Lloyd Carr Quotes (113 Quotes)

We thought if we get control of the game, Ohio State would have trouble playing from behind, but they played very well from behind. Nobody ever would have thought they would throw for that kind of yardage, but they changed the tempo of the game, they made it very hard for us to pressure the quarterback.

I thought the second half we did some very good things. The turnovers were really monumental, there's no question about that.

I'm not going to talk about individual guys.

I think it's a great plus. Any time you can put two or three guys in there that have different types of abilities, I think it creates issues for the defense.

They understand where we are and there's nobody that isn't accepting the challenge. That's what trying to win a championship is all about. There are always obstacles in your way and there are always things you can use as an excuse. I like the way they've confronted our situation the way a lot of guys have stepped up.

I knew in my heart this team had tremendous motivation. They worked extremely hard going back to the way that season ended a year ago.

That experience sometimes comes at an expensive cost, but I think in terms of the future teams here at Michigan, it will be valuable to those guys that had the opportunity to play early.

I thought he missed some open receivers. I thought he had five balls dropped.

There's a lot of great athletes, skilled athletes that are returning punts, ... The one thing I've seen in recent years at the college level is a tremendous and significant change in special teams play. The time spent obviously has increased in that phase of the game, giving those skilled athletes the opportunity to make big plays in the kicking game.

We don't make any excuses and never will, but we've been a very unlucky football team from an injury standpoint.

I don't worry about the polls, but I think any time you're ranked high it's a compliment to your players and your program and it's challenging and we look forward to trying to do better. We have our own goals and they can't be any higher than anybody else's goals for us.

Our biggest problem has been, offensively, getting the ball in the end zone. We've had ample opportunities in the red zone that would have impacted all those games, and we have just not been able to execute the things we need to do.

Defensively we have to find a way to keep them out of the end zone. College football has changed. Everyone has the ability to spread you out and it's not easy to stop them for four downs.

It's one last opportunity to play and against an outstanding program. So we're excited to do that.

I think one of the things that's important in maintaining the tradition of college football is making sure every game of the regular season means something, and the bowl tradition is something we should never give up. But if there is a way of going to a one-game playoff after the bowls, that's something that should maybe happen as we go forward here.

You look back at the last 30 years, and they've won more national championships than anybody in the country. We have a history with Nebraska going back to the (1986) Fiesta Bowl and, of course, the '97 co-national championship.

But I thought we did some good things. No. 1, I thought we really pressured the quarterback and knocked him down a few times. I liked that.

The biggest question mark across the country about Michigan, ... is our defense.

We took advantage of the opportunities to get ahead, and what I liked is we didn't slop around and play with a lot of mistakes and we didn't turn the football over. There were a lot of good things there.

I recommended Bill to Bo as a graduate assistant. Before Bo could make a decision, Bill went to Illinois, and his career took off.

I thought Ross Ryan had a wonderful debut here. I think he's one of those guys that really is a weapon. And imagine a punter running down the field 40 yards or so and recovering a fumble. Ross Ryan is a competitive guy.

He's grown up. He's mature. But he was tough. He could take a punch and get back up. Even four years ago, it was obvious he was going to be an outstanding quarterback.

He was tough to tackle, but we should have gotten to him several times. I was disappointed with the loss and with the tackling.

I tried to convince them to come in here and fight their hearts out and play together and believe in each other. But I think any coach would do the same thing. So what I did was nothing. What they did is unforgettable.

I think it is certainly one of the better defensive teams in the country.

We have no excuses, ... We never make excuses. But we've had some injuries.

I thought Chad did some great things in there. That last touchdown, it was a great drive. He scrambled for significant yardage and on the touchdown he did some very good things.

We all understand the competitiveness of that conference and their success in competition with the Big Ten. I don't know anybody out there, as a coach, who doesn't have respect for the Mid-American Conference.

Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr has expressed the utmost respect for the MAC and Novak. They coached together on Moeller's staff at Illinois. When you look at college football the last four or five years, ... Joe has done as good of a job as anybody in the country.

If some things are reviewed and some aren't, then you have controversy and the whole purpose of this thing was to avoid controversy.

We had some great drives, but we stopped ourselves every time.

I went into the training room after the game and Jon had tears in his eyes as I talked to him, ... I said, 'You must be in unbelievable pain.' He says, 'No, I was just thinking next Saturday is going to be the first Michigan football game I have missed in 30-some years.'

Will Paul has really (made) strides. He's got the ability to play there and has picked things up very quick.

On the positive side for the Wolverines, Lloyd Carr said he felt they had found a defense after it had been widely dismissed as incapable. Notre Dame finished with 244 yards of offense and was 4-for-15 on third down. It gained a paltry 56 yards in the second half. We lost a football game, but I think we found a defense, ... I liked the way we played from a standpoint of effort and aggressiveness. I thought we were very physical. That's the kind of defense, if we can maintain that kind of effort, we'll have a good football team.

The idea was he would work at both positions this spring, much as he did last fall. He spent a significant amount of time at the quarterback position. That's a huge disappointment for us.

There's no question it's going to be a different type of team. You don't lose two outstanding players like Navarre and Perry and immediately replace that kind of production, ... But you play to your strengths. If we can stay healthy, our defense is going to be better and I think our kicking game should be very solid. We'll just have to see how we evolve offensively.

When you have an opportunity to go in front of the media, there's always a chance to make mistakes. It's part of the growing process, part of the college experience. He felt really badly. It's just one of those things that happen, and you move on.

I don't worry about him bouncing back, ... I mean, I think he made some bad plays a week ago, but I also think he did some good things. What I hear is that it's like he lost the game. Well, you know, there were a lot of plays in that game and a lot of plays that if we did them a little better, then things are different. It's a combination of a lot of things. It wasn't just the quarterback.

He's really improved throwing the football from the standpoint of seeing the field. When he's dropping back, he's doing a great job looking off, finding alternative receivers. His presence there is outstanding, and he still has the ability when things break down to make a play.

First and foremost, when you get off to a start like this after very high expectations that you have as a group of people, you have to maintain an attitude that you're not going to be distracted by all the things that go around you,

It's certainly one of the strengths of the team because they all have different abilities and skills but are all talented. Three gives you the opportunity to go with who gets hot. If a guy gets banged up, you have someone equally talented to go into the game.

The turnovers were monumental. I thought we gave our offense a lot of opportunities, and we just couldn't capitalize.

I think because of the fact that both of those men were ADs, as well as the football coach, we didn't play Notre Dame for a long time.

I've interviewed every player on our team, and that's always part of the conversation. There's a lot of things that certainly should be motivating. I don't think there's anybody in this program that wants to go through that kind of season again. I think they'll do everything that they're asked to do to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

The main thing is we did not come out and slop around. I thought we did a lot of very good things, but the truth is we had the opportunity to play a lot of guys and get some guys healthier before we head into the Big Ten season.

Year in and year out, on a consistent basis, the best teams in the country always have great defenses.

I think he's throwing the ball extremely well and I think he has the confidence of being in a lot of big games, the experience that comes with being in tight ball games, being in two-minute situations, being ahead, being behind, all of the things that you need to learn to be able to learn to be able to control the game and lead your team. I think he's done a great job of that.

It's that attitude that has enabled him to fight back after injury after injury.

The question I was asked before the season was, 'Would you be disappointed to not be in the Sugar Bowl' ... I can tell you, I would never be disappointed to take a team to the Rose Bowl. To play in that stadium -- outdoors, on grass, in the sunshine -- how could you be disappointed

I think they have great balance, and any time you have great balance, it's a much more difficult challenge to defend. Pittman has had an outstanding year over 1,100 yards in ten games. I think he's tough, has great vision, finds the hole, and of course he's surrounded by a lot of good people. When you're complimented and you have the balance to both run and throw, then it opens everything up.