Carr says he looks forward to 99th Ohio State matchup

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Lloyd Carr was calm, cool and even happy at times to talk about the next installment of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry.

The Michigan coach has appeared to be tense and irritable at times during his weekly news conferences, but with the biggest game on the schedule up next, Carr even smiled a few times.

"Where else would I rather be?" he asked.

The 12th-ranked Wolverines (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten) will play No. 2 Ohio State (12-0, 7-0 Big Ten) for the 99th time in one of college football's greatest rivalries Saturday.

While sophomore cornerback Marlin Jackson said he would like to spoil the Buckeyes' hopes for a national championship, the rest of his teammates and Carr downplayed the spoiler role.

"We're trying to have a great year for ourselves," tight end Bennie Joppru said. "We're not trying to ruin anything for them."

The Wolverines also admitted, however, that they knew better than to incite Ohio State with inflammatory comments.

Carr, who has been on Michigan's staff since 1980, said what is at stake does not alter how he treats the rivalry.

"I don't care what the circumstances are, the days leading up to that game, from the time you know it's seven days away, you don't do anything except think about that game," Carr said. "You go to bed at night, you're thinking about it. You wake up in the morning, you're thinking about it. You're eating, you're thinking about it.

"It's a consuming thing for seven days because you know on that day, you're going to look across that field and you're going to see a team that wants this game as much as you do."

He recalled how coaches Bo Schembechler of Michigan and Woody Hayes of Ohio State would rant and rave up and down the sideline. But Carr said no one should expect to see him or the Buckeyes' Jim Tressel repeating some of those vivid theatrics.

"The difference today is, as a coach, you know that everything you say, they'll read your lips," Carr said. "You're under such scrutiny in terms of the cameras. You're trying to -- under the greatest of stresses, tensions and emotions -- to represent the institution that you represent in a positive way."

Carr is 5-2 against the Buckeyes as a head coach, and 9-5-1 against them as a Michigan assistant.

Although Carr insisted he's not dwelling on last year's loss to Ohio State at home, he admitted: "The ones that never leave you are the ones you lose. And I don't care to discuss those."