TA
DAILY SPORTS BREAKS DOWN THE WEEKEND THAT WAS
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
SAID AND HEARD
"I was just laughing. I thought it was
funny. They got excited. Sometimes
you get your little brother excited when
you're playing basketball and you let him get
the lead. Then you just
come and take it back."
- Michigan running back Michael Hart on how he felt
down 10 with seven minutes left in Saturday's game
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
DANIEL
BROMWICH
The Daily sports editor and
senior quarterback threw 10
touchdowns against The State
News in the 10-6 victory. Play-
ing safety on defense, he also
picked off two State passes
near his team's goalline to help
preserve the victory.
SP
Michigan Man redefined
EAST LANSING -
For all the bulletin-board
material the Michigan foot-
ball team has manufactured
this season, its
loudest state-
ment to date
was just made ,
with stone-cold
silence.
Following
Saturday's game
in East Lansing, SCOTT'
the Michigan BELL
football team
huddled near
midfield for what appeared to be a
team prayer. But, it was actually a
direct response to comments Mich-
igan State coach Mark Dantonio
made to the media more than two
months ago.
In early September, Dantonio
asked the press if he should have
a moment of silence for Michigan
the day Appalachian State beat the
Wolverines. Apparently, word got
back to Ann Arbor about the com-
ments. Not surprisingly, it fired up
the team.
That led to the team's post-game
kneeling in the middle of Spartan
Stadium Saturday night - the Wol-
verines returned the favor with a
moment of silence for Michigan
State. After that, they simply got
up, bowed to the Spartan Stadium
faithful and headed back to the
locker room to celebrate their 28-24
win.
"It was personal," defensive
tackle Terrance Taylor said after
the game. "This one was personal
because of some of the things they
said, dating all the way back to the
beginning of the year, after we lost
to Appalachian State. It was per-
sonal.
"'Let's have a moment of silence
for Michigan' - it felt like we won
two games today."
Call it confidence, call it acting
obnoxiousness, call it swagger.
But whatever term you choose
to describe what has changed
the Michigan football team, this
"thing" is something the Wol-
verines certainly didn't have two
months ago. And more important,
it's something this group needs
if it wants to finally enda season
strongly - something the Wolver-
ines haven't done since the current
senior class arrived in Ann Arbor.
Usually Michigan athletes are
expected to act like Michigan Men:
the say-the-right-thing, do-the-
right-thing athletes Bo Schem-
bechler expected everyone to
become while he was still coaching
here. That's fine, buta little swag-
ger can't hurt.
Need proof? How does an
8-0 record since that swagger
reemerged strike your fancy?
It started following Michigan's
embarrassing 32-point home loss to
Oregon.
Mike Hart, the outspoken senior
who usually has all the answers,
stood at the podium not knowing
what went wrong.
But it didn't take him long to try
and fire up his team.
"We're goingto win next week,"
Hart said, referring to the game
against Notre Dame the next week.
"There's not a question in my mind.
I guarantee we win next week. I'm
going to get this team ready."
Fast forward two months, and
Hart's still setting the confident
tone for this team.
Hey Mike: How'd you feel when
you were down 10 with seven min-
utes to go?
s
The Michigan football team gathered at midfield after Saturday's win.
U
MORE ONLINE
at michigandaiiy.com
CHECK THE EDITOR'S 8LOG
FOR DETAILS ON THE
MICHIGAN DAILY'S 10-6
VICTORY AGAINST THE STATE
NEWS THIS PAST WEEKEND.
"I was just laughing," Hart said.
"I thought it was funny. They got
excited. Sometimes you get your
little brother excited when you're
playing basketball and you let him
get the lead. Then you just come
and take it back."
Hart got a chance to backtrack
when he was asked a follow-up
question: Do you think of Michigan
State as your little brother?
"Yup," he matter-of-factly
responded.
Pure gold.
I don't want to see this team turn
into the next version of the Miami
Hurricanes, having more off-field
problems than on-field successes.
I'm confident that won't be the case
- the coaching and tradition that's
a part of this program won't let that
happen.
But this team took so much
criticism after an 0-2 start, so it's
allowed to have a chip on its shoul-
der.
Even the purists can agree that
a confident team is a better team.
And even if the team is walking a
fine line between confidence and
cockiness, it's winning.
I'll take a controversial winner
over a lovable loser any day.
- Bell can be reached at
scotteb@umich.edu.
*MV oa' doCoUniONt
HOW TO
HAVE IT ALL
0
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The Intel Foundation Congratulates
Lisa Hsu
2007-08 Intel Foundation Ph.D.
Fellowship Award Recipient
Lisa Hsu was awarded a Ph.D. fellowship grant from the Intel
Foundation for the 2007-08 academic year. Hsu's fellowship
research focus is on Computer Architecture in Systems
Technology and Design.
This year, the Intel Foundation Ph.D. Fellowship Program awarded
30 fellowships totaling more than $1.3 million to outstanding Ph.D
candidates pursuing leading-edge research at 23 U.S. universities.
Winners were selected from more than 140 applicants. To learn
more about Intel's commitment to higher education, visit:
www.intel.com/education/highered
Interested in a career at Intel?
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To learn more about career opportunities, visit:
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The intel Education Initiative is funded by intel Foundation and Intel Corporation.
Copyright 0Q2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. intel, the inteilogo, and the intel Education initiative are trade-
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