“We don’t want sympathy. We are going to fight back like Michigan teams always do, and we’ll do that.” Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr concluded his somber postgame press conference with words of resolve, but the sting of defeat hung in the room.
Michigan trailed by as many as 31 before adding sympathy touchdowns to only lose to Syracuse, 38-28. The loss snapped a home-opener win streak of eight games for the Wolverines and, despite being a 10-point underdog, Orange quarterback Donovan McNabb embarrassed Michigan in front of an NCAA record attendance of 111,012 to hand the Wolverines their second consecutive loss.