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Two bizarre weeks, two bizarre wins. After a 132-point, triple-
overtime marathon, the Wolverines came out and played their
best defense of the year. Weird, right? So now, they have some-
thing to prove in the last two weeks. Wisconsin just scored 83
points. Ohio State is still Ohio State. The easy ones are definitely
over. For Michigan, it's crunch time.
Daily Football Beat
Nicole Auerbach, Ryan Kartje, Tim Rohan and Joe Stapleton
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BREAKDOWN: Michigan's defense is riding quite
the high from the last two weeks, but can it match
up with Wisconsin's power offense?
4 FOLLOWING TROY: Star senior cornerback
Troy Woolfolk's road from season-ending injury
to recovery.
THE STORY OF T-WOOLF: In his own words,
Troy Woolfolk tells us the story of his alter ego,
T-Woolf.
GAME PREVIEW: With a dominant trio of backs
in John Clay, James White and Montee Ball, the
Badgers will look to power through Michigan.
Cover photo illustration by Jake Fromm
2010 Schedule
Connecticut (Sept. 4): Denard ran all over
UConn. He proved he could pass the ball too,
and Rich Rod's hot seat began to cool down.
Notre Dame (Sept. 11): After UConn, the ND
game was Denard's encore on steroids, with a
game-winning drive.
Massachusetts (Sept. 18): Michigan squeaked
by the Minutemen, winning by less than a touch- IL
down. A win is a win is a win.
Bowling Green (Sept. 25): Michigan piled on the
points against the Falcons, somewhat curing the
Massachusetts hangover.V
Indiana (Oct. 2): The Wolverines survived their
first Big Ten test - but defense was once again
suspect. Denard saved the day with 494 yards.
Michigan State (Oct. 9): The game itself didn't
live up to the hype, due to Denard's three INT. It
was over by halftime, State's third in a row.
Iowa (Oct. 16): Michigan looked to rebound
from arguably its worst loss in two years. Iowa's
vaunted front four stood in the Wolverines' way.
Penn State (Oct. 30): Oh, Matt McGloin. Penn
State's walk-on-at-quarterback experiment
worked a little better than 08-09 Michigan's.
Illinois (Nov. 6): More than 100 points, 10 turn-
overs, and all I got was this stupid win. Just kid-
ding, Michigan will take any late conference win.
Purdue (Nov. 13): The Boilermakers did some-
thing no one has done all season: Make Michi-
gan's defense look good.
Wisconsin (Nov. 20): After putting up 83 points
against Indiana, Michigan's 'D' must be shaking
in their boots.
Ohio State (Nov. 27): In a perfect world, Michi-
gan may be going for its ninth win here. But the
Wolverines don't need a reason to try in Columbus.
Crosby.
Madrowski
SAPAC-
STAFF PICKS
The Daily football writers do their best
to predict, against the spread, what
happens in the 2010 football season.
Ryan Tihn
Kartje x Rohan
Joe
Stapleton
Nicole
Auerbach
The origin of T-Woolf
I
No.7 Wisconsin (-7) vs. Michigan
No. 4 Boise State (-30) vs. Fresno State
No. 5 LSU (-21) vs. Mississippi
No. 6 Stanford (-8) at California
No.8 Nebraska (-2.5) at No.19 Texas A&M
No.9 Ohio State (3.5) at No. 20 Iowa
No.10 Oklahoma State (-18) at Kansas
No.11 Alabama (NS) vs. Georgia State
No.12 Michigan State (-26) vs. Purdue
No.13 Arkansas (-5.5) at No. 21 Miss. State
No.14 Oklahoma (-9) at Baylor
No.15 Missouri (-12) at Iowa State
No.16 Va. Tech (-3) at No. 24 Miami (Fla.)
No.17 South Carolina (-22) vs. Troy
No.18 Nevada (-36) vs. New Mexico St.
No. 23 Utah (+2) at San Diego State
No. 25 Florida State (-3) at Maryland
Illinois (-5) at Northwestern
Penn State (-17) vs. Indiana
Last week
Overall record
Wisconsin
Boise State
LSU
Stanford
Nebraska
Ohio State
Oklahoma State
Alabama
Purdue
Miss. State
Oklahoma
Missouri
Va. Tech
South Carolina
Nevada
Utah
Florida State
Northwestern
Penn State
8-14
117-91-8
Wisconsin
Fresno State
LSU
Stanford
Nebraska
Iowa
Oklahoma State
Alabama
Michigan State
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Missouri
Va. Tech
South Carolina
Nevada
Utah
Florida State
Northwestern
Penn State
12-10
112-96-8
Michigan
Boise State
Mississippi
Stanford
Nebraska
Iowa
Oklahoma State
Alabama
Michigan State
Arkansas
Baylor
Missouri
Va. Tech
South Carolina
Nevada
Utah
Florida State
Northwestern
Penn State
11-11
112-96-8
Michigan
Boise State
LSU
Stanford
Texas A&M
Ohio State
Oklahoma State
Alabama
Michigan State
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Missouri
Va. Tech
South Carolina
Nevada
Utah
Florida State
Northwestern
Penn State
10-12
113-95-8
Michigan
Boise State
Mississippi
Stanford
Nebraska
Iowa
Oklahoma State
Alabama
Purdue
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Missouri
Va. Tech
South Carolina
Nevada
Utah
Maryland
Illinois
Penn State
n/a
n/a
y dad played in the NFL for about eight years. To
make it to that level in football, you have to have an
edge over the millions of other players across the
country with whom you're competing for the chance to go pro.
Fortunately for my dad, he had enough edge to sell to the high-
est bidder. He was fast, strong and tall, but most important, he
was fearless. My father played running back, and on the field he
played like a man among boys. It was as if he went into an ani-
mal-like zone where he was a predator and his prey was waiting
for him in the end zone. Nothing would stop him from eating.
This zone that he would tap into whenever he stepped on the
field is actually a trait that is carried down the family line. We're
African American mixed with Native American. The tribe from
which my family descends worshipped a powerful creature that
rules the night and strikes fear in its potential victims with every
howl. This animal is a wolf. The people of my tribe would emu-
late the wolf lifestyle, copying the way it hunts and travels in
packs. Among males in the tribe there was a gene shared only by
a few random tribe members.
This gene allowed the individual to actually take on the
aggressive nature of a wolf, its focus, senses and its animalistic
ways. This was notpermanent, and it was notsomethingthatyou
could simply turn on when you wanted to. It is only triggered in
order to help the body in times of need. For example, the body
needs food, so ifa host carryingthis gene hadn't eaten in a while
and was hungry, he would go in the zone in search for food. This
gene can lie dormant in a kid's bodyuntil he has reached his ado-
lescent years and sometimes even later.
Since my dad played sports, he was adamant that I played a
sport. He figured speed is essential for every sport, so I started
running track at a very young age. With some good coaching
from my dad mixed with some of his genes, I became one of the
top sprinters in the nation. By the time Ihit high school, I started
playing football and seemed naturally good at it. I began to get
scholarship letters from schools. I made my dad proud, but there
was just one thing that my dad hated that held me back from
By Troy Woolfolk | Special to the Daily
reaching my full potential as an athlete.
The problem was that I was too silly. I have been the class
clown my whole life. My parents received numerous phone calls
about me making jokes causing other students to laugh, creating
a huge disruption in class. It was an ongoing problem on the foot-
ball field as well. Before the play would start, I would dance or
do something silly like that and not even know the play started,
which would cause me to give up a touchdown. I was just never
focused or ready to play. Luckily, my ability still offered me a
chance to go to college regardless of my flaws.
When I got to Michigan and started practicing with the rest of
the players on the team, I realized that I seriously needed to make
some changes. My silliness started to get me into even more trou-
ble on the field, ranging from punishments to missed assignments.
It wasn't until the end of my sophomore year during spring
ball that I started to change. I remember it like it was yesterday.
When I got home from practice one night, I received a call from
my coach, who told meI got the starting job at my position. I was
ecstatic. That whole night I couldn't sleep, I just kept imagin-
ing gameday and what it would be like coming onto the field and
playing in front of the big crowd.
The next day in practice I was extremely nervous because I
That night I stayed up for
hours pondering what was
going on and what happened to
me. Then I finally realized - I,
too, was blessed with the gene
of my family's ancient tribe.
could just feel the coaches' eyes grilling me to see whether they
made the right decision in giving me the starting job. I could feel
my hands violently shaking as if I was in the middle of Alaska
butt-naked with nothing but one sock on. When I finally made it
to the field after purposely taking my precious time in the locker
room, my violent shaking amplified, making it nearly impossible
for me to put on my gloves.
The whistle blew to start the play, and all of a sudden, a sense
of calmness came over me. I was no longer nervous or worried
about living up to the expectations of my coaches. The only thing
I was focused on was the football and my assignments. When the
receiver came off the ball, he tried to give me a juke move to get
me to open my hips the wrong way. When he did it, it was as if
time suddenly slowed down so I could watch his every move in
slow motion. I didn't know what was going on. I thought he was
tired or something so I asked him. He became angry, thinking
I was trying to insult him after locking him down on the play. I
was kind of glad though, because I knew that on the next play he
would give it his all to get revenge for what he perceived as trash
talking. But the next play was the repeat of the previous one: he
came off the ball and tried to juke me and once again it appeared
to be in slow motion.
That night I stayed up for hours pondering what was going on
and what happened to me. Then I finally realized - I, too, was
blessed with the gene of my family's ancient tribe. Due to the fact
that football is a competitive sport, my body felt as if it was being
threatened by the opponent, which triggered the wolf gene to
come out. The next day and for the rest of spring ball, my gene
became stronger and stronger within me. It startled my team-
mates because it was as if I was an entirely different person on
the field from who I was off the field. My friends were used to
the regular, silly, making-people-laugh Troy. They didn't know
what happened to me once I stepped on the field, because there
I was, strictly business with no room for smiles - mean, aggres-
sive and feisty.
See T-WOOLF, Page 8
TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com 17
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2 FootballSaturday, November 20, 2010