Scouting the Wolverines

Thanks to a previous post we know what a Wolverine is, so now we can properly scout them...

Offense
It is not clear if QB Chad Henne or RB Mike Hart will be cleared to play and if so, if they will be anywhere near 100% for the game on Saturday. Henne has missed three games and saw limited action last week in the loss to Wisconsin, and by limited I mean five attempts and he was pulled. Henne had a shoulder injury in the Oregon game and it has cut back his playing time. This season he has completed 61.5% for 1497 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions. His replacement, the 6'6 freshman Ryan Mallett has only completed 43.5% for 964 yards, 8 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Hart came into this season in the Heisman talks, but the team's three losses and his ankle injury have taken him out of consideration. He has missed three of the last four games and is still not cleared for this weekend. Super Mario Manningham has 1062 yards and 11 yards as a receiver.

This Season
Michigan didn't exactly start the season with a bang, in fact they lost two straight games, at home no less. The first loss was to Div I-AA Appalachian State. As I said in my blog, I was not surprised at the score at half time, but I was shocked when Michigan could not seal the deal in the fourth quarter. Going into this season no one expected Oregon to be in the National Championship talks, so Michigan's loss to them was a bit of a surprise (although at the time this was typed Oregon was losing to Arizona.) Michigan then ripped off seven straight wins over Penn State, Northwestern, Eastern Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan State. Last week Wisconsin led the entire game, and Michigan did not score until past the midway point of the second quarter, at which point they were down 17-7. Wisconsin won 37-21.

Coach
Lloyd Carr is 121-29 in his 13th season at Michigan, and as a head coach. He was an assistance Bo Schembechler (1980-89) and Gary Moeller (1990-94). In 1995 he was given the head coach position. Under Carr the team has won or shared five Big Ten Titles and has one AP National Championship season. Carr has received criticism from the Michigan fans in recent years, although last year's regular season and the promise of this year took some heat off. After the first two losses of this season, especially to Division I-AA Appalachian State, the chopping blocks came out of the closets and people were calling for his head again. There was speculation before this season that Carr will retire at the end of this season. I assume Carr realized that this senior class gave him his last best chance at a successful season. Some people are already looking at possible candidates, and the biggest name is Les Miles, the LSU coach that previously played at Michigan. There have been rumors that his wife is already looking at houses in Ann Arbor, but I don't believe those rumors. Michigan will handle this in a professional manner, if Carr does indeed retire after the bowl.