Carr shows respect for Northern Illinois' history of upset victories

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DeKALB - Lloyd Carr tossed out the first round of compliments on Monday. The Michigan coach spent plenty of his Monday press conference extolling the virtues of Northern Illinois, the Mid-American Conference and Joe Novak. The Wolverines open the season on Saturday at 2:30 p.m (CST) at the Big House. Carr fondly recalled his two-year stint with Novak on the Illinois staff (1978-79), and remarked on Novak's remarkable job at Northern Illinois. "I know Joe Novak as well as most people," Carr said. "I don't think anybody in this country has done a better job of coaching than Joe has. He's done a great job at Northern Illinois. When you look at what they've accomplished, particularly in the last few years, it's special when you consider where that program was when he started. He's got a football team that plays to his personality. He's an old-school guy that cares greatly about his players. He represents the very highest ideals of the coaching profession." The fourth-ranked Wolverines won't be overlooking the up-and-coming Huskies. Michigan's become one of the premier football schools in the country by concentrating on the job at hand. The Wolverines leads all Division I-A schools with the most consecutive bowl seasons (30) and consecutive non-losing seasons (37). They rank second to Florida State (28) in consecutive winning seasons. Under Carr, the Wolverines have won nine or more games eight times in 10 years. Still, Carr took notice of NIU's victories over Wake Forest, Maryland, Alabama and Iowa State in the last three years. "Certainly, what Northern Illinois has done with some of those wins is attributable to the job Joe Novak and his staff have done," Carr said. "What I see is a team that plays extremely hard. They're going to compete. They're going to be an attacking defensive football team. Offensively, I really like the way they play. I think those backs are special. I really do. They're a team that plays very hard, very aggressively. They're an opener that is going to be very challenging for us." The Wolverines set a Big Ten and NCAA record with an average attendance of 111,025 per game last year. The Huskies have never played before a six-digit figure crowd. Novak, who also was an assistant at Indiana, admitted his past experience of coaching at Michigan won't help his current players. "It helps, but I'm not playing," Novak said jokingly. "We've tried to do things with noise. When they take the first walk on the field, I'm sure their mouths will drop. Once the game gets started, they'll be okay." The prospect of defeating the Wolverines might seem slim, but the Huskies don't plan on showing up to pick up a paycheck and heading home on I-94 empty-handed. "Our kids believe we can win against anybody we play," Novak said. "Michigan's one of the best one or two teams we've played, but our kids believe they can go up there and win that game." NIU's recent history validates Novak's belief. Since 2000, the Huskies have suffered just one blowout loss in the non-conference season. In 2002, South Florida hammered the Huskies 37-6, but tailback Thomas Hammock's sudden heart ailment prior to that game played a factor in that outcome. The list of close losses extends from Northwestern (35-17) and Auburn (31-14) in 2000 to Illinois (17-12) and Wake Forest (38-35) in 2001. The Huskies got some revenge by beating Wake Forest the following year and almost knocked off Wisconsin (24-21). Following three BCS wins in 2003, the Huskies fell short at Maryland (23-20) and Iowa State (48-41) last fall. Novak admitted Michigan's arsenal of Chad Henne, Steve Breaston, Mike Hart, Jason Avant and Tim Massaquoi won't be easy to contain. "We've been competitive against the BCS schools lately," Novak said. "Michigan's so good at everything, though. Certainly, we've got to keep their big-play potential down. We have to try and keep them from having big plays." The battle of tailbacks looms as a intriguing matchup. Last year, Michigan averaged 20 yards-per-game more rushing than its opponent. The combination of Mike Hart and highly-touted freshman Kevin Grady presents a stiff challenge for the young Huskie defense. Whether pre-game coach speak or genuine respect, Carr called NIU's talented duo of Garrett Wolfe and A.J. Harris one of the best he's seen during his coaching career. "They want to control the football on offense," Carr said. "When you look at 238 yards (rushing per game) a year ago, that's impressive. In Harris and Wolfe, they've got the best tandem that I've seen. We're going to have our work cut out for us in terms of stopping the run. They're two very different types of backs and I expect they'll use them both in the game a significant amount of time."