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Here are the takes on this game:
- Final Play. Listening to the radio in
the morning and reading both the Detroit Free Press and News in the
morning, you'd think that the final play was not a big deal.
ESPN fortunately thought otherwise, breaking it down several times
after the game and today in between breaks. This really makes
this one a bitter pill. After watching it several times on
ESPN.com, it looks like Tyler Ecker thought he could turn the corner
on the Nebraska defensive back and score. He was pushed out of
bounds at about the 14. Stevie Breaston, who played a great
game on special teams, was trailing Ecker the whole time begging for
the ball. Had Breaston got the ball, M would have scored.
Now....with both teams clearly on the field during the play
(although clearly more red players), would the refs have huddled
after the score and called off-setting penalties, negating the play?
Don't know, but after all the ridiculous plays that occurred to get
them to that point, it hurts that Ecker couldn't make 1 final pitch
to Stevie Wonder to put it into the endzone. Several Michigan
players stopped playing on the miracle play including Jake Long and
Chad Henne. Here's a diagram of the crazy play:
- Delayed Start. one of the drawbacks of
playing in this crappy bowl is the TV coverage. With one feed,
ESPN couldn't cut to the start of the game without concluding the
Boise State Bowl. So, Lew, K's, and I had to listen to the
beginning of the game via WJR.
- Replays induced by Timeouts. That
Coach Carr had to call timeouts to get two keys plays reviewed is
ridiculous. Even more ridiculous: ESPN reported on Thursday
that the reply booth did indeed try to buzz down to the field to
call for a review of the Nebraska touchdown drop but the pager did
not buzz, it displayed an error. If this is true, two
questions:
1. Why did the buzzer suddenly work a
minute later after Carr called the timeout? The play was then
reviewed and reversed!
2. If the buzzer didn't work, why didn't
the refs do the right thing and give Michigan their timeout back
after they knew of this? There is no question why Carr called
the timeout (no team calls timeouts after the other team scores in
the 3rd quarter).
- Refs. The Sun Belt conference referees
called the game. As Mike Tirico noted at the end of the game,
it was one of the worst officiated games in the history of mankind.
- Michigan homers. Tirico and former
Buckeye & pretty boy Kirk Herbstreit called the game for ESPN and
demonstrated a major information bias towards Michigan. This
is with good reason: Herby is a Big Ten guys, and of course has ties
to Michigan via his Buckeye heritage, and Tirico lives in Ann Arbor.
- Pressure on Carr. The pressure has
evolved from being on the assistant coaches (Malone, Hermann), and
onto Lloyd Carr. What will the future bring? Most think
that Coach Carr only has 2-3 years left, perhaps seeing out the
Henne/Hart through their senior seasons.
Related:
Rose
Bowl 2005: Texas Nips Michigan in Thriller
Rose Bowl
2004: USC Tops Michigan
Citrus Bowl
2002: Tennessee Vols Smoke Michigan
Michigan Drops Florida Gators in finale 2003
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