The All-Lloyd Team
No, this is not a team full of people named Lloyd. Rather, in stark contrast to (and perhaps inspired by) Brian's Anti-Carr team, the Freep has put out their list of Lloyd Carr's Deservedly Appreciated All-Stars (maybe not quite in those words and sorry johnny at RBUAS for ripping you off so unabashedly):
OL: Jake Long, Steve Hutchinson, Rod Payne, David Baas, Jon Jansen
RB: Mike Hart, Anthony Thomas
WR: Braylon Edwards, David Terrell, Jerame Tuman (TE)
QB: Tom Brady
CB: Charles "Drink my wine" Woodson, Leon Hall, Marlin Jackson
S: Marcus Ray (and sorta Jackson as well)
LB: Jarrett Irons, Sam Sword, David Harris (was it not possible to find a game photo of Harris???)
DL: Alan Branch, Glen Steele, James Hall, LaMarr Woodley,
K: Jay Feely
P: Adam Finley
I hate to say it, but I'd have to give it to Perry over Hart. Yeah, Hart owns the all-time yardage record, but he got the majority of the team's carries for four years. Perry was a Heisman finalist and he led the team to an untied conference championship. Hart (for all of his "heart" and apparent leadership) led the team to absolutely no championships in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, never beat Ohio State, never did anything of note in the Rose Bowl, and (despite his immaculate ball-handling record over four years), nearly fumbled away (twice on the goal line) the team's first bowl win in five years. People always talk about his toughness, but they neglect to mention how he was ridiculously injury prone; whenever someone touched his ankle he'd go down like a little bitch. I don't remember Perry ever being injured during his two seasons as THE ball carrier. And Perry's workhorse day in East Lansing in 2003 (52 carries?) brings tears to the eye. Hart had some 200-yard games against some shitty defenses, but he never did anything to help Michigan win championships. And I never once in four years saw Hart actually run away from a defender. Then again, it's tough to do that when you have no speed.
Look, the above is all pretty negative on Hart, but don't get me wrong: I'm happy he played for Michigan and I really enjoyed watching him play (when he did play) for four years, and I understand he was a great leader for the team, etc., etc., etc. But I think he's been overrated for four years because of the yardage record (and in part probably because of the homophone of his name).
Mine was against OSU his senior year. He got hurt at some point in the second half and while he was down, the crowd started chanting his name. It was so loud, then Perry popped up and finished out the game.
Maybe Perry doesn't make the all-Lloyd team because of the time he spent in the doghouse. But it was a great story his senior season how he turned things around and became the type of player/man he was meant to be.
Biakabutuka was Carr's best RB. He wasn't a one-year wonder, either; he averaged 6.0 ypc for his entire career, a much higher average than any other RB under Carr. It's just that for his first two years, Tyrone Wheatley was also around (and when healthy, Wheatley was Heisman-good), so he didn't get all the carries.
In '95, we had, IMO, the worst quarterbacking of the entire Carr era (yes, worse than '01 Navarre), and yet Biakabutuka still tore defenses apart. OSU had three All-Americans on the D that he shredded. The only reason that game wasn't a total blowout was because of sophomore Griese's horrible play.