Michigan to Face Florida in 2008 Capital One Bowl
12/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Ticket Information
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The University of Michigan football team will play in its NCAA-leading 33rd consecutive bowl game when coach Lloyd Carr's Wolverines participate in the 2008 Capital One Bowl sponsored by the Florida Citrus Sports Association on New Year's Day. Michigan (8-4, 6-2 Big Ten) will face the ninth-ranked Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference in Orlando, with the 1 p.m. EST contest to be televised by ESPN on ABC.
"We are excited about the opportunity to play Florida in the Capital One Bowl," said Bill Martin, U-M's Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. "Our players, staff, fans and alumni have always enjoyed the Orlando bowl experience. I anticipate a large Michigan turnout from our Florida alums coupled with the fact that this will be Lloyd's last game as head coach."
The Wolverines will be making their fourth appearance in the Capital One Bowl. U-M made three previous appearances during a four-year stretch, posting a 2-1 mark in the former Citrus Bowl. Michigan defeated Auburn by a 31-28 score in the 2001 game, posted a 45-31 victory against Arkansas in the 1999 edition and lost 45-17 to Tennessee in the 2002 game.
This will be the second-ever meeting between the Wolverines and Gators. The previous match-up came in the Wolverines' last game played in the state of Florida, a 38-30 victory in the 2003 Outback Bowl. Michigan has compiled a 7-4 bowl record in the Sunshine State and has won seven of its last eight bowl games in Florida.
Comments from U-M Head Coach Lloyd Carr from Bowl Selection Teleconference
Opening statement... "We are delighted to accept your invitation to come to Orlando, one of the great cities, one of the great bowl sites in this country. We have been there a number of times and we know the people and we know that community. I can tell you that our team is extremely excited about the opportunity to play a great Florida team. I've known Urban Meyer for a long time and he is one of those guys that everyone around college football has great respect for. Certainly he has done a done a great job since he went to Florida and he has done another great job this season."
About the health of your team and how important that is to success in this game... "Well, hopefully, our trainer Paul Schmidt indicated that Mike Hart and Chad Henne will be ready to play. The main thing is we need to have a couple of good weeks of practice, and go down and put our best game together, and that will certainly be necessary to play well against an outstanding Florida team."
About your recollections of Coach Urban Meyer from the past... "He was an assistant at Notre Dame at the time and Mike DeBord, who is our offensive coordinator, was good friends with Urban. I met him on the recruiting trail and he is one of the guys that I have always liked and a guy that represents all the positive things in college football."
About facing Tim Tebow... "We tried very hard to recruit Tim to Michigan. He came up for a game and took a good look at Michigan so I know him well and I know his family. He has had an incredible season and is a guy that in the past 25 years in my experience is a guy has done some things that no other quarterback has done. He has a great arm and has great athletic ability. He knows where to go with the football. He is all the things that you look for, he is very tough, he is very smart, gets them into the right plays and is an exciting player to watch."
How special will this game be for you and your players knowing that this will be your last game as Michigan head coach... "We always have a group of seniors playing their last game and I can only say that I know how excited they are and what it means to them. They have put four or five years into this program and certainly for this team we have had some obstacles and some difficult times but there is outstanding leadership in that senior class. For me, I'll just be one of them, one of the guys that will participate in his last game at Michigan. So we are all looking forward to it."
What have the last couple of weeks been like for you since you made the announcement... "I have had a wonderful response from people all over this country that I've certainly gotten to know, Michigan alums, coaches from the coaching profession, so I've spent some time taking care of all the mail, trying to get some responses back. As a coaching staff, we've tried very hard to stay in touch with all of the guys who've committed verbally to us and trying to impress upon them the fact that we will be moving toward a new coach quickly and really the importance of maintaining their commitments to Michigan. I think that we've had a great response trying to do that."
You know that process better then we do in naming your succession, you mentioned finding a new coach quickly, is that imminent... "Bill Martin is leading that search and I'm sure that any comments regarding that search. What I'm talking about is when you say quickly, we got the month of December and Bill had indicated that he wanted to get it done by the end of the month. So that's what I think it is."
If a new coach is hired in the next few weeks will they have a hand in game planning for this game... "I think that would depend on when it happened. Certainly, I think one of the opportunities that the new coach would have is to come in and get to know our players and to be a part of that if that is what he would choose to do. I would not comment on that until he is named and see what his thoughts are."
When are you planning to bring the team to Florida... "I'm really not sure. The sooner the better because the weather is not very good here, it's actually horrible. (laughing) I have not received that information yet but I assume that it will be either the 25th or 26th but I'm not sure."
Contact: David Ablauf (734) 263-4423
