Schembechler Knows Tradition

Security guards stopped Bo Schembechler outside a news conference at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, asking to see his pass.

The legendary former coach, who led Michigan to the Rose Bowl 10 times over a 21-year career, told himself to stay calm.

Sooner or later, he thought, someone will recognize me.

Sooner or later, someone did. And while Pasadena was not always a happy place for Schembechler -- it took him six tries to win the Rose Bowl for the first time, in 1981 -- he gets a thrill walking onto the stadium grounds.

“USC-Michigan?” he asked. “You can’t get any better than this.”

Not everyone dressed in maize and blue shared his excitement -- when it comes to the “Granddaddy of Them All,” it seems there is a generation gap.

None of the current players were on the team in 1998, the last time Michigan played in Pasadena on Jan. 1. Tailback Chris Perry said he didn’t even watch the game much while growing up in North Carolina.

So Perry had little to say about the return of the Pac 10-Big Ten rivalry. “To be honest with you ... it doesn’t make that big a difference to me because I don’t really remember it,” he said.

The last five seasons, Michigan has played in the Orange Bowl, the Outback Bowl and three times in the Citrus Bowl. As Schembechler cracked: “All they know is bowls in Florida.”

One player with a distinct historical perspective is receiver Braylon Edwards, whose father, Stanley, played for Michigan in the late 1970s.

“He told me that when you pull up and see the Rose Bowl sign, it’s going to hit you,” Edwards said. “That’s what happened. Something changed inside of me and it became a different game.”

Schembechler suspects his teammates will catch on.

“Once they play in the game,” he said, “this is where they’ll want to come.”

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When asked about Thursday’s matchup, Schembechler recalled another game -- the 1984 Holiday Bowl -- that Michigan lost, 24-17, to Brigham Young.

That season, Norm Chow was BYU’s offensive coordinator, a position he now holds at USC.

“Watching his teams over the years, they’re very innovative and very unpredictable,” Schembechler said.

“That’s what the Michigan defense is up against.”

So he is most interested in what happens when the Trojans have the ball.

“I’m kind of anxious to see if we can slow them down,” he said. “We’ll be OK if we don’t give up the big play.”

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Quarterback John Navarre said his tailback, Perry, came west with aspirations that extend beyond the football field.

“He told me he wants to get discovered out here,” Navarre said. “He wants to act.”

When confronted with this information, Perry broke into a sheepish grin.

“Nah man,” he said. “I was just joking.”

He then proceeded to tell reporters about the quality of his performance in a Rose Bowl promo that he recently taped for ABC.

Navarre remained unconvinced of his teammate’s acting talent.

“I’ve never seen any of it,” he said. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”