Michigan’s win Saturday was the 100th victory of coach Lloyd Carr’s career at Michigan. Carr is only the third coach ever to accomplish the feat with the Wolverines.

“We’ve always had great tradition,” Carr said. “In my particular case, I’ve had great coaches around me and great players.”

In a time of increasing pressure at major programs, Carr’s feat is a rarity. Only 12 coaches in Big Ten history have won 100 games at one institution.

While some, such as Penn State’s Joe Paterno and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, have been with their schools for several decades, steadfast loyalty to coaches appears to be a thing of the past.

“It’s a different era than it used to be,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Most of us would be happy now just to last 100 games, not win them.”

Paterno upstaged Carr on Saturday, becoming only the second coach to reach the 350 win plateau.

Paterno, who has coached in Happy Valley for 40 years, is behind only Bowden who has 357 victories.

“That will never happen again,” Ferentz said. “I don’t want to make any predictions, but at one school, that will never happen again.”

Perhaps what was most impressive about the accomplishment was that Paterno, who says he doesn’t read the papers, had no idea it happened.

“I didn’t even realize it was 350 wins until after the game was over,” Paterno said. “I was in the press conference and some guy said, ‘How does it feel to win 350 games?'”

Badgers Carry On

Despite low expectations, Wisconsin is three wins away from closing out a Big Ten championship.

“I hope (the players) are not looking at three games,” coach Barry Alvarez said. “They’re all smart enough to know what the standings say, but if you get too far ahead – you’re going to be in trouble.”

While Alvarez insists the team has not played a complete game, the Badgers continue to pull out victories.

The success is more remarkable considering the defensive line has been suffering injuries since the start of the season. Fullback Matt Bernstein has also been out with what Alvarez termed a “sports hernia type thing.”

“I think if someone would have told me that we would have lost our top three defensive lineman by the third ball game and then lose three more two ball games ago, plus lose our best receiving tight end for at least half of the season and Bernstein for the majority of the Big Ten season and then say that you’re going to be 7-1, I would have found that hard to believe,” Alvarez said.

Waiting to boil

For a brief period on Saturday, it seemed things finally came together for Purdue. But after two interceptions returned for touchdowns, the Boilermakers were still mired in their five-game losing streak.

“Our message to our football team is you need to – have an unshakeable belief that if you do things the right way, things will eventually break right for you,” coach Joe Tiller said. “None of us have a crystal ball with us, so we can’t tell them when it will break.”

Dorien Bryant, the team’s leading receiver, is now dealing wtih a groin injury. While he expects to play for the rest of the season, it is another blow to a team that has been pulled down by quarterback Brandon Kirsch’s inconsistency.

“I don’t believe Brandon has really put together a complete game like he’s capable of doing,” Tiller said. “I believe Brandon would concur with that.”

Reach David Kalan at [email protected].