TA DAILY SPORTS BREAKS DOWN THE WEEKEND THAT WAS r ^ 4 4 2 N --ovember 5, 2007 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 I I 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? Intel provides exciting opportunities for innovative minds. To learn more about career opportunities, visit: www.intel.com/jobs/careers 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- marks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 4 'O