Hail to the 2nd-Best Engineering School in Michigan

Yesterday's Outback Bowl in Orlando, Florida, brought a badly needed victory for the University of Michigan Wolverines, and also ended the coaching career of Lloyd Carr. It's not often that a coach stays with a single school for almost 30 years, but Carr did. This past season has not been a particularly good one by the lofty standards of the Wolverines, but an 8 game winning streak and an upset victory in a New Year's Day bowl game that one could argue Michigan had no right being invited to provided some value to an otherwise grim season. The Wolverines largely ran an offense with 4 wide receivers and a single running back yesterday, which is a refreshing contrast to Carr's steadfast faith in a more conservative offense that had critics claiming the game had passed him by. For most of the past 13 years he could have been known as counter-trey Carr after his predictable, if mostly successful, reliance on a conservative approach of relying on athletic, bone-crunching giants (Jon Runyan, Jon Jansen, Steve Hutchinson, Jeff Backus, David Baas, Jake Long...) on the offensive line. Even sweeter, Michigan's opponent, Florida, featured the Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow, a quarterback who is a bruising runner to boot. Mobile quarterbacks have historically trashed Carr's defenses, but yesterday Michigan's defense overcame one of the best while winning the game. In fact, if Mike Hart (don't look for him to do much in the NFL) hadn't fumbled twice inside the 5-yard line, there wouldn't have been any doubt to the outcome of what became a nail-biter of a game.
Well done, Mr. Carr. Not many coaches leave NCAA big-time college football with their reputations and dignity intact, and you have done so!