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The Michigan football team's senior class will face Iowa in its
final game at Michigan Stadium. Iowa has had the Wolverines'
number, too, winning each of the last threehcontests. You'ls
remember that the Hawkeyes squeaked out a thriller in Iowa
City last fall, winning when Junior Hemingway was ruled out of
bounds on a catch in the back of the end zone.
Ben Estes, Zach Helfand, Stephen J. Nesbitt, Luke Pasch
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BEHIND ENEMY LINES: What's it like to be
coached by your dad? We discuss it with
Iowa fifth-year senior center James Ferentz.
M ICHIGAN'S NICE GUY: Fifth-year senior
guard Patrick Omameh has won hearts
with his charitable works.
8BREAKDOWN: Guard your ACLs, Iowa
brings its hobbled backfield to Ann Arbor in
a favorable matchup for the Wolverines.
Cover illustration by MARISSA McCLAIN

2012 Schedule

Alabama (Sept. 1): Michgan's memory needs to
be short after this one. It should be anyway with
some of the hits the Crimson Tide dealt out.
Air Force (Sept. 8): Air Force ran all over
Michigan, but Denard Robinson returned the
favor to squeak out the 31-25 victory.
Massachusetts(Sept.15): Michigan thoroughly
dominated its weakest opponent, trouncing
Massachusetts, 63-13.
Notre Dame (Sept. 22): Robinson threw four
interceptions and Vincent Smith added another,
as the Fighting Irish barely scraped out a 13-6 win.
Purdue (Oct.a6): Kirk Herbstreit picked Purdue
to win the game and the Big Ten before the
game. He went tail-between-the-legs quickly.
Illinois (Oct. 13): The Wolverines had no trou-
ble dispatching the Fighting Illini, who were all
orange and no fight.

Michigan State (Oct. 20): Thank your lucky
brunettes. Brendan Gibbons kicked a game-
winning field goal to finally defeat the Spartans.
Nebraska (Oct. 27): In what.Michigan repeat-
edly called a 'championship week,' Robinson got
injured and Russell Bellomy couldn't do a thing.
Minnesota (Nov. 3): With Robinson out again,
Devin Gardner took a stab at quarterback and
routed the Golden Gophers, 35-13.
Northwestern (Nov. 10): In a late-season
matchup, we found that a wolverine scraps
harder than a wildcat. At the last minute, too.
Iowa (Nov. 17): It's not heaven. It's Iowa - the
utterly mediocre squad that handed Michigan
one of its two losses in 2011.
V Ohio State (Nov. 24): The reincarnation of the
Bo-Woody dynamic, Hoke and Meyer will com-
, pete in 'The Game' for the first time at the Shoe.

Sydney. When the parents asked
where the family should eat din-
ner, Omameh would always say
"It's wherever you guys want to go,"
Laura said.
He comes off as quiet to some
because he is reflective, Laura says,
observant. When Omameh was a
child, he struggled to get aword in
edgewise between his brother and
sister.
"When he did speak, he had
a mindset of 'Okay, if I'm gonna
speak, what I say is going to be pro-
found,' "Laura said.
And yes, here it is, the profound:
he opens his mouth and riffs on the
weight of expectations.
"At the end of the day it's just a
game," he muses of his life in foot-
ball. "It's, really, it's not. At this
level, there's so much more on the
line. I remember somebody was
saying after the last staff, they were
on the hot seat, and people were
saying, you could think it's just a
game, but if we come out here and
we perform poorly, this man can
lose his job. That means this fam-
ily, these kids, have no income. You
know what I'm saying?
"If we think it's just a game, this
man loses his job. He can't get on
the field or whatever, and we're the
ones performing, but his job rests

squarely on our shoulders. ... What
it means to some people at a deeper
level, it's hard to look at it as some-
thing that is that trivial."
College football doesn't forgive,
even for the man who always pleas-
es, who always gives. The pressure
weighs. Maybe it weighs more for
him, though you'd never be able to
tell. Like in Omameh's true fresh-
man season, the year Michigan won
just three games. The Wolverines
played No. 9 Wisconsin that year
and trailed by 10 at halftime. The
crowd booed the team all the way
up the tunnel. Omameh hadn't
played - he couldn't please.
"I was probably the most upset 1,
can vividly remember in almost my
entire life," Omameh said. "In the
locker room I was just - that was
the year I redshirted, I didn't even
play that year - and I could choke
somebody.
"It's comical when youreally look
at it in broad terms how much pres-
sure people put on these 18-year old
kids. They really don't know the
effect that it has on some."
Michigan came back and won
that game.
Omameh recalls the same faces
he saw booing the team at halftime
were reaching down over the tun-
nel for high fives.

u. new coaching staff's new offense
quickly. The kid who doesn't like to
Believe this, there is a different let people down plays on the offen-
Omameh. Meaner. sive line. It fits.
He gave a part of himself to his Omameh's confidence had
family, and a part to charity and always made everything look easy,
a part to God. He gave himself to but it hadn't always been so. "Even
the younger members of DeSales' though Patrick mayhate me for say-
football team and to his studies. But ing so," says Laura, Omameh's con-
football is not for nice people, says fidence wasn't always there. As a
Funk, the offensive line coach. "It's child, he was a bit chubby. He wore
aviolent game. It's a tough sport for glasses and braces. He calls it his
tough people." "Dark Period."
What Omameh gives on the During the Dark Period,
field is only pain and darkness. Omameh played sports like soc-
Two years ago, Omameh drove one cer and basketball. It wasn't until
Notre Dame defender I5 yards off Omameh made a deal with his
the ball and then buried him into friend, Jacob, that he tried football.
the ground. Jacob, -a good basketball player,
"I enjoy collisions," Omameh would join Omameh's hoops team
says. "You want it. The collisions if Omameh would play for Jacob's
and the impact and just hitting is football team. That was sixth grade.
something that you learn to enjoy." By the end of eighth grade, Omameh
Wiggins, his high school coach, had grown considerably, and so had
said he still shows that clip to his his confidence. But Omameh hadn't
lineman. "He's pretty devastating," always been the biggest and best
he said. player on the team.
In a way, there is a different Then, he grew, and his personal-
Omameh on the field, but in another ity did too. That figure that waltzed
way, it makes sense. The bookish into DeSales after that one summer
student is meticulous with his tech- was different. He was confident and
nique. He is big-hearted with an eager to please.
explosiveness that could take him He held court with his humor,
to the NFL. His mind can under- and knocked anyone out on the
stand the defenses; can pick up a field, with ease.

Eu. -
Patrick Sr. believed his life would
be better in the United States, so in
1980, he left Nigeria to live with rel-
atives in Columbus. He left behind
his home, a city where the people
believe in themselves but also look
down on everyone else, according
to Phyllis. The name of the city is
Onitsha and some there believe it
literally means "arrogance."
But trusting his instincts, Pat-
rick Sr. went back to Onitsha to visit
family and friends, friends who led
him to the very spot he stood now,
led him to this woman named Phyl-
lis.
Again, his instincts told him,
"Look, Patrick, this is the one you're
looking for." And again, he trusted.
Patrick Sr. was calm and poised and
the woman, Phyllis, driven. So driv-
en was she that, "when I set my eyes
on him, I didn't let go." And the two
left together, back to Columbus to
raise a family, leaving Onitsha, the
pride and the arrogance behind.
Their middle child would never
live in this land, but he would come
from here.
He would be calm and driven,
with the confidence of Onitsha
and a heart that would make you
believe.


5.,.1 Oregon (-20.5 vs. N. 14 Stanfiord
No.2 KansasStatel2.5) ateBaylor
No. 4 Alabama vs. WestCarolina (N5)
N55Georgiavs..Georgia South (NS)
5No.6hio State atWisco:nsin (-2.5)
No.O8LSU(-18.5 vs.,Oiss
No. 10 Forida Satev(-31) at Maryi.,d
No.,125.outhCrolia.:Wofxd (NS)
No. 15 Oegon State, (-145) v..Calioria
No. 16Nebas.k (-20) v. Minnesotai.
No.i7 UCLA vs: No.21 USC (-3.s)
Nou22 Rutgersaticinni (Il-6)
No.. 23TxasTech at Oklahoma State.,-10)
No.25Kent5Stte -25) atuoigGeen
Mihign..Sate (-75vs.Nrthwter
Lust Week
Overall

Stanford
Kansas State.
Geor.gia
Ohio Sate
Forida
LSUJ
Marylan.d
South Caria.
Oklaoma..
Oregon Sate
Nebraska
Ke-i State,
Nortihwestern
Ini-n-a

Kansasn Sltt
Wae Forest
Ohio Sate
0le Miss
Forida Sate
SouthCarolna
Loisina Teh
Kenlht ae:
148-116-6

Oregon
Kansas State
Notre Dame
Alabam
Georgia
OhioStte
Florida
LSU
Texas A&M
Florida State
Clemson
South Carolina
Oklahoma
Orego$ Stt
Nebraska
usc
Louisiana Tech
Texas Tech
Kent State
Michigan State
Indiana
Purdue
156-108-6

Stanford
Kansas State
Wake Forest
Alabama
Georgia
Ohio State
Florida
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
Maryland
Clemson
South Carolina
Oklahoma
Oregon State
Nebraska
usc
Louisiana Tech
Ptgers
Texas Tech
Kent State
Northwestern
Penn State
Purdue
150-114-6

Peter J.
Nesbitt
Michigan
Oregon
Kansas State
Notre Dame
Alabama
Georgia
Wisconsin
Florida
L SU
Texas A&M
Florida State
North Carolina State
South Carolina
Oklahoma
Oregon State
Nebraska
L.Ouct Ah
Louisiana Tech
Rutgers
Oklahoma State
Knt State
Michigan State
Pe:nSlate

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