College Football | Michigan’s Carr faces major test
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The game doesn’t have as much national impact as it seemed to a week ago, but it remains one of the biggest in the career of Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.
“When you’re playing for an opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl against your fiercest rival, that’s fun,” Carr said Monday at a news conference. “If you can’t enjoy that, then God help you.”
Playing for the Rose Bowl is a step down for Ohio State, which until Saturday’s 28-21 Big Ten Conference loss to Illinois was the front-runner to play in the BCS Championship Game on Jan. 7 in New Orleans.
Michigan, which started the season with losses to Appalachian State and Oregon and lost its first conference game to Wisconsin last week, would gladly accept a trip to the Rose Bowl.
Carr has personal baggage to shed.
If No. 23 Michigan (8-3 overall, 6-1 Big Ten) loses to No. 7 Ohio State (10-1, 6-1) on Saturday at home, Carr will become the first coach in school history to go 1-6 over a seven-year stretch against the Buckeyes. There is a widely held belief this will be Carr’s last season.
If Ohio State beats Michigan for the fourth straight year and the sixth time since coach Jim Tressel took over in 2001, it will win the Big Ten title outright.
Notes
• Antonio Henton, Ohio State’s third-string quarterback, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of loitering for prostitution and was reinstated to the team.
• Linebacker Chris Collins was permanently dismissed from the Oklahoma State team, six days after he pleaded guilty to a 2004 felony aggravated sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl in Texas.
• Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan was knocked out cold after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit Saturday night against Fresno State, but said he feels fine and will be ready to go Friday when No. 13 Hawaii faces Nevada on the road. Warriors coach June Jones said there will be a game-time decision on whether Brennan plays.
• Texas Tech coach Mike Leach was unapologetic for comments he made Saturday about officiating - “a complete travesty” - in the Raiders’ 59-43 loss to Texas.
• Wyoming coach Joe Glenn apologized for making an obscene gesture toward the Utah team after the Utes tried an onside kick while ahead by 43 points. Glenn was reprimanded by the Mountain West Conference later Monday and Utah coach Kyle Whittingham acknowledged the onside kick with a 43-0 lead was a “bad decision.”
Utah won Saturday’s game 50-0.
• Mississippi defensive end Greg Hardy will return for Saturday’s game against top-ranked Louisiana State. Hardy was suspended two weeks ago for violating team rules and missed two games.
• Clemson officials announced students at the school will not burn South Carolina’s mascot in effigy before their game because of the beach-house fire in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., that killed seven students from the schools last month.
• Two upstate New York teams combined for 142 points in a four-overtime game Saturday, setting the NCAA all-division record for most points.
Hartwick beat Utica 72-70. On Oct. 27, Weber State defeated Portland State 73-68 in regulation for a then-record total of 141 points.