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Avoiding mediocrity Michigan doesn't want another four-loss season
Posted: Friday December 18, 1998 10:34 PM
ANN ARBOR, Michigan (AP) -- Michigan will be battling more than the 11th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks when it plays them on New Year's Day, the No. 15 Wolverines will be out to avoid the label of being a mediocre Michigan team. "I've been here for two of the seasons we were 8-4," senior nose tackle Rob Renes said Tuesday. "I don't know if it's so much the wins as it is the losses. When you have four losses, that's what everybody keys in on. "Four losses sticks not only with the people that read about it, but also with the people on the team," he said. "I consider it unacceptable." The rest of the players agree with Renes. "We can either be a mediocre Michigan team with four losses or we can have 10 wins and have a great season," linebacker James Hall. "That's how it is. It goes along with being at Michigan." If the Wolverines lose, it would be their fifth four-loss season in six years. The last time Michigan lost four or more games a season in that short a span was from 1962-67 under coach Bump Elliott, when the Wolverines had two seasons with six losses, two with four and one with seven losses. Following last season's undefeated national championship campaign, the Wolverines found themselves at 0-2 after losses to Notre Dame and Syracuse to begin the season. Fighting adversity, they won nine of their remaining 10 games, losing only to top rival Ohio State. They also shared the Big Ten title with Ohio State and Wisconsin. "To win this game would just put a nice little touch on the end of the season," quarterback Tom Brady said. "That would be 10 wins, winning 10 of our last 11, beating a very good bowl opponent, after starting 0-2." But beating a team from the Southeastern Conference is no easy task, in spite of the Wolverines' 14-4-1 all-time record against the SEC. They have never played Arkansas and they realize the Razorbacks nearly upset top-ranked Tennessee. To prepare for the game, coach Lloyd Carr is following the same script he used last year to get ready for the Rose Bowl. Most of the team will fly to Florida on Sunday and will practice for four days in Melbourne, Florida, before heading to Orlando for bowl week. That gives the players almost an extra week to get used to playing in a warmer climate. "I think it's particularly important in terms of this bowl game to get acclimated to the weather," Carr said. "It's very, very hot in Orlando and I think the heat will have an impact on the outcome of that game. We hope to be prepared by going down three or four days early." Offensive guard Steve Hutchinson is from Coral Springs, Florida, and says it is different playing in the warmer weather. "It takes a week or so to get used to the humidity," Hutchinson said. "I haven't played in it since really the Outback Bowl [1997] and most of these guys haven't played in it since then. I remember in high school it was tough playing in it." Hall remembered the Outback Bowl in Tampa. "It's going to be difficult the first couple of days," Hall said. "We've been conditioning strenuously just for that reason. When we went down to Tampa it was very humid. I imagine it will be the same in Orlando. The air is very thick." It will be Michigan's first appearance in the CompUSA Citrus Bowl. Notes: Carr announced that cornerback William Peterson has been suspended from the football team and will not travel to the Citrus Bowl. Carr declined to elaborate, saying he would comment further on the matter later. That leaves Michigan with just starters Andre Weathers and James Whitley and reserve Todd Howard at cornerback. ... Carr praised senior offensive lineman Jon Jansen and defensive line man Renes on being named Academic All-Americans. ... Jansen was also a third-team selection to The Associated Press' All-America team.
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