Lloyd Carr’s career at Michigan will end, fittingly, on New Year’s Day.
During his first dozen seasons as Michigan’s coach, Carr took the Wolverines to 10 bowl games on Jan. 1, including a run of nine straight from 1997-2005.
After an embarrassing opening loss to Appalachian State, it seemed unlikely that his final season would end in January, but Michigan rebounded from that and a blowout by Oregon to win eight in a row before dropping its final two games.
So Carr will spend this New Year’s Day at the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., where Michigan’s 1999, 2001 and 2002 bowls were, back when the game was the Citrus Bowl.
The location is tied with Pasadena, Calif., home of the Rose Bowl, as Michigan’s most common bowl trip under Carr.
The Wolverines (8-4) will face Florida (9-3) in a rematch of the 2003 Outback Bowl, Carr’s last bowl win.
Outback
SEC runner-up Tennessee (9-4) will play Wisconsin (9-3) after losing to LSU in the conference title game.
Gator
Virginia (9-3) will play Texas Tech (8-4) in a New Year’s day bowl.
Insight
Indiana (7-5) will play its first bowl since 1993 when it meets Oklahoma State (6-6).
Alamo
Texas A&M will face Penn State in a rematch of the 1999 game. This will be Joe Paterno’s 500th game as Penn State coach.
Independence Bowl
Nick Saban’s first Alabama team has ended up at the same place Mike Shula’s final one did: in the Independence Bowl trying to salvage a winning record. UA will face Colorado.
Music City
Bobby Bowden and Florida State will face Kentucky in a matchup of teams with 7-5 records.
Holiday Bowl
Left out of the BCS, Arizona State will play Texas after coach Dennis Erickson led the Sun Devils to a 10-2 record in his first season in Tempe.
Armed Forces Bowl
After a disappointing loss to archrival Stanford, California (6-6) will play Air Force (9-3) in the Armed Forces Bowl with a shot at its sixth straight winning record on the line.
Motor City
Purdue (7-5) will play Central Michigan (8-5) in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit on Dec. 26.
