But the first thing Henne thought about when the news of Schembechler’s death just a few minutes before noon Friday was this: “You’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity you’ve got, because he was there one day, and then he’s gone the next.

“We dearly miss him,” he added. “We tried to fight for him today.”

None of the Wolverines, though, missed him more than Carr.

Schembechler hired him in 1980 to coach his secondary and taught him the Michigan way of doing things. That involved everything from bringing in music students to tutor the players on singing “The Victors” to teaching his lineman blocking schemes that were every bit as intricate as a ballroom waltz.

Trying to honor those lessons, Carr steeled himself from the second the news arrived to the bitter end of Saturday’s classic. He asked his kids not to use Bo as motivation — or even worse, an excuse. He asked only that each of them “coach and play in a way that would honor him.”

And good as his word, Carr refused to lobby his colleagues, anybody else who votes in the polls, or even the public for a rematch. Afterward, he conceded that telling his kids of Schembechler's death “was hard and it was emotional, yet all of us have challenges and you’ve got to move on.

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“You’ve got to deal,” he said, “with whatever comes your way.”

Carr did that as capably as he could, wiping a tear when he climbed on the bus Friday afternoon in Ann Arbor and then going about his business the last 24 hours with a resolve that would have made Schembechler proud.

“He wasn’t, you know, emotional,” defensive end LaMarr Woodley said. “He wasn’t really showing it because he didn’t want to bring any guys on the team down. We feed off our coach, so he was just trying to stay positive.”

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That was never tougher than on Saturday, knowing that he likely lost a shot at the national title, that he lost to Ohio State archrival Jim Tressel for the fifth time in six games, and can’t even be certain whether the Rose Bowl will hold open a slot for his Wolverines.

After all they’d gone through and given up, somebody asked Carr how tough it would be waiting to find out where his team, arguably still the second best in the nation, would be playing next. For the first time, maybe, all afternoon, his reddened eyes lit up and his lips grudgingly parted in a smile.

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“I have no idea,” he said. “I guess we’ll find out.”

Wherever that turns out to be, Carr can count on this much: Bo will be looking on.