The Capital One Bowl proved a fitting end to a season that's defied most every expectation for the Michigan Wolverines football team. Michigan's 41-35 victory over the Florida Gators will go down in Michigan lore as proof of The Schembechler Doctrine — even if the Wolverines aren't champions in the traditional, having-won-a-championship sense of the word.

But certainly the irony of beating a Florida Gators squad that waylaid the rival Ohio State Buckeyes to win last year's national championship is lost on no one, least of all on the coach who struggled so mightily in recent years against the Buckeyes.

Carr went 1-6 in Big Games against Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. Last year was one of the worst, as Carr and the Wolverines capped off what should've been a "special" season with two consecutive losses, to OSU in the regular season finale and USC in the Rose Bowl. In some circles, Carr was thought past his time, a great regular season competitor who, with the exception of the 1997 co-national championship, just couldn't come through in Big Games or in bowl games.

But when Tressel and the seemingly inhuman Buckeyes were embarrassed in the national championship game, 41-14, by the Florida Gators, Carr was granted a reprieve in the minds of Michigan fans (he could've done no wrong that would've resulted in his being fired, Athletic Director Bill Martin often said). If a well-prepared coach like Tressel could lay an egg in the national championship, then it was understandable that Carr might have his own troubles.

Seeing Ohio State lose last year, in such grand impressive fashion, brought many smiles to the Michigan faithful worldwide. But that joy paled in comparison to the euphoria of defeating the team that destroyed the Buckeyes.

And the joy of sending off a class act with a win in his final game.

The Capital One Bowl, though, wasn't just about Lloyd Carr. It was about the Big Ten's pride as a conference, and about the bond between a coach and his players.

Michigan's victory over the defending-champion Gators chipped away at the conventional wisdom that Big Ten teams just can't compete with the speedy SEC.