, I mean as a person. Academically, he does a great job. He does a great job in the off season. He's always where he's supposed to be and you can always depend on him to do the right things. And so as a person he's got all those intangibles that successful people have: He's smart, he's competitive, he's well respected in our program, and he's taken that same type of consistency to the playing field. And the fact that he could walk in here a year ago and play early after missing a lot of training camp because of an injury that he suffered before he got here, you know, I think we knew then that he was going to be really somebody that was going to be successful here, and I don't think there's any question that he is and he will be.

COACH CARR: I would say it's rare, because most people want to know where they're going. It does speak, I think to somebody that knows what they want to do. I've always -- I think the most successful people are people who know what they want to do and they do it, and they don't care what anybody else thinks. They're not worried about people that say they can't do this, they can't do that, people telling them they should do this, they should do that; they do what they want to do. And that's what I know.

COACH CARR: You will have to ask Markus that. He tells me he's fine, and I know he wants to play, but interference calls today is part of the game. When you're playing, everybody we play, you're going to see bump and run. And these guys know there's a lot of routes there, particularly the slant routes. I think Marlin Jackson got an interference call too. I don't care who you are, it's part of the game. I think the great advantage we have in college football on defense is the fact that those penalties are spot fouls under 15, and the maximum penalty is a 15-yard penalty. I think that is a real -- one of the real differences between college football and pro football.

COACH CARR: Yeah, there are certainly times -- there are a lot of times in there where you would rather have a 15-yard penalty than a 40-yard gain, so there are people -- we've had this discussion in the rules committee, Nick Sabin just joined the rules committee last year, I think, and in the first meeting he brought that up. I think there's going to be, as we go forward, probably more discussion about that particular rule.

COACH CARR: I think there are a lot of coaches that would like to, but there's also within the rules committee, there's a lot of resistance to certain changes, particularly changes that emulate the pro game. For example, the 45 second clock. That would clean the game up from the stand point -- right now there's a 10- or 12-second period in there, depending on who the umpire is and how fast it takes him to set the ball ready for play, where in the pro game they have a clock that begins immediately. So there is a lot of discussion on issues like that and we just have to see. But the rules committee is pretty -- I think on many standpoints it's conservative as it affects change, but we'll have to see what the future holds.

COACH CARR: I don't know that I could speak in general terms. But I would speak, in terms of what Michael Hart and Chad Henne have done, I think is extremely unusual. I don't know if that's something you can use to say that generally speaking, you know. But it's very unusual. I can say that. But I think they are two very unusual guys.

COACH CARR: I guess the real surprise would be a quarterback. But a tailback, there's been some guys, I think Hershel Walker started when he was a freshman. You can go back -- Bo Jackson, I think had a great freshman year. So you can go back and find some great football players. I think Payton Manning started as a freshman, but it's still unusual.