The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 3, 2005 - 3B
Sometimes fans are just
difflcult to understand
Senior Amy Schmucker tied a course record on the first day of the Michigan invitational, shooting a 68 on 18 holes.
Golfers defend home greens
By Max Kardon
Daily Sports Writer
"The world needs dreamers and the
world needs doers and the world needs
dreamers that do," - quote posted in the
women's golf team's locker room.
The Wolverines "did" yesterday -
shattering the dreams of the competition
with a victory on a hot, cloudless day at
the Wolverine Invitational. Although the
Wolverines' dreams extend far beyond this
tournament, Michigan has now validated
its hard work with a glass trophy.
The motivational message coach Kathy
Teichert posted encouraged the confidence
of her squad after the disappointment of
consecutive sub-par tournament appear-
ances this season.
"I think it's better we started slow,"
senior captain Amy Schmucker said.
"We can build momentum all season,
rather than coming out hot and burning
out in the end."
Schmucker scalded the competition in
the first round Saturday morning. She tied
the U-M Golf Course record of 68 after
her first 18 holes, eventually leading Mich-
igan to the champion's trophy at its home
tournament.
Michigan nearly squandered the
10-stroke lead it carried into Sunday's
final round, but managed to hold on for
the victory.
"Ideally, I would have liked to see us
win by 20 strokes," Teichert said. "We
slipped a little bit in the final round. We
played great on Saturday but gave up a lot
of strokes on Sunday. I'm not too happy
about letting the other teams get so close
when we're sitting on a lead like that. We
need more consistency around the green
because it's the key to victory. These are
things to work on, but the bottom line is
that we won."
Sophomore Lindsay Davis came
through in the clutch for Michigan, post-
ing a 75 in the final round. Davis held off
a storming Southern Methodist University
squad that finished 3 strokes behind the
Wolverines. Davis's three-round total of
233 was her best showing this season, and
it couldn't have come at a better time.
With her teammates' performance fall-
ing off in the final round, Davis's strong
outing retained many lost strokes. Michi-
gan edged out Southern Methodist's team
total 905-908 - a figure that kept Michi-
gan ill at ease until the final scores had
been posted by the clubhouse.
"Yesterday. (Saturday), I felt like I
didn't play well, so I put pressure on
myself to help out the team," Davis
said. "Coach Teichert let me know
she needed me to score, but there's no
scoreboard out there to let me know
where we stand. I knew I had to per-
form. The heat made it tough to focus
out there, but I managed to hold it
together for a pretty solid round."
As the teams assembled in the
pounding heat by the scoreboard out-
side the clubhouse, it was difficult to
resist the urge to head inside to the
air-conditioned locker room after play
had ended. Davis' 75 was the best score
posted by Michigan on Sunday, but
Schmucker's 54-hole total was good
for a second-place medal. Her 222-
stroke total was only three behind field
leader, Maryland Terrapin Katie Ste-
panek. With rounds of 68, 75 and 79,
Schmucker said she was disappointed
by her performance despite tying the
course record on Saturday.
"I wish I could have helped a little more
on Sunday," Schmucker said. "I guess that
68 was at the front of my mind all week-
end, which didn't really help my play. I'm
glad we came away with the trophy, but I'm
going to need to work hard on my game in
the next few weeks."
Although Sunday's performance was
less than ideal, the Wolverines rounded
out their team total with very strong
scores. With a disappointing 81 on
Sunday, junior Ali Stinson's 227-stroke
total was good for a tie for fourth place,
and senior Kelly Easton chipped in a
career-best 235 despite Sunday's 81 to
round out the Wolverines' victory.
The Wolverines will have some time
to enjoy the victory. They get some well-
deserved rest this weekend before heading
to Arkansas for the Lady Razorback Invi-
tational in two weeks.
"We can really use this time to work out
the problems that have dogged us," Tei-
chert said. "It's a great opportunity to work
on our short game and consistency. It's a
real luxury to have this extra time. Most
importantly, the girls are looking forward
to catching up on schoolwork."
F ans are so funny.
After Saturday's game, a half-dozen Michigan fans
sat on the walls outside of Spartan Stadium waiting for
their hero: not Chad Henne, not even Mike Hart - who I'm
sure all of them were thrilled to see - rather, they searched
for Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. That's right, Lloyd Carr - the
Athletic Department's most popular target of hate e-mails and
firing demands.
When Carr walked out of the visiting team's locker room
within minutes after Rivas's game-winning field goal, fans sat
there, cheering for the coach that had just led their favorite team
to a victory in one of the biggest games of the year.
"We love you coach!" they screamed.
Wha? Are you serious? Where have these fans
been for the last three weeks? And where are the
doubters now that Michigan is back in the top 25?
Last week, I heard Michigan fans calling for Carr's
head on a stick. I'm not joking. I heard someone
actually say that he wanted Carr dead. It's clear,
either there is one extremely fickle group or there
are two pretty polarizing contingents of Michigan
football fans.
"When you lose, you get a lot of criticism, and
when you win, you get a lot of praise," cornerback b
Leon Hall said about Carr after the game. "So you HER
just have to take it as it comes." The Spo
The Michigan Daily got scores of e-mails from CoI
people who wanted the coach out. They looked
past his national championship in 1997 - the first for Michi-
gan in the modern era - and generally focused on conserva-
tive play calling and the fact that he is 1-3 against Ohio State,
1-3 against Notre Dame and 1-3 in bowl games in the last four
years. We received dozens of letters blaming Carr - and not
the team's incredible lack of experience - for the program
being 2-2 and on the verge of having a losing record for the
first time since 1998. The letters were usually long and were
often very heated. Here's just a small sampling of some com-
ments we received:
- "The true failure of this program has always been its coach-
ing and its blind loyalty to those coaches." - Pete M., Alum.
- "During the last four years, we've gotten into a rut. How
do you think it makes us feel when you've barely shown up to
the last four Notre Dame, Ohio State and bowl games?" - Nel-
son L., Alum.
- "It is time to fire 'Loyal' Lloyd Carr. ... I'm tired of this,
I'm tired of 9-3 seasons and I'm tired of Conservative Carr."
- Jason B., LSA junior.
Don't just blame these three. There were plenty more where
those came from. Most people complained about Carr being
too conservative with his offensive play calling. They said that
A
RI
rt
(u
he sat on the lead and ran the ball in the second half of Michi-
gan's loss to Wisconsin - a loss that dropped the Wolverines
out of the top 25 for the first time since 1998.
Yesterday, Carr struck back. Chad Henne threw the ball on
six of the nine opening-drive plays, including a perfect fade
pass to senior co-captain Jason Avant to take a 7-0 lead. And
one of the least conservative plays of the drive was a run. On
third and five from the 11-yard line, Henne lined up at wide
receiver and Carr put freshman Antonio Bass in the backfield.
Bass ran the keeper and picked up nine yards and a first down.
A quarterback draw when the opposing defense is backed up
against its own goal line is riskier than most coaches are willing
to be.
It's not like this is anything new. Carr's offense
has been fairly aggressive all season. Against
Notre Dame, the Wolverines threw the ball more
than they ran it. Against Eastern Michigan, they
put up 55 points. Against Wisconsin, they took the
lead with a 49-yard flea-flicker.
On the last drive of Saturday's game, Carr
ran the ball 13 times in 14 plays; the other
snap was a missed field goal attempt. That
line might make it seem like Carr was a "con-
N servative" play-caller, but the drive went for
BERT 50 yards and bled almost six minutes off the
sMonday clock. Plus, Carr also went for it on two fourth
mn " downs during that drive. If Rivas had made
a 27-yard field goal at the end of regulation,
everyone would have loved Carr's conservative tendency
- because it would have given Michigan State the ball
back with just 30 seconds to drive the length of the field.
Fans complain that Carr doesn't care about the team.
Since his job is secure, they figure that he is content with
just going through the motions. I've only covered the team
for a month now, but as far as I can tell, that there's no
basis behind it. Carr comes into press conferences fum-
ing after losses and looking forward after wins. He hides
injuries from the media not because it's fun but because it
would give the other team a competitive advantage. Carr
cares about the team as much as anyone.
"Nobody wants to win more than me," Carr said at Big Ten
Media Day in August. "Nobody.".
And if all that wasn't enough to convince the doubters to
quit the fire Lloyd talk, how about this: Bo Schembechler didn't
make it to a Rose Bowl until his eighth year with the team. If he
were coaching now, would Michigan's ruthless fans have even
allowed him to stay that long?
- Herbert can be reached
at iherbert@umich.edu.
DO YOU LIKE ICE HOCKEY? ICE BREAKERS?
JOIN DAILY SPORTS, WHERE YOU CAN HAVE
BOTH AND MUCH, MUCH MORE.
Lai