The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, January 3, 2008 - 7A
BOWL
From Page 1A
Ohio State and Michigan would
struggle against faster SEC teams
like Louisiana State and Florida
in the bowls. Most of the country
agreed, with more than 90 per-
cent of voters in an ESPN.com poll
predicting the Gators would beat
the Wolverines.
"Ninety-one percent?" wide
receiver Mario Manningham said
after the game. "Come on, we
aren't that bad."
The Wolverines showed Florida
and the rest of the country they
had the speed and the defense
to keep up. Cornerback Morgan
Trent caught super-athlete Percy
Harvin from behind on a 66-yard
run early in the second quarter,
preventing the Gators from scor-
ing with the game tied at 14. Man-
ningham looked just as elusive
as Harvin, getting a career-high
seven carries and turning one of
them from what looked like a sure
loss into a cross-field, highlight-
reel 23-yard scamper.
But for Michigan to pull out
the win over double-digit favorite
Florida, a lot stranger things had
to happen than simply matching
the Gators' speed.
Chad Henne, mentioned by
some as a dark-horse Heisman
Trophy candidate before the sea-
son, had to battle through a torn
PCL in his knee early in the sea-
son and a dislocated throwing
shoulder later on, as well as "We
want (backup quarterback Ryan)
Mallett" chants from the Michi-
gan crowd. Henne turned in argu-
ably the best game of his career
Tuesday, throwing for 373 yards
and 3 touchdowns in an effort that
garnered game MVP honors.
For many, however, the perfor-
mance was far from surprising.
"I expected him to have that
type of game," quarterbacks
coach Scot Loeffler said. "Every
time he goes on the football field,
he's expected to have that type
of game, and things worked well
today. We finally saw a healthy
Chad Henne. He's almost com-
pletely 100-percent."
Far less anticipated than
Henne's strong performance
was how the senior got it done.
Henne did nearly all of his work
from a spread formation, one that
surely shocked Wolverine fans
accustomed to power football
and straight-forward, drop-back
passing. Michigan changed its
gameplan for Florida, often using
four and five-wide receiver sets
and shotgun formations to give
its playmakers opportunities to
exploit mismatches.
Predictably, runningback Mike
Hart played well, gaining 129
yards and scoring twice. Aston-
ishing, though, were the captain's
two fumbles on Florida's goal line,
one coming in the second quarter
and one in the third. They were
just the second and third fumbles
Hart has lost in his career, and
the senior had gone 1,004 touches
without a fumble lost before giv-
ing the ball away.
"(My teammates) knew how I
felt about it," Hart said. "To fum-
ble two times inside the five-yard
line ... they knew I wasn't feeling
too good. The defense stepped
up and the offense stepped up. I
SVEJNAR
From Page 1A
holds U.S. citizenship. Michael
Kraus, a professor of political sci-
ence at Middlebury College and a
long-time friend of Svejnar's, said
the question of Svejnar's residen-
cy could hurt him in the election.
Several Czech publications have
also said Svejnar will be hurt in
the polls because his wife, Busi-
ness Prof. Katherine Terrell, is an
American.
Kraus said the support of the
Social Democrats, the country's
major left-wing party, makes
Svejnar a formidable candidate
though.
Kraus is currently working in
the Czech Republic as an advisor
to Svejnar. Kraus said Svejnar's
goal if elected president of the
Czech Republic, would be to revi-
talize the Czech economy.
"Svejnar is offering a new vision
for his country," Kraus said. "He
believes he can bring more energy
and transparency and contribute
more based on his experience and
international connections."
The role of the Czech president
is largely ceremonial, but if elect-
ed, Svejnar would be responsible
for appointing the Prime Minis-
ter, judges and bank officials.
Terrellsaid Svejnar would serve
thank them for that."
Even Michigan's four turn-
overs, compared to Florida's zero,
couldn't stop the Wolverines. Not
when Michigan converted third
downs at a season-best 66 percent
while the Gators moved the chains
on just two of its 11 third-down
tries. Not when the previously
boring and predictable offense
had a trick-play run for left tackle
Jake Long, tried a double pass,
endless end arounds, and oper-
ated consistently out of the spread
offense for the first time. Not when
the defense, unable to stop spread
offenses and mobile quarterbacks
all season, added two new blitzes
that confused the Gators and did
just enough to get key stops when
it needed to.
Michigan Athletic Direc-
tor Bill Martin called the win a
"storybook ending" to the sea-
son and the careers of Carr and
his seniors. And after a season as
emotional and as trying as this
one was, nothing could have been
more appropriate.
Michigan entered the season
regarded as National Champi-
onship contenders and favored
to win the Big Ten. Consecutive
season-opening losses to Appa-
lachian State and Oregon quickly
dashed those hopes, and it looked
like the Wolverines might have
trouble simply ending the year
with a winning record.
An eight-game winning streak
put them back in contention for
the conference title and a Rose
Bowl bid. But just when it looked
like Michigan was perhaps the
hottest team in the country, the
back-to-back season-ending losses
had the Wolverines hanging their
heads.
All that changed in the Capi-
tal One Bowl, though. Expected
not to have a chance against the
Gators, Michigan finally ful-
filled the potential that everyone
thought it had before the year
began. With Hart and Henne
healthy and the team fired up to
win their longtime leader's last
game, all the Michigan pieces had
come together. Everything the
experts thought was turned on
its head. Florida's defense wasn't
too fast for the Wolverine offense,
the Michigan defense contained
Tebow and Harvin just enough,
and the Wolverines managed to
control the game in a tough road
environment. Not even Florida
coach Urban Meyer's spotless
bowl record (4-0) compared to
Michigan's five-game bowl-win-
less streak worked out "like it was
supposed to."
Or maybe it did.
After all, Meyer, Tebow, Har-
vin, and almost every contribut-
ing member of Florida's football
team will return next season,
likely as the No. 1 or No. 2 team in
the nation. But for Hart, Henne,
Long, Crable, the rest of the
Michigan seniors and likely some
important juniors, this was an all-
important finale.
Now, even with their four
losses to Ohio State, even with
their National Championship
hopes quickly crushed in their
senior season, even with Henne
and Hart's injury-plagued sea-
sons, this group of seniors and
this coach have a complete, and
fittingly finished, work of art to
remember.
as an international statesman and
work to revitalize the country's
economy.
"He feels that he can bring
a more modern and technical
approach to the government,"
Terrell said. "He wants to have
more positive dialogue about
the Czech Republic's role in the
European Union and the global
economy."
One of Svejnar's primary goals
would be the early adoption of the
euro in place of the koruna - the
Czech Republic's native curren-
cy. Although the Czecg Republic
joined the European Union in
2004, incumbent president Vaclav
Klaus has resisted the switch to
the euro.
A graduate of Cornell Universi-
ty and Princeton University, Sve-
jnar holds degrees in economics
and industrial and labor relations.
His research focuses on economic
growth in Eastern Europe and the
impact of government policy on
the performance of independent
companies.
If elected, Svejnar plans to take
a leave of absence from the Uni-
versity to serve a five-year term
as president. Terrell said Univer-
sity President Mary Sue Coleman
supports Svejnar's candidacy and
assured Terrell and Svejnar that
they would retain their positions
at the University regardless of the
New coach gets hit with lawsuit
RODRIGUEZ From Page 1A
"good nights" since becoming
Michigan's head coach.
Faced with the task of putting
together a coaching staff for next
season, Rodriguez has to decide if
he should remain loyal to his for-
mer assistants at West Virginia,
keep enough Michigan assistants to
make the transition easier or look
nationally for some of the brightest
up-and-coming minds to join him.
"Obviously, I'm very loyal to the
staff I had at West Virginia," Rodri-
guez said. "There'll be several of
them coming with me. Several oth-
ers possibly from other schools."
After interviewing all of Mich-
igan's assistant coaches two days
after his hiring, Rodriguez fired
all nine of them, allowing them to
pursue other jobs. He then re-hired
running backs coach and noted
recruiter Fred Jackson and said
that one or two more former Michi-
gan assistants might get their jobs
back.
But for the majority of assistants
who worked under retiring coach
Lloyd Carr, Tuesday's bowl win
against Florida was their last time
on the Wolverine sideline.
"I'm blessed to have been around
here," outgoing quarterbacks coach
Scot Loefler said. "I am the luckiest
guy to have worked for coach Carr
and to coach at Michigan."
Rodriguez has laid low since
being hired in order to keep him-
self from a situation that would
have deflected attention from Carr.
The former West Virginia coach,
who watched Tuesday's first half
from the Michigan sideline and the
remainder of the game from a luxu-
ry box, is anxious to get to work.
He's been handcuffed when it
comes to looking for new players
since programs can only recruit on
a limited basis for the next month.
With approximately 10 open schol-
arships left in the class, Rodriguez
will have to hit the recruiting trails
hard once NCAA rules allow him.
Rodriguez might also have to
retrace some of Carr's steps to
make sure he doesn't lose any of the
recruits who committed to Michi-
gan before his hiring.
"Obviously, there is some anxiety
from the recruits who have com-
mitted," Rodriguez said. "'Do you
know us? Do you know how we fit?'
We've talked to all of them several
times."
Currently, just one recruit -
three-star quarterback John Wein-
ke - has decommitted since Carr
announced his retirement.
New Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez watched soe of Michitan's 4-35 win
over Florida in the Capital One Bowl on Tuesday from the sidelines.
Young voters not always reliable
CAUCUS From Page 1A
voted overwhelmingly for John
Kerry, helping the Massachusetts
senator clinch a convincing Iowa
victory.
Dean's Iowa demise is still fresh
in the minds of many candidates
and their advisors, leading some to
believe that the young voter demo-
graphic cannot be relied upon for a
caucus victory.
Of the Democratic and Republi-
can candidates, Sen. Barack Obama
(D-Ill.) has most heavily courted
young voters for tonight's caucus,
with an Obama advisor telling
Newsday that the campaign hoped
to capture 80 percent of voters
under the age of 21.
But even the Obama campaign
has expressed doubts about the
reliability of young voters. Gordon
Fischer, an Obama advisor and for-
mer chairman of the Iowa Demo-
cratic Party, referred to young
voters last month as the "icing on
the cake," meaning that while they
can't be relied on to swing an out-
come, they're a nice bonus.
Jeff Frazee, national youth coor-
dinator for Rep. Ron Paul's (R-
Texas) campaign, disagreed with
Fischer, saying he thought students
could be relied upon for significant
support in tonight's caucus.
He added that young voters will
PETITION
From Page 1A
much we care about this issue?"
Lester Monts, the University's
senior vice provost for academic
affairs, said the University would
consider the proposal but would
have to determine how the change
would affect factors like faculty
meeting times and energy costs
before making a decision.
Nowak said making winter break
one week longer would ease the
financial burden on out-of-state and
international students who buy air-
play an important role if Ron Paul is
to do well tonight.
"We're doing our best to make
sure students do show up to the
caucus with our Students for Ron
Paul chapters and our canvassing
here in Iowa," Frazee said. "They
are an important part of the equa-
tion, and we're counting on them to
turn out."
Although a December poll by
Harvard University's Institute of
Politics showed that Rudy Giuliani
led Republican candidates in sup-
port among 18- to 24-year-olds, a
Giuliani campaign spokesman said
the campaign was not specifically
targeting young voters. Instead, he
said it was taking a more holistic
approach to generating support for
the former New York mayor.
"We've been on college campuses
with our Students for Rudy groups,
but we really want support from all
age groups, whether it's students
or older people, because that's how
you win an election," said Jarrod
Agen, a Giuliani campaign spokes-
man.
William Woodman, a sociology
professor at Iowa State who con-
ducted a school-wide poll measur-
ing the number of students who
planned to caucus, said convention-
al wisdom and experiences from
past caucuses suggest that students
won't turn out in large numbers.
line tickets to return home for break.
He said students often pay two
or three times the average cost of
airfare because they're flying on
days during the busy holiday season
when travel costs are much more
expensive. According to online
airfare estimates from Northwest
Airlines, a return flight from New
York's LaGuardia Airport or from
Los Angeles International Airport
costs $100 more on Jan. 2 than on
Jan. 9.
The petition, which hasn't been
formally submitted yet, also asks
the University to push spring break
a week later so it aligns with spring
But Woodman's student cau-
cus poll, conducted at the end of
December,contradictedthe percep-
tion of students as "elusive voters,"
with 58 percent of eligible student
caucus-goers saying they planned
to participate in the caucus.
With many students home for
winter break, Woodman said stu-
dents are more likely to participate
because they aren't very busy.
"In some of these little towns,
there isn't much going on, and the
caucus is biggest ticket in town,"
Woodmansaid. "What do you think
students will be doing that night?"
Alec Schierenbeck, president
of the College Democrats of Iowa,
said too many politicians and pun-
dits believe in what he called the
"Howard Dean myth" - the belief
that young voters are too unreliable
to depend on in caucus or election
settings. 1
Although different polls report-
ed significantly different total per-
centages for the 18- to 29-year-old
demographic turnout in 2004,
Schierenbeck cited a Pew exit
poll from that year's caucus that
reported that 17 percent of all cau-
cus-goers came from the 18- to 29-
year-old demographic.
"The fact is young people did
show up, but they broke decisively
toward John Kerry," Schierenbeck
said. "Young people have been
breaks at most other colleges.
The University of Michigan's
spring break is scheduled this year
fromFeb. 23 to March 3, while break
at Michigan State University and
Western Michigan University won't
start until the week of March 3. The
UniversityofWisconsin at Madison,
University of Iowa and Wayne State
University all begin spring break on
the week of March 17.
Monts said the University chose
the week ofFeb. 23 because italigns
with the spring break dates for local
school districtslikeAnnArborPub-
lic Schools.
"For years, we've tried to line
amazingly important in the cau-
cuses before, as we saw in 2004,
helping Kerry to victory, and
they're certainly going to be again
in 2008."
In talking to students across
Iowa, Schierenbeck said he's never
seen students as excited for politics
as they are for tonight's caucus.
"I wasn't here in 2004, but I can't
imagine people were this tuned in
and ready to caucus," Schierenbeck
said. "Campaigns are paying such
special attention to young people
this cycle because they realize how
important the young demographic
is to winning the caucus."
In 2004, the Iowa caucuses
took place during the school year,
which meant the impact of stu-
dent caucus-goers was softened
because students were concentrat-
ed in fewer precincts throughout
Iowa.
This time around, there's a
greater chance that student cau-
cus-goers, with many students
home for winter break, could have a
greater influence in more precincts
throughout the state, especially in
smaller precincts where students
can more easily pull other caucus-
goers with them.
"If the results of this caucus turn
out very surprisingly," Woodman
said. "It wouldn't surprise me if it
was because of students."
up that break during the second
semester with local school systems
because so many of our staff have
children in the schools, which we
have to consider as well," he said.
Business School senior Matko
Maravic, who travels home to
Croatia each winter break, said
travel time to and from Croatia cuts
almost two days out of his break,
and an extended break would allow
him to spend more time with his
family.
"With jet lag and everything
cutting down time I get at home,
I think extending break would be
great," Maravic said.
Winter storm chills southern states
Temperatures
expected to drop into
20s, teens in Florida
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A win-
try system that added inches to
record snow accumulations in some
Northern states sent temperatures
plummeting yesterday in the South,
where farmers scrambled to pro-
tect their crops.
Temperatures were expected to
drop into the 20s and teens in parts
of Florida by this morning, follow-
ing the 30-degree temperatures
some northern parts of the state
saw yesterday.
The cold spell could prove devas-
tating to the state's citrus industry,
which is the nation's largest and
already has suffered from years of
disease and hurricanes.
"We will have a lot of growers
across the state pulling all-nighters
and keeping a close watch on their
groves and the temperature," said
Andrew Meadows, a spokesman for
the grower advocacy group Florida
Citrus Mutual. "We are cautiously
optimistic the industry can weath-
er this cold snap without significant
damage."
To help growers, Gov. Char-
lie Crist has signed an emergency
order to relax restrictions on trans-
porting produce.
Crops can withstand some cold,
but not for long. Thirty-two degrees
for four hours will damage an
orange, for example, but 28 degrees
for that long can actually ruin the
tree. Most of the citrus industry is
situated south, for this very rea-
son, and in those areas it was not
expected to get as cold.
But citrus crops were not the
only ones at risk. A broad variety of
plants and produce - from broccoli
and cabbage in the north to straw-
berries, tomatoes and corn in the
south - are also threatened.
In Louisiana, strawberry farm-
ers covered their crops with mate-
rial in an attempt to protect them.
Peach farmers, however, welcomed
the cold, which they say benefits
their fruit trees during their period
of dormancy.
"The more cold weather we have,
the better," said Joe Mitchum, a
peach grower outside Ruston, La.
The unusually low temperatures
led New Orleans emergency offi-
cials to enact a "freeze plan" on
New Year's Eve, allowing home-
less shelters to temporarily exceed
their fire safety capacity. Six shel-
ters took on 700 extra cots between
them, boosting the city's capacity of
about 400 shelter beds. The plan is
expected to last through Thursday.
Following the snowiest Decem-
ber on record, many areas of New
Hampshire got about a foot of snow
on New Year's Day, with a couple of
inches added during the night and
a couple more likely Wednesday.
Storm totals could reach 18 inches
in parts of Maine and New Hamp-
shire and up to a foot in Vermont.
The latest snowfall in New Eng-
land followed a storm on Monday
that made for the area's snowiest
December in decades. December's
snowfall at Concord, N.H., totaled
44.5 inches, toppling a record of 43
inches that had stood since 1876.
Burlington, Vt., got 45.7 inches, far
above its 17.2-inch December aver-
age, and Portland, Maine, amassed
37.7 inches for its third-snowiest
December on record.
"It's been unbelievable. It just
keeps coming," said Bill Swain,
spokesman for Maine's Sugarloaf
USA ski area, which got 70 inches
of snow in December.
Snow fell yesterday from Ohio
through eastern Kentucky and
West Virginia into parts of Virginia
and Maryland.
West Virginia's rugged Randolph
County got 13 inches, the Weather
Service said. As much as 6 inches of
snow was possible in higher eleva-
tions of eastern Kentucky, although
1 to 2 inches was likely in most
areas, the Weather Service said.
At least 40 of West Virginia's 55
counties closed schools Wednesday
because of snow-covered roads and
freezing temperatures.
Dozens of schools also were
closed Wednesday in southeastern
Michigan, where asix-hour burst of
snow on Tuesday dumped as much
as 16 inches north of Detroit, the
weather service said.
Power was restored Wednesday
to nearly all of the 10,000 custom-
ers in Pierpont, Ohio, who were
blacked out by a storm that dropped
15 inches of snow on the Cleveland
suburb, as well as to about 4,000
customers in the southwest of the
state, utility officials said.
Two people were killed in
weather related traffic accidents,
one each in Ohio and Kentucky,
authorities said.
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