The rivalry between Michigan and Eastern Michigan might be one-sided, but it's hard to deny its importance for the Wolverines.

The last time Michigan hosted its Ypsilanti rival, it was coming off back-to-back losses to start the 1998 campaign.

It's a familiar story for most Michigan fans. Coming off their national championship year, the Wolverines opened the season in South Bend, where Notre Dame defeated the defending national champions, 36-20. Then, Michigan welcomed Syracuse to the Big House. Led by current-Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, the Orangemen soundly beat Michigan, 38-28.

The first two games of the 2005 season might not have been quite as disappointing for the Maize and Blue. But more than likely, the Wolverines would like their matchup with Eastern Michigan to turn out the same way it did in 1998.

Michigan's offense exploded for 59 points against the Eagles that year, and the 39-point victory kicked off a seven-game winning streak for the Wolverines. With a road loss to Ohio State its only additional blemish, Michigan finished that season with a 10-3 record and a win over Arkansas in the Citrus Bowl.

This year's squad hopes to use a strong performance against the Eagles tomorrow to kick-start a similar streak.

"People will judge us based on how we react to what happened (last) Saturday," senior fullback Brian Thompson said. "We're not looking past Eastern by any means."

All the Wolverines understand they can't underestimate their Mid-American Conference opponent. But if there's one person on the Michigan sideline that knows just how good the Eagles can be, it's Lloyd Carr.

In 1976, Carr was head coach at John Glenn High School in Westland, where he had led his team to an 8-1 record and earned Coach of the Year honors the previous season. That summer, George Mans - a former Michigan captain and then secondary coach at Eastern Michigan - resigned, and Eagles head coach Ed Chlebek approached Carr about filling the position.

Carr said he enjoyed his job at John Glenn, where he was being paid $20,000, but even a paycut couldn't stop him from moving on to Eastern Michigan.

"Ed Chlebek offered me a job for $10,700, which I immediately took," Carr said.

In Carr's first season as secondary coach, the Eagles stumbled to a 2-9 record, and Carr began to regret taking the job. But with third-team All-America selection Ron Johnson leading the secondary, Eastern Michigan finished with an 8-3 record in 1977. After that season, Carr left the Eagles to become secondary coach at Illinois.

"I was only there about 18 months - nearly starved to death," Carr joked. "But everything worked out OK."

Since then, Carr has amassed a 96-30 record as head coach of the Wolverines and has led them to five of the past eight Big Ten titles.

But none of that - including last week's home loss to Notre Dame - matters to Carr tomorrow.

"You'd better be trying to figure out what happened and find some solutions to the issues that you face," Carr said. "But you'd better be zeroed in on the next deal. That's what we've got to do."