Michigan Upsets Florida to Send Carr Out on Top

It is never unusual for Michigan to play in a bowl game considering they currently have made it to the postseason more times in a row than any other college football team, but this season presented an odd path to playing in a bowl. I say that not even considering the regular season itself, which was unusual given the 0-2 start at the beginning of the year and an 0-2 finish at the end. Rather than the way Michigan qualified to play in a bowl, I’m talking more along the lines of how preparation took place after the Wolverines learned they would play Florida in the Capital One Bowl.

For a change, there was very little focus on Michigan’s bowl game for a number of reasons. The most obvious one is the coaching change. Lloyd Carr announced he was retiring after the Ohio State game, and from then on most of us all focused on the coaching search, which ultimately ended a couple weeks ago. Even though it did come to an end well before yesterday’s game, a lot of people, including myself, still had all of the changes involved with hiring a new coach on our minds.

Along with the coaching search, the fact that Michigan was such a big underdog also played a big role in why it seemed like people just didn’t care that much. When asked about who would win the Capital One Bowl, 91% of people on ESPN.com picked Florida, which is just an absolutely huge number. Even if you just asked Michigan fans, I am sure the number of people picking Florida would still be pretty large. I didn’t think U-M stood a chance simply because of the match-up, but luckily for all Michigan fans, I was dead wrong.

Coming into the Capital One Bowl with nothing to lose, Michigan played one of its best games that I have seen in a long time. The coaching was great, the players executed and played hard for all 60 minutes, and most importantly, Lloyd Carr and the seniors were able to win their final game at Michigan. I thought to myself before the game that Michigan would have to play perfect to beat Florida, but actually that wasn’t the case at all. The Wolverines turned the ball over 4 times, including 2 fumbles down by the goal line. If it weren’t for those costly mistakes, this game very easily could have been a blowout in Michigan’s favor. It wasn’t, which just added to the excitement of the entire day, but the final score was still good for Michigan when the scoreboard read triple zeros.

From the start of this game, Michigan came out as a different team than we had seen all year. Really, it could be said that this was a different team than we had ever saw considering the type of offense that was run – a variation of the spread. On one of Michigan’s first plays, Chad Henne came out in the shotgun, just as he did for most of this game, and found Adrian Arrington for a gain of 12 yards. The catch itself was great, as Arrington fully gained possession behind his back, and just as the shotgun was common all day, so was Arrington.

After that first play, the offense executed an almost perfect drive. Thanks to a combination of passing and running, mostly coming from the shotgun, Michigan got down the field and was in position to score the game’s first touchdown. That is exactly what they did when Chad Henne found Mario Manningham for a 21-yard TD pass, putting the Maize and Blue ahead early 7-0.

Getting our first look at how Tim Tebow and the Florida “speed” matched up against Michigan’s defense, things looked good for U-M. The Wolverines held Florida to attempt only a field goal, building the confidence of a defense that rarely plays well against the spread that features a mobile quarterback. To make things even better, Florida missed the field goal, keeping Michigan in the lead.

Following a three and out by Michigan once they got the ball back, Florida’s offense did start to find some holes in the U-M defense. Tebow had a big run to start the drive and then started throwing the ball to open targets, picking up quite a few yards on each completion. The great play by Tebow and his receivers led to a TD pass to Percy Harvin, who was wide open in the endzone to tie things up at 7-7.

Michigan once again struggled on its next possession, and Florida came back with another stellar drive to take a 14-7 lead. That is when the Wolverines started to get things rolling just as they did on the game’s 0pening drive. This time is was mostly passing that put Michigan in position to score since the run defense of Florida was playing very good at this time, but to cap off the drive it would be Mike Hart finding the endzone from 3 yards out. The play itself appeared to be an audible by Henne. U-M came out in a passing formation, but with lots of open room to the right side, Henne checked off and gave the ball to Hart, who scored the TD by running through a big hole.

Florida came back out and looked to attack Michigan’s defense for the third straight drive. It looked like they would succeed in scoring again as well after Percy Harvin ran the ball for 66 yards, nearly getting all the way down the field before Morgan Trent showed his speed and caught up to Harvin to make the tackle. At the time, that play by Trent looked like it was just delaying the inevitable – another Florida TD. As it turned out, though, that play was huge. Florida looked to score again and did actually find the endzone, but another penalty took the points off the board. With that break, the Michigan defense held Florida to attempt another field goal, and just as we had seen once before, the kick was no good. This time Terrance Taylor blocked the kick, which really gave Michigan momentum.

With a chance to really put the game in its favor, Michigan came out and got a huge play. Henne found tight end Carson Butler on a screen, and Butler ran down the field 65 yards to put the ball at the Florida 4-yard line. Now that the Wolverines were in position to score, Henne gave the ball to Mike Hart, who looked to score his second TD of the game. There was only one problem with that: Hart fumbled. That’s not a misprint, folks. Mike Hart, after 1,000+ touches without fumbling the ball away to the opposing team, did just that in the worst possible spot. Only his second fumble ever and it came at a horrible time.

The defense did bail Hart out as they forced a three and out, but another turnover gave the ball right back to Florida. Michigan tried to do a trick play that was very similar to one the Patriots used a few weeks ago against the Steelers. Henne threw a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Mario Manningham, who then threw the ball back to Henne, who then tried to hit Adrian Arrington in the endzone. The pass was underthrown and intercepted, but it was still nice to see some creativity from the coaches.

Just as they did after the Mike Hart fumble, the defense again stepped it up big time following the Henne interception. Forcing a punt, the offense got the ball back with 2:39 left and had to go 62 yards with no timeouts to score a touchdown. Passing the ball got the job done for Henne and company, as they just threw the ball down the field. One of the biggest passes of the game came with 38 seconds left when Henne hit Arrington for a 23-yard gain, putting the Wolverines on the 1-yard line. After two unsuccessful plays following the big pass, there was only 13 seconds left, so Michigan would have to pass again to score a TD. That is exactly what happened. Henne found Arrington in the corner of the endzone on a rollout to score the TD, putting the Wolverines up at the half by a surprising score of 21-14.

The start of the second half called for Michigan to kick to Florida since U-M got the ball to start the game. Bryan Wright did kick off the ball to Florida, but it was a pooch kick that took a bounce backwards when it hit the ground. The bounce gave Michigan’s Anton Campbell a chance to recover the loose ball, and miraculously he did, giving the Wolverines possession. Michigan capitalized on the break quickly, eventually giving the ball to Mike Hart from a yard out to score the TD, giving Michigan a 28-14 lead. Having to answer back to keep this game in its reach, Florida came out with an attack that mainly was all Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin. The two-man offense worked, as Tebow ran into the endzone from a yard out about 3 minutes later, putting the Gators down by only 1 TD.

Michigan again had little trouble moving the ball on offense, again quickly moving down the field after a couple of big pass plays. Even so, finishing the drive was a problem due to another Mike Hart fumble. Despite fumbling only once in his entire career before this game, Hart put the ball on the turf for the second time of this game inside the 5-yard line. Hart tried to stretch out to get another TD, but had the ball knocked loose, and Florida recovered in the endzone. Using that momentum, the Gators again got down the field quickly after converting on fourth down via a fake punt (from their own 23) and eventually scored on a 14-yard pass from Tebow to Andre Caldwell, tying the game up at 28-28.

Only being able to get a field goal on its next drive, Michigan broke the trend of scoring touchdowns. Since the lead was only 3 points, it would be up to the defense to stop Florida after the Gators had some success. The defense did its job initially, forcing a punt after a Florida three and out, but another turnover just absolutely killed them this time around. Putting together another solid drive, this time with running down the clock in mind, it appeared Michigan was going to go down the field to put the game away with another touchdown. That is, until Henne threw another interception. Trying to hit Mike Hart on a screen that likely would have gone for a big gain, the pass was tipped and picked off by Florida.

With great starting field position, Tim Tebow led Florida down the field to score the go-ahead touchdown. The TD was a well drawn up play that originally appeared to be an option to Caldwell up the right side of the field, but instead was a reverse pitch to Percy Harvin, who ran into the endzone from 10 yards out for the score, putting the Gators ahead 35-31 with 5:49 to go in the game.

In a game where everybody thought that Mario Manningham had to step it up and make a lot of plays, it was actually Adrian Arrington filling that need of a go-to receiver. Although Super Mario did play great, Arrington was on another level. That was evident two plays into the next drive as Henne threw a great pass in Arrington’s direction. Somehow, Arrington was able to make the catch using only 1 hand by reaching around the defender, tipping the ball back to himself, and then bringing it in for a catch. The spectacular play was huge as it went for a gain of 37 yards and put Michigan all the way down to the Florida 24-yard line. After a 6-yard run by Mike Hart, Henne found Arrington again, this time in the endzone all by himself. Arrington ran a perfect route and created lots of separation from him and the defender, and made the catch for the 18-yard TD, giving Michigan a 38-35 lead.

Having to come up with a stop, the Michigan defense did its job not once but twice. The first time was on the proceeding drive when Florida got the ball back. Tim Tebow couldn’t get the Gators a first down and Florida turned the ball over on downs to Michigan on its own 24. Michigan decided to stay conservative by only running the ball, but that is all they needed to do. K.C. Lopata came in and kicked a 41-yard field goal, putting Michigan up by 6 points, leaving the game up to the defense.

Considering all the talk coming into this game about how the spread would give the Michigan defense so much trouble, it was fitting that they had a chance to put the game away once and for all. On first down, Tebow tried to hit Caldwell for a short gain but the pass was incomplete. On second down, Tebow tried to find Harvin but was under pressure. Again, the pass was incomplete. On third down, Tebow threw a bad pass that was inches away from being picked off by Morgan Trent. Trent caught the ball but just barely landed out of bounds, but still, the pass was incomplete. On fourth down, with the game on the line, Tebow initially appeared to try to run the ball, but a Michigan defender was there. Knowing he would have to pass for the first down, Tebow lobbed the ball down the field while falling backwards, and Michigan’s Brandon Harrison was there to knock the ball down. With no timeouts left and only 1:48 to go in the game, Michigan just had to take a knee.

Lloyd Carr got a shower from the players, and Chad Henne took a knee three times to run the clock out. As the clock was running out after the third knee, the players put Lloyd Carr on their shoulders and carried him to the middle of the field for what truly was a storybook ending. Despite a horrific start to the ’07 season and a rough finish, 2008 got started in a perfect way for Michigan, and Carr now heads to retirement on a winning note. The final score of the upset was 41-35, and the win all goes back to the entire team and coaching staff. For the seniors that never had won a bowl game until now, and for Lloyd Carr who hadn’t won a “big game” in quite some time, Shawn Crable said it best, “Finally!”

Although no one knows exactly what to expect in the future with this program, one thing is certain: the new year finally got started with a win for a change, and now there is momentum heading into the 2008 campaign. Again, what’s to come in the future is unknown, but for now, Michigan and Lloyd Carr can end this past season as winners. To all the seniors and Lloyd Carr, good luck in the future, and thanks for everything. This rollercoaster ride may not have been fun at times, but in the end, the payoff was definitely worth it.