• Off With His Head: The Detroit Free Press runs a quick survey on Lloyd Carr's future, with opinions ranging from Drew Sharp calling for blood (voluntary blood), Mitch Albom equates firing Carr with "fans throw[ing] themselves off a bridge" (both are bad ideas, for the record) and Mark Snyder asks, "0-2? What's the big deal?"
Per Sharp, the only one of the three in this case who seems to grip the severity of the implosion without coming off as an apologist:
Instead, the Wolverines resembled a team Saturday that already has accepted its fate, surrendering the season after just two weeks with barely a whimper. There was little emotion -- and even less execution on both sides of the ball. The Wolverines looked like a team that already knows its beloved coach isn't coming back after this season. They played like a team still burdened from the immense weight of a historic embarrassment just seven days prior.
Michigan quit.
As I watched from Oakland, Calif., where another disappointing team in this state -- the Lions -- will play today, I saw Oregon didn't just beat the Wolverines. It gutted them like a fish. It cut through them, looking for the heart that Michigan vowed would save it after Appalachian State, but all it discovered was an empty shell.
The Ducks beat a lame duck.
How obvious can it be to even the most stubborn Blue apologist that Lloyd Carr and his staff have lost this team?
He should have offered his resignation to athletic director Bill Martin afterward, accelerating his retirement exit strategy a little earlier than initially orchestrated. As shocking as Appalachian State was to the system, the Wolverines' timid response against the Ducks was perhaps a more damning statement of where the Michigan program sits right now.
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Wait a minute, two of those guys are Texas fans.
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If anyone needs any more evidence of the historic collapse underway, let it come from The Oregonian’s John Canzano, who was on the field, next to Michigan recruits Edwin Baker, Joevall Hoseay and Antoine Mason as the Ducks whooped and celebrated with Phil Knight and Jonathan Stewart went on about national championships in front of a dwindling, suicidal crowd in the closing minutes:
Said Hoseay: "I want to go to Oregon."
The other two recruits nodded.
Then Mason said he was considering more than stadium size and program history. Baker said he couldn't remember Michigan losing that badly. And then Timothy Hopkins, their high school coach who drove them the 45 miles from suburban Detroit to Ann Arbor for the visit, jotted down his telephone number and handed it to someone in lightning yellow and said, "Call me. I got players."
[...]
There was no facet of Oregon's victory more integral to the future of the program than the look on the faces of those three Wolverines recruits as they wondered what it would be like to wear a Ducks uniform. Hoseay even looked down at his necklace and, eek, said, "They didn't even spell my name right."
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"Of course," Martin said. "Look at that man's record. Look at what he's done. You hate to see this happen at this stage of his career for Lloyd. I really feel for him. But it is what it is, and you gotta just get going and do what we can."
[...]
"Lloyd is a workaholic," Martin said. "He will be in his office tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. I know that.
"He will make changes. There's no question in my mind he'll make changes. He'll try different things on both sides of the ball. But I think it's a situation where he'll start with the fundamentals of the game: better blocking, better tackling."
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On the "he'll be in at 8 o'clock" thing: Martin was refering to Sunday morning, since the coaching standard for "workaholic" is sleeping in the office a couple nights a week, or at least coming in at five or six. On the "he'll make changes" thing: are you sure about that? Because Michigan fans are not sure about that.
Odds on the next coach: the stock is rising fast on alum Les Miles, who looks pretty attractive all of a sudden. I wonder why? Jacob Hester tells the Free Press Michigan is "the only place [Miles] would go," but not surprisingly, Miles himself doesn't have time for this shit. Call back in January, though?
• We find the quarterback guilty of sucking: You know, I'm sensing a theme here re: Alabama's offense:
Mobile Press-Register: Saban seeking better showing from air attack
Huntsville Times: Bama's passing not quite Grade A
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This is a suspicious chorus. John Parker Wilson was only 50 percent at Vandy Saturday - 14 of 28, 150 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT - and didn't get downfield much with only completion over 20 yards (a 30-yarder to D.J. Hall) and just five over ten yards. But (and big surprise here) from the depths of anonymity,s 'Bama found its annual Running Back of Death: Terry Grant ran for 173 yards on 7.2 per carry and scored twice, in addition to catching one of the few first down passes, and his definite emergence against a defense that is not Western Carolina was the story of the week for the team. Nobody should expect him to hit the same average against Arkansas, but if Grant can help the Tide hold the ball for almost 34 minutes again - the better to keep McFadden and Felix Jones off the field - all Parker Wilson has to do is keep `em honest.
Coming and Going...
• Steve Spurrier is Steve Spurrier: the Ball Coach notes Georgia's lost five straight games against the rest of the SEC East, so "It wasn't like they were some big, powerful team."
(He's right: after beating South Carolina early last year, all four of UGA's losses were against East rivals, including Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Saturday's loss makes it a clean sweep).
• He needed to be exposed to adversity, so maybe Jimmy Clausen's first start was good for him in the long run. Although, even the context of learning experiences, six sacks in "a recreation of the running of the bulls" is kind of a lot of adversity.
Let this be a lesson to you, Moore: never, ever take another risk ever again.
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• speaking of learning experiences: after the first overtime at Texas A&M, Fresno State's Marlon Moore will never extend the ball again for an extra yard
• I can almost guarantee Decatur Herald & Review editor Mark Tupper turned in a run-of-the-mill roundup of Illinois' 21-0 win over I-AA Western Illinois, left the page details to the not-so-football-saavy folks at the desk and went home. Because no one with a clue could write this headline.
In other Illinois news, the team tried to implement something called "Grange Rock" as the tradition of Chief Illiniwek fades away, with limited success.
• Indiana and Western Michigan went so long into the morning, Indy Star subscribers barely knew what happened Sunday morning.
• Seth Adams had the best game by an Ole Miss quarterback since Eli Manning and BenJarvus Green-Ellis made Saturday by far the best for any Rebel offense in the Orgeron era. And yet...
| $95 | Oklahoma-Texas (in Dallas) |
| $90 | Iowa at Iowa State |
| $90 | Texas at Texas A&M |
| $70 | UCLA at Southern Cal |
| $65 | Southern Cal at Nebraska |
| $63 | Ohio State at Penn State |
| $62 | Southern Cal at Notre Dame |
| $60 | Notre Dame at Michigan |
| $60 | Wisconsin at Ohio State |
| $60 | Miami at Florida State |
| $55 | Penn State at Michigan |
| $52 | Army-Navy (in Baltimore) |
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• Dilemma at Oklahoma State: Hyped Bobby Reid will remain the starter at quarterback Friday night at Troy, but the hook could be much quicker after Zac Robinson led four touchdown drives over 65 yards when Reid went down against Florida Atlantic.
• Speaking of Florida Atlantic: Tim Brewster remembers playing in south Florida with the Denver Broncos, and the first thing he's doing before Minnesota's game at FAU this week is turning up the heat.
• In its first two games, Iowa State has lost by double digits to a MAC team and a I-AA team. But its game with Iowa is still one of the most expensive tickets in the country. • The last time the AP's top-ranked team visited Nebraska? Way back in 1978, when the Huskers upset number one Oklahoma.
• Miami's starting quarterback against Florida International? Don't know yet, and good or bad, it might not mean anything for the rest of the season.
The Ward
Injuries and such, et cetera...
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• Colorado State has likely lost leading receiver Kory Sperry for the season. The huge (6-6, 260), athletic tight end caught three touchdowns against Colorado and had a couple catches before he tore ligaments in his knee in the first quarter Saturday against Cal. He'll undergo an MRI to confirm the diagnosis today, then apply for a medical redshirt to come back to CSU next year.
• It's the attack of the ill-timed sprains at Florida: the Gators could go to Tennessee without weapons-grade speedsters Andre Caldwell (sprained MCL in right knee) and Brandon James (sprained ankle). And Percy Harvin's tendinitis has expanded its conquest of his Achilles tendon to his knee.
But Tennessee has injury problems of its own: cornerback Antonio Gaines "probably won't play" Saturday because of a "significant injury," per Phil Fulmer, though he didn't elaborate on the specifics.
• Florida State was already missing Mickey Andrews Saturday with pneumonia, and Antone Smith was knocked cold in the third quarter. He'll be back at practice today but is not cleared for contact.
• Auburn might have to take a couple redshirts off to compensate for injuries to defensive starters Airon Savage and Tray Blackmon, who didn't play in the loss to South Florida, and to Jonathan Wilhite and Merril Johnson, who left the game and may not play against Mississippi State.
A&M's dog shockingly reacts like a dog. Watch the tail next time, non-soldier.
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• Wisconsin will be without wide receiver Paul Hubbard against The One and Only The Citadel. It was also technically without him against UNLV: Hubbard had an o-fer before he left the game after attempting a block.
The Rap Sheet
Crimes, misdemeanors and eligibility-crippling issues legal, academic, institutional and otherwise.
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Suspended, for Saturday's game against Fresno State, Texas A&M collie mascot Reveille, who snapped at her cadet handler last week when the handler stepped on her tail. The dog spent a couple days "living a life of luxury" in the veterinary school as part of "standard operating procedure" and should be back for A&M's game with UL-Monroe Saturday.
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