Michigan Preview:
Wolverines Near The Top? Whoa, Lloyd.

By Paul Smith
paul.smith@collegeblitz.com

There once was a coach named Lloyd.
At times he'd appear paranoid.
But in the end
He'd never bend
And nonbelief in his team was destroyed.

PORTER, IND. —  It's an age-old story at Michigan, as always in the Lloyd Carr era, picked among the nation's elite, a gem of a program, with few flaws. But this year...

Ahhhh, welcome to 2005, Lloyd Carr. Your Michigan Wolverines, for the most part, are basking in a pre-season Malibu of sunshine and high living, at least according to the pollsters. Not that practices are a day at the beach, understand!

But smug confidence, long a way of life in Ann Arbor, what with Michigan currently boasting the winningest all-time percentage in all of college football, can be packaged with stern rebukes to prying media who fail to ac-cent-u-ate the positive.

Such as a young and exceptionally talented Chicago Tribune reporter, Teddy Greenstein, who replaced equally bright Andrew Bagnato, who headed to Phoenix to cover Pacific Ten football.

The Wolverines, rated No. 4 in both The Associated Press and coaches' polls, are coming off a terrific 9-3 season in which they lost a 38-37 Rose Bowl gutwrencher to the nation's second best team, Texas.

Again, they are loaded on the offensive side of the ball and no sane observer of college football questions U-M's ability to keep the scoreboard's lights blinking.

But when Greenstein and others switched the subject to defense -- where the Wolverines gave up 75 total points in season-closing losses at Ohio State and to Texas, Mr. Carr's usually-placid demeanor turned icy.

Five seconds of silence preceded a decidedly-sarcastic response: "We'd like to tackle the quarterback."

Hmmmm...Michigan vulnerable? No coach enjoys indulging in small talk about his team's weakness unless he is blessed with a certain media-savvy/friendly charisma. Let's just say with all due respect to Mr. Carr, he isn't one of them.

Asked specifically about what he could do with existing personnel and an admittedly-promising recruiting class to avoid such an implosion this fall, Carr frowned and pursed his words, shall we say, "coachfully."

"When you give up big plays, you're going to give up a lot of points," he told Greenstein and the statewide media, no doubt still envisioning O.S.U. wideouts Santonio Holmes and Ted Ginn Jr. stretching U-M's secondary to the breaking point and Texas quarterback Vince Young dropping back to drop yet another bomb on the Wolverines' embattled 'D'.

"Were you at the Ohio State game (won 37-21 in Columbus by the Buckeyes in a game not nearly that close)?" Carr continued. "Look, first of all I addressed (the defensive inadequacies) earlier. What we're trying to do is prevent the big plays."

Translation: puh-leeze change the subject already.

Michigan will enter 2005 as Big Ten favorite, largely because of a heavy-muscle offense of a 300-pound-averaged offensive line that is a study in fitness, tiny but deadly sophomore running back Mike Hart, who last year ran for 1,455 yards and 9 touchdowns in averaging 121 yards a game...and a polished sophomore quarterback, Chad Henne, who completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 2,743 yards and 25 T.D.s.

And also because they have an equally-talented Ohio State team at home this year.

Lose wideout Braylon Edwards (1,330 yards, 15 T.D. receptions)? No problemo. Say hello to Jason Avant, who emerged in the late season a credible Edwards heir apparent. Did we mention Steve Breaston? Same potential. Running back Kevin Grady is good enough that some say he may unseat Hart this fall.

"I told coach (Carr), 'Don't name a starter,'" Hart told Greenstein. "'Let's work for it and see who gets it.' I could lose my spot anytime and I love it. That's competition.

"If you're not the best back, you shouldn't be starting. I feel I'm the best back, so I'm not scared."

Hart spurned nearby Syracuse University to head west to Ann Arbor. For Grady, it was a case of making a 100 mile southeast-bound trip from East Grand Rapids, where he basically rewrote the Michigan prep running back record book, actually completing his academic workload early and enrolling at U-M in January.

"I believe it was for a great cause," Grady told Greenstein. "My dad always tells me good things come to those who work hard."

Carr could rhapsodize on all aspects of his offense for at least as long as it takes to walk around the 111,000-seat "Big House" the nation's largest football stadium the Wolverines call home.

Henne, the Wyomissing, Pa. product who was thought to be a pre-season backup to Matt Gutierrez last fall, played himself up the chart quickly and keeps up the tradition of the long line of quarterbacks from Jim Harbaugh, through Elvis Grbac, Tom Brady, John Navarre and others.

"Chad's a 10 times better quarterback (this year)," Hart proclaimed. "He had all the physical tools last year. Now he's just so much smarter."

With a diverse group of receivers like Tim Massaquoi, an Allentown, Pa., native whom Henne faced during his high school days, Avant and Breaston, a dominant running game and O-line full of N.F.L. prospects like tackles Adam Stenavich and Jake Long and guard Matt Lentz, the Wolverines will produce many bleary-eyed assistants in enemy football offices poring through tapes in the wee small hours.

That said, the Wolverines have the added advantage of not having to visit the dreaded confines of Ohio Stadium for their annual slugfest with the No. 6 Buckeyes.

In many eyes, that may be enough to lift Michigan to an uncontested Big Ten title. And maybe it is best left to defensive tackle Gabe Watson, a solid run-plugger in U-M's sometimes-beleaguered defense, to offer insight to Michigan's 2005 chances.

"You can't look at how we are on paper," the 6-feet, 4-inch, 331-pounder from Novi, Mich., said to Greenstein. "If you did, you'd look at Chris Perry (the 2003 superstar tailback who departed early) and say, 'What about the running back situation?'

"And Mike Hart, who's about 4-foot-3 (actually 5-9, 192), came in and did a good job."

He told Greenstein "We'll be cool."

The schedule is not without its hidden perils. Visits to No. 11 Iowa and Wisconsin, where retiring coach Barry Alvarez will try to lift his talented young team into the Top 25 once more, figure to be especially emotional.

They'll be a bit like the 2005 Yankees -- plenty of offense, but don't ask about the other 50%. If the Wolverines put that part together, they might be able to present at least a challenge to U.S.C.'s scheduled cruise to a third straight national title.

And Carr actually might smile when somebody mentions defense. What are the odds?