"Are you kidding me?"

As a Michigan football fan, I was frustrated several times yesterday as I watched USC trounce the Wolverines 32-18 in the Rose Bowl.

I yelled at the TV every time Michigan predictably ran the ball on first down. I threw Cheetos in the air on every third down USC converted because the Wolverines refused to blitz. I almost choked on a pretzel when Steve Breaston slipped on a crucial fourth down late in the game.

But nothing - not a single thing - drew my ire more than when head coach Lloyd Carr sent out his punt team with just over five minutes remaining and his team trailing by 21 points. He quit on his team, plain and simple. By taking his offense off the field, Carr was telling them, "You're done, I don't believe in you."

Sure, the chance of Michigan coming back was one-in-a-million, but what in the world did the Wolverines have to lose? Who cares if USC takes over at the Michigan 30-yard line and scores another TD? What is the difference between a 14-point loss and 21-point loss?

There was no way Carr should have punted in that situation (4th-and-10 at the Michigan 31). Go for it. Tell your kids there's still a chance. Crazier things have happened and will happen. Just a week ago Texas Tech pulled off the biggest comeback in a bowl, recovering from a 38-7 second-half deficit to Minnesota. Granted, Minnesota and USC aren't comparable opponents, but coaches certainly know that a game's never over.

Carr raised the white flag. But he wasn't done.

After USC recovered Michigan's onside kick with just under a minute remaining, Carr could have used the Wolverines' three timeouts to try to get the ball back and maybe score again. Instead, he was ready for the showers. Maybe he had a dinner date.

Or maybe - and hopefully, because this is a little better excuse - he wanted to get in front of a TV and watch the Boise State-Oklahoma matchup in the Fiesta Bowl, because he sure could have learned a lot from the Broncos, who were huge underdogs but won thanks to gutsy, unpredictable play-calling.

Carr giving up on his players was just a part of possibly the worst three hours of coaching in his otherwise illustrious coaching career. Games are won by the players on the field. You won't find many people who disagree with that. But coaches certainly can increase or decrease their team's chance of success.

On Monday the Michigan coaching staff killed the Wolverines.

To start with, their game plan was as predictable as the daily forecast in Seattle for rain. Michigan's plays consisted of running Mike Hart to the weak side of the field (which didn't make much sense, since the sideline limited him) or having Chad Henne drop back five or seven steps to throw either an out or a crossing pattern. There were no tosses to Hart to the strong side. There was no misdirection (which definitely could have worked, considering how USC was overpursuing). And there was no trickeration.

Again, hopefully Carr watched Boise State's offense, because the hook-and-ladder the Broncos ran and the two-point conversion to win the game 43-42 in overtime (a fake pass to the right and then a draw to the left) were incredible play calls. Risky, yes. But superb when executed flawlessly.

Men on sports talk radio today were mentioning how their non-football-fan wives could predict Michigan's plays. Not a good sign there, Lloyd.

So the original offensive game plan stunk. But there must have been adjustments made, right? Well, not really. In the third quarter, as USC began to pile up the points, the Wolverines stuck to their run-to-open-up-the-pass strategy with a stubbornness that only ill-minded politicians are supposed to possess.

It wasn't until the fourth quarter, with Michigan facing a double-digit deficit, that it finally abandoned the run (for the most part). The Wolverines then scored to cut their deficit to 19-11. And despite a USC score, Michigan was marching again, before Breaston slipped, USC scored again…

And Carr decided to call it a day.

USC coach Pete Carroll is the antithesis of Lloyd Carr. While you need to threaten Carr to make him change his game plan, Carroll simply reacts to what is happening, making the necessary adjustments to give his team the best chance to win. USC couldn't run the ball in the first half (which ended in a 3-3 tie) so Carroll ditched it in the second half. USC threw the ball on 27 of its first 29 plays, and the two runs were QB sneaks to pick up first downs. Carroll and company noticed that Morgan Trent couldn't guard Dwayne Jarrett in man coverage, so they had John David Booty - whom Michigan made look spectacular - throw to Jarrett all day to the tune of 11 receptions for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Carroll was still passing late into the fourth quarter, when only nitwits like me thought a comeback was remotely possible.

He was doing what worked. Can't blame him.

While there was no clear offensive strategy that worked for Michigan on Monday, it certainly wasn't running Hart or having Henne sit in the pocket. Hart rushed 17 times for 47 yards (a paltry 2.8 yards per carry). Henne was sacked six times (brining back ill memories of the 2004 Rose Bowl, against these same Trojans, when John Navarre was sacked nine times). Michigan should have realized that giving the ball to Hart in running situations was not working. It should have instead used quick passes on early downs to set up the run.

Never really happened.

And what about that vaunted Michigan defense? If UCLA, which finished the season 7-6, held USC to nine points, surely Michigan could provide a similar effort. Instead, the second half became the Booty-to-Jarrett show. While that combo was great, the Michigan D has to take some of the credit for making them look like Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. The defense was as predictable as the offense. There were hardly any second-half blitzes, and even when they did blitz, they were too late. Delayed blitzes are not going to work when the quarterback is getting rid of the ball very quickly.

While Trent got exposed, he can't be blamed that much for getting manhandled by USC's receivers. He was often left on an island, and even when the safeties did come to help, they were usually too late (like on Jarrett's back-breaking 62-yard touchdown catch that made the score 25-11).

Booty finished the game with a clean jersey. Obviously this wasn't the same Michigan defense that injured two Penn State quarterbacks in one game.

But it could have been much better with better schemes. Pressure Booty. Knock him down. Get hands in his face. None of this happened, especially in the second half.

So now Michigan has not only lost three straight to Ohio State, but four straight bowl games. The "great" season Michigan had going has been spoiled by back-to-back losses. The leftovers are only "good." The "Fire Lloyd Carr" websites will definitely resurface, and I can't blame those who take that route.

Those, including myself, who spit on the BCS and the coaches poll after Florida jumped Michigan to No. 2 in early December now have nothing to say. Michigan didn't look like a top five team on Monday.

Something has to change. Carr won't be fired. He'll likely be in Ann Arbor, like Joe Paterno at Penn State, until he chooses to step down. So he needs to make changes. Michigan's current system is good enough to beat the Wisconsins and Penn States of the Big Ten. It's good enough to challenge Ohio State (but not beat it), and it's not close to good enough to win a bowl game against an elite opponent, who is much better prepared to take the field.

I know Michigan is very resistant to change. It will always be a run-to-set-up-the-pass team. And that's fine, if 11-2 seasons are what Carr & Co. are after. But judging by Carr's very, very disappointed reaction after the game, 11-2 is not acceptable at Michigan.

Carr's hands are the dirtiest. He deserves the most blame for the 0-2 finish to the season.

And if Michigan is going to contend for the national title next year - which it is expected to do - it will start with Carr always believing in his players and never giving up on them in a game until the clock reads 0:00.

In other words, doing whatever it takes to win.