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Tuesday
December 9, 2003
www.michigandaily.com
sports@michigandaily.com
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Edwards considers
leaving Michigan
BCS reveals how deep
the rabbit hole really is
By Naweed Sikora
Daily Sports Editor
Two days after Michigan's season-
saving comeback against Minnesota on
Oct. 15, wide receiver
Braylon Edwards said
he had no plans of
leaving the program
after this year. He said$
he wanted to win a
national championship
and finish school, and both those goals
required him to stay for his senior sea-
son at Michigan.
"I love Michigan football, and I'm
not ready to leave yet," Edwards said
at the time.
But now, Edwards is back on the
fence about his future with the pro-
gram, bad news for Michigan fans
who were expecting a dominant
receiving corps next season, led by
Michigan's top trio of Edwards,
Jason Avant and Steve Breaston.
The junior cited several factors
for what might have changed his
mind, mainly that the chance of get-
ting injured was not one he wanted
to take.
"The way I've been playing right
now, things are just flowing to me,"
Edwards said. "Sometimes you don't
get a second chance."
Edwards says he will not be ready
to make a decision until after the
Rose Bowl is over, but feels that
leaving could possibly be the best
decision when the time comes.
"So many things could happen,
and I have to make the best decision
for my family and myself," he said.
"There are a lot of things out there
that my family has talked about. I'm
not trying to go back on what I said,
but you have to look at it from my
point of view. Sometimes, leaving is
the best decision."
Edwards fought through on- and
off-the-field struggles earlier in the
year and wasn't having the type of
breakout season that he was expect-
ing in the beginning. Lloyd Carr pub-
licly expressed his displeasure with
Edwards' discipline and attitude trou-
bles, saying the two were "not on the
same page." But he has been a large
part of Michigan's revival this season
down the stretch.
Edwards is aware that the reevalua-
tion of his future with the program
leaves the door open for NFL specu-
lation, but he says he's not thinking
about that right now.
"Everybody wants to talk about the
NFL, and I have opened myself up
for that," he said. "But I'm not wor-
ried about that right now - it's in the
back of my mind. Right now we have
to focus on what we need to do to
beat USC."
ALL FOR ONE: Michigan wide
receiver Jason Avant, who suffered an
ankle injury during Michigan's first
offensive drive against Ohio State on
Nov. 22, is expected to be ready to
play in the Rose Bowl. Avant's return
will be crucial for the Wolverines,
who will need to bring a formidable
passing attack out west to match the
Trojans' potent aerial game.
"He's coming around, and he'll
definitely be back by that game,"
Edwards said.
"It's going to mean a lot for us,
he's a clutch guy, you can always
count on Jason to make the big catch-
es - to make any catches. He adds a
dimension of a big receiver who can
catch and get open by finding the
soft spot."
HEISMAN WATCH: The finalists for
this season's Heisman Trophy award
will be announced tomorrow evening,
and Chris Perry is expected to be one
of the candidates who will earn a trip
to New York to be part of the presen-
tation show.
The Heisman Trophy presentation
will be held Saturday night.
Perry's teammates weighed in on
why he should win the award for the
most valuable player in college foot-
ball.
"Without Chris Perry we wouldn't
be in this situation," Edwards said.
KYLE O'NEILL
The Daily Janitor
ROM INSIDE THE MATRIX -
Hello, Kyle.
Who are you?
Iam the Architect. I created the
BCS. I've been waiting for you. You
have many questions. Though the
recent process of sending a non-con-
ference champion to the national title
game has altered your consciousness,
you remain irrevocably human (and
surprisingly the best option in deciding
a national champion). Ergo, some of
my answers you will understand and
some you will not. Concordantly, while
your first question may be the most
pertinent, you may or may not realize
it is also the most irrelevant.
Why am I here?
Your life is the sum of a remainder
of an unbalanced equation inherent to
the strength of scheduling in the BCS.
You are the eventuality of an anom-
aly, which despite my sincerest efforts,
I've been unable to eliminate from
what is otherwise a harmony of mathe-
matical precision. While it remains a
burden assiduously avoided, it is not
unexpected and, thus, not beyond a
measure of control which has led you
inexorably here.
You haven't answered my question.
Quite right. Interesting. That was
quicker than the others.
Others? What others? How many
others?
The BCS is older than you know. I
count from the emergence of one inte-
gral anomaly to the next. In which
case, this is the sixth version.
Wait a damn minute. You're telling
me this has been going on for five pre-
vious seasons, and no one has stopped
you yet?
Precisely. As you are undoubtedly
gathering, the anomaly is systemic,
creating fluctuations in even the most
simplistic equations. For instance, you
actually gave purpose to that Boise
State-Hawaii game. Had Hawaii actu-
ally won, Southern Cal. would be
going to the national title game.
Choice. The problem is choice of
opponent. But wait, you're asking
teams to plan out schedules on the
basis of preseason rankings, so that
they can get screwed when their oppo-
nents don't pan out. We shouldn't
blame Southern Cal. for not having a
tough schedule when six of its oppo-
nents were in the top 25 before the sea-
son began. Have you learned nothing
from the past?
The first BCS I designed was natu-
rally perfect...
No it wasn't. Had both Kansas State
and UCLA won along with Tennessee
on Dec. 5, 1998, your entire system
would have crashed under the weight
of three unbeaten teams.
As I was saying, before you inter-
rupted me, I stumbled upon a solution
whereby 99 percent of subjects accept-
ed the program, as long as they were
given a chance, even if they were only
eligible for the chance to win the title
by playing at a near-impossible level of
perfection for 20-year-olds to compete
at. While this answer functioned, it was
fundamentally flawed, thus creating the
otherwise contradictory systemic
anomaly that, ifleft unchecked, might
threaten the system. Ergo, those that
refused the program, while a minority,
would constitute an escalating proba-
bility of disaster if unchecked.
Then this is about the players ...
finally.
You are here because college football
legitimacy is about to be destroyed. Its
every living inhabitant terminated, its
entire existence eradicated.
Bullcrap.
Denial is the most predictable of all
human responses. But rest assured, this
will be the sixth time we have destroyed
the credibility of the game and we have
See O'NEILL, Page 11
BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily
Michigan receiver Braylon Edwards is mobbed by students after Michigan's 35-21
win over Ohio State Nov. 22.
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REGISTRAR'S BULLETIN BOARD
WINTER TERM CLASSES BEGIN JANUARY 6, 2004
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