Maybe if Michigan coach Lloyd Carr had said he was thinking about quitting his job and moving to a small island in the South Pacific to meditate with a group of nudist Buddhists . . . well, maybe that would have been weirder than what Carr actually said. Maybe.
Here were Carr’s words, presented in all their bluntness (warning: some Michigan watchers might faint upon reading them): “There was a period there about halfway through the second quarter where I was about ready to abandon ship and just throw every down.”
Instead, Carr stuck to one of his core beliefs: There is nothing more beautiful than a power running game. His team stuck with its game plan Wednesday and beat Florida 38-30 in the Outback Bowl.
Game MVP Chris Perry ran for four touchdowns and caught six passes for 108 yards as Michigan ran 37 times and passed 37. Michigan quarterback John Navarre held his own in his matchup with Florida’s Rex Grossman. Navarre completed 21-of-36 passes for 319 yards and Grossman was 21-of-41 for 323.
The Gators gained 506 yards in their loss, which made their final play call seem so bizarre.
Michigan had taken a 38-30 lead on Adam Finley’s field goal, leaving the Gators with 2 minutes 20 seconds to drive for a touchdown and possible tie with a two-point conversion. The Gators moved from their 27 to the Michigan 27 in five plays, aided in part by a late-hit penalty on Wolverines linebacker Victor Hobson.
“I knew it was a late hit afterwards,” Hobson said. “I just wanted to come back and make a big play. I knew I made a mistake. Nobody is perfect on the field. Some mistakes are more costly than others.”
Hobson got his big play, thanks to the strange play call. In need of a successful pass, the Gators turned not to their star quarterback, Grossman, but to a redshirt freshman receiver who had not thrown a pass all season. Receiver Vernell Brown took the ball on a reverse and looked to pass to Grossman. Michigan’s Grant Bowman and Alain Kashama pressured Brown, who chucked the ball to a waiting Hobson, who intercepted it and ran it back 42 yards. Game over, and . . . huh?
“They had [man-to-man] coverage the whole series and Rex was going to be open,” explained Florida coach Ron Zook, who approved offensive coordinator Ed Zaunbrecher’s play call. “In man coverage you don’t account for the quarterback.”
That explanation won’t satisfy Gators fans who have been unhappy with the first-year coach all season. Florida finished 8-5, its worst since 1989.
Michigan doesn’t care about Zook’s popularity. The Wolverines are much more interested in their 10-3 record and the fact they beat a highly regarded Southeastern Conference opponent. In a similar situation last year, Tennessee drilled Michigan 45-17 in the Citrus Bowl.
For a while Wednesday, the Wolverines looked like they were in danger of another embarrassing loss. Midway through the second quarter, the Gators had outgained Michigan 210-43 and led 13-7. Michigan’s only touchdown came on a 3-yard drive after it recovered a botched Florida snap.
But then Michigan’s offense kicked it into gear–and stayed there. The Wolverines gained 380 yards and scored 31 points in the game’s last 40 minutes.
Michigan put together three drives of at least 80 yards–one kick-started the offense, another gave it a 21-16 halftime lead and the third gave Michigan the lead for good at 28-23.
Along with the game-sealing interception on the trick play, Florida botched a fake reverse on a kickoff return and a two-point conversion trick play on an extra point.
Michigan’s attempt at trickery, a direct snap to receiver Ronald Bellamy out of the antique single-wing formation, gained 15 yards and set up a touchdown.
“I love that play!” Carr said. “Fortunately, it worked. Sometimes plays don’t work and people don’t want to know where you got it–they want to know why you ran it.”
Zook knows.
