Gotta love the tortilla line (I've bolded it).
cfn
Perspective Piece: Michigan-Notre Dame
By
Matt Zemek
Staff Columnist
Posted Sep 13, 2006
If you're a Michigan fan, a word of advice: identify your priorities before the Wolverines take the field in South Bend this Saturday.
If Big Ten championships and Rose Bowl appearances are your top priorities, be prepared to lay off Lloyd Carr this weekend. But if beating Notre Dame is a bigger goal, being frustrated with the Michigan coaching staff is an understandable emotional posture.
Yes, when the subject matter is Michigan-Notre Dame, the blood pressure rises in Ann Arbor. Lloyd Carr--a quality football coach by any reasonable standard--has suffered so much stress in recent years because of his performances in this classic college football rivalry. Carr always gets his teams to respond in October, when the leaves turn and known conference foes are waiting to be taken down. In two of the past three seasons, Carr has stood on the fresh green grass of Pasadena on New Year's Day, fulfilling what is ostensibly his mandate as Michigan football coach: winning the Big Ten. But in the pursuit of a conference crown, Carr has--to his own detriment--neglected to place sufficient emphasis on beating the Fighting Irish--not emotionally, mind you, but certainly from tactical and technical perspectives and, perhaps, even politically. The soul of a loyal and accomplished Michigan Man might be so locked into Pasadena that the will to conquer Notre Dame has been flagging in the past several years of the Carr Administration. Give Carr credit for his Big Ten record and his national title; Notre Dame, however, is the Waterloo of his Michigan career.
Everything about this Saturday's game in Notre Dame Stadium revolves around Michigan and its coach. The way Carr coaches this game--and the way his players (not Brady Quinn or Darius Walker or Jeff Samardzija) perform--will ultimately tell the tale. If the Wolverines play scared, they'll get drummed out of Indiana so badly that the reverberations could send many a Michigander over the edge. Why?
Because there's just no getting around the fact that when Michigan has come to South Bend in recent years, the Maize and Blue have folded like a corn tortilla (gotta have Maize in your corn, right?).
In 2003, when having the luxury of playing at home, Michigan crushed the Irish, 38-0. But a year before and a year after that game, the talent disparity between the two teams never emerged, because the Wolverines--in South Bend for the 2002 and 2004 editions of this rivalry--couldn't handle the heat of a road environment. With timid play calling and fraidy-cat quarterbacking--two things that go hand in hand--Michigan's coaches and players looked on, dumbfounded, as profoundly less talented Irish teams scored upset victories over Wolverine ballclubs whose immense speed on the edges--particularly at the flanker position--was completely wasted. A year ago, it didn't even matter that Michigan hosted the Irish, as the same basic dynamic played out in a 17-10 Irish victory. Notre Dame almost always manages to ensnare the Wolverines in an ugly game that brings forth all of Michigan's dysfunctionalities and coaching weaknesses. When Big Ten title time comes a' callin', Lloyd Carr and his boys usually deliver the goods and carry the Michigan name with honor. Against Notre Dame, the Maize and Blue become body-snatched impostors. This isn't literary hyperbole; the results are quite damning on their own.
So will Michigan finally throw the kitchen sink at Notre Dame in South Bend? It's been a long time since a Lloyd Carr team played with distinction in the Catholic enclave of Indiana, and this lack of quality from the Michigan side is a big reason why Wolverine fans have been increasingly upset about the job performance of a fine football coach whose Big Ten track record is worthy of considerable respect and praise. Everything Lloyd Carr has done in conference play over the years has been increasingly more obscured by his lame efforts against the Fighting Irish. Will Carr bring his A-game to South Bend on Saturday? That's the question the citizens of Ann Arbor--not to mention the whole college football
I don't understand how a Buckeye could ever root for scUM to win any game. I hope they never win another game!!!!!!!! 
