Rocketman95: Hope this give you peace in mind. "I sincerely regret my behavior yesterday to Todd Harris," he said over the phone from his Ann Arbor home Sunday. "I was rude, and that was inexcusable." He wasn't reading from a statement. He was talking. He was genuinely sorry. And, more to the point, he had already told his team the same thing. Listen, men, I shouldn't have done that, he told them. You don't act like that. "I expect a lot out of my players," he said, "and it's only fair that I live by the same standards. "Was it a fair question? Yeah. It was a fair question. I could explain why it bothered me, but that wouldn't excuse it. What's important is that I shouldn't have behaved that way. It was wrong." ... ... Let's be honest: The pressure of college football is like a vat of boiling tar bubbling inches beneath your feet. The things Carr and Navarre deal with these days are different than they were even 15 years ago. Sports talk radio is pervasive; it creates a Greek chorus that can echo endlessly with criticism. And the Internet is a whole new source of venom, with cowards able to hide behind anonymous yet worldwide insults. After Saturday's victory, Carr called those types of attacks on Navarre "despicable." On Sunday, he elaborated: "When you're a coach, you expect to deal with those things. But I really feel it's wrong to hold college athletes to the same standards and scrutiny as we do professionals." He sighed. I see this stuff taking a toll on Carr. Over the years, he looks more tired, he sighs more often, and I get the sense he has to focus harder on being the gentleman who once came so easily to him. This is life under the magnifying glass: The flaws seem bigger, the heat gets hotter. So Michigan fans should really savor Saturday. For one thing, U-M seemed like the only school in America delirious to win its conference and go to a bowl. Players weren't arguing for BCS points. They wanted Pasadena. Besides, who knows how much longer Carr will want to put up with this stuff? He said Sunday, "I loved every minute of the last seven days," but football is a lot more than that one week, and incidents like Saturday's halftime eruption may be more telling than they look. This game just wears you out. http://www.freep.com/sports/college/index.htm
The reason he got that lead is because he was calling wide open plays. At that time the score was 21-7, if he had got conservative at 14-0 (same point difference) about 7 minutes before in that game OSU really could have made a run at him. Further, if you want to be conservative give it to Perry on a draw or screen--if you don't pop a nice one, sure let the half run out. But if you do get 15 or 20--and Perry had been great, then you are in real business with minimal risk. In the end it worked out, I just didn't think that was the right call, especially given you rarely get that kind of good field position from OSU kicking and punting game.
