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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 13, 2006LaMarr WoodleyQ. How would you describe the rivalry? LaMARR WOODLEY: It's definitely a big rivalry, just through all the years I've been here, and Coach Jackson and Coach Carr told me one day that Michigan and Ohio State will be 1 and 2 and will be going against each other and it's just an honor to be in it. Q. When did they tell that you? LaMARR WOODLEY: That was when I was a senior in high school before I came. And they said one day it would happen and it happened the last year I was here, so I'm glad it happened. Q. What's it like to play in the game, is it a different feeling than any other game you play? LaMARR WOODLEY: It's definitely going to be a different feeling this year, because there's a lot on the line this year. It's already a big rival game. Both teams are undefeated in our conference, and it's a chance to compete and play in the National Championship game. Q. You were pretty emotional after the game (ph), what was that all about? LaMARR WOODLEY: Just a little upset. We had a lot of turnovers in the game. We gave up points. And I knew the last two games that we could not play like that because if we played Indiana and Ohio State like that, those two teams would capitalize on that and come out and beat us. Q. Is it more emotional for you because you're a captain? LaMARR WOODLEY: It's definitely emotional, because it's your last year. You don't get another chance to do this again. How you leave out your last year, that's how you're going to be remembered and that's how you're going to remember your life when you go back and look, your last year in college, how did you finish, I want to leave on a positive note. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: This game will be remembered forever because it's 1 and 2. Both teams are undefeated, I think it has not happened until 1975 or something, I seen on ESPN. It will definitely be a game to remember. Q. Is the key to slow down Troy Smith? LaMARR WOODLEY: You can't really just focus on one guy. It's an all-around team. They have other weapons on there. Every guy on the defense just doing what he's supposed to do, doing his responsibility. Q. What has he done against you guys the last couple of years, why has he been such a problem? LaMARR WOODLEY: He can do it all. He can run and pass. When you have a quarterback like that, it's just like having an extra running back in the backfield. Q. Can you describe how you felt last year and has that motivated you at all? LaMARR WOODLEY: It felt like last year, the whole year was kind of down, just having a bad season, pretty much the whole year. That was just another game that put you down. In previous years, it was the same way. The season was never going as well as we wanted it to be. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: Coach is just a guy that's just fired up all the time. He's always ready to go. When you see him around the building, he's just ready to go. He gets fired up. You know he's going to be fired up and ready to go, and he kind of motivates you to get everything going. Q. If you find yourself on the open field with Troy Smith, what should you do? LaMARR WOODLEY: Try to make a tackle, just do my responsibility. Sometimes you don't want a quarterback to get outside, you want to draw him closer in to your defense so everybody can get a game tackle. Q. Why has that been so hard to do the past two years? LaMARR WOODLEY: I don't know. You know, a guy who can't be contained, not doing their responsibility, taking a wrong angle at a guy. You take a wrong angle at a guy like that, he's bound to break for yards. Q. How did you feel as players last year with all of the criticism Coach Carr faced? LaMARR WOODLEY: When somebody talks bad about your coach, that's like one of your family members, you're going to try to prove them wrong. Coach Carr is a good coach. Coach can only go out there and coach so much. It's up so the players to go out there and do the job. You know, when we lose games, it wasn't Coach Carr's fault, that was the players' fault, because we wasn't doing what we was coached to do. They don't go out there and play the game for us. When people talk bad about your coach, you want to go out there and prove them wrong and show them that you have a good coach. Q. Does it mean more, getting to where you are now? LaMARR WOODLEY: Oh, definitely, definitely. Because last year, you have to look back and each player on the team have to look back and wonder, what was some of the things that we did wrong last year. And just coming into this year, I mean, we had a bunch of guys that was committed, committed to losing weight, committed to gaining weight, committed to working hard every day in the off-season. Q. (Is there more pressure to win because of what is at stake? LaMARR WOODLEY: There's pressure on both teams. I can't say who has got the most pressure, but there's pressure on both teams, because this is just a big game, getting a lot of hype in this game. Like I said both of these teams are undefeated. This is one of the biggest rivals, ever, so I can't really say there's pressure on either team as much, it's kind of equalled out. Q. When you look around the locker room, you're surrounded by a bunch of guys who strive to play in the spotlight. LaMARR WOODLEY: Oh, yeah, we have a group of guys on this team this year that's fired up, very excited. This is the best team I've played on since I've been in college or been here at Michigan. A bunch of guys out there just having fun and they love to compete every day. You can see that in practice. Just the attitude that each guy has in practice, you know the attitude he's going to have in the game. Q. What has being captain this year meant to you? LaMARR WOODLEY: It's meant a lot. It shows the respect that you get from your teammates. The guys that look up to you, the guys who had as been looking up to you ever since you game in the door, because I feel that's where the leadership starts. Guys want to walk in, guys want to see how you carry yourself on and off the field and how you're going to lead the team. It's just a respect thing, how the guys just respect me. Q. Were you a little surprised when you were named captain? LaMARR WOODLEY: Yeah, I was a little surprised, because one thing I never done a lot was talk. I was never really the guy that talk a lot. I was kind of the guy that will go out there and show you what I can do on the field, but didn't know how to talk. The thing about this year that's helped me lead this team is having a bunch of seniors that's helping me out, like Crable, Leon Hall, Dave Harris, all the guys talk. So even when the captain has his down days, there's other guys to step up and help me lead this team. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: You know, Coach knows exactly what I feel comfortable doing, and I told him just put me in a position where I can help this team win, doesn't matter where. And the thing that just helped me improve this year is just the guys around me on the defensive line, the guys behind me, we are all working together. We are all doing our job. You don't find any guy on this defense that's trying to do anything extra by making plays. He's just doing what he's coached to do. Q. Why do you feel comfortable on the line? LaMARR WOODLEY: Why? Because we got a lot of talent up front, Branch, Taylor, Rondell Biggs, Tim Jamison coming in. It not like they can just concentrate and focus on one guy, because if you double-team me, you've got the other guys coming. You double-team one of them, here I come. So there's all-around talent. Q. Before this season began, did you think a season like this was within you? LaMARR WOODLEY: Yeah, I knew it was there, not as far as myself, but as far as the team, because I just knew that the guys that we had coming back this year, we didn't lose many guys on offense. We didn't lose any guys on defense. I knew it was going to be a great year as long as everybody, you know, commit. Once I seen during spring and during fall camp that everybody had made that commitment, I knew we was going to go a long way. Q. How about you personally? LaMARR WOODLEY: It was kind of up in the air. It definitely was up in the air. But after that first game, I felt like, you know, maybe I could be an impact player after all. It was just working with the guys that was around me. Q. What's it like going up against Jake Long? LaMARR WOODLEY: Jake Long is probably the best offense I've ever went up against. He's big, fast and he's strong, and he got good hands. So with Jake, you know, we compete every day in practice. I'm not going to get no better look than Jake Long. He gets you ready for the game. If you take off a play, you know Jake will put you on the ground. Any time you go up against Jake, you've always got to be prepared for a battle. Q. How often does he put you on the ground? LaMARR WOODLEY: He hasn't put me on the ground yet. (Laughter) He hasn't done that. It's like a 50/50 at battle. I'm not going to win them all, but Jake was not going to win them all, but he hasn't put me on the ground yet. Q. Can you describe that feeling last year of what watching the team struggle? LaMARR WOODLEY: That definitely was hard, that was my first time being injured, I had never missed any football games period. I had trust in the guys behind me and I just played my role as far as being an extra coach on the sideline helping guys out when they come to the sidelines, just telling them whatnot to do. I just became more of a coach than a player. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: It was definitely nice, just being at home and it was just actually -- to go to the Rose Bowl, being a freshman, all of the fans just run out there on the field. It was very exciting and I had an opportunity to play in that game. Q. What would it mean to you to go there undefeated? LaMARR WOODLEY: Somebody's season is going to have to get spoiled. We both are undefeated. So, we'll see. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: I mean, it's pretty much, you know, you want to tell the younger guys that -- because all the older guys on this team has been around here for a while, they know what to expect. They know the things that goes on, but sometimes it's the younger guys who really don't understand who is like new to the game. So you definitely want to keep them focused. Q. What was your reaction to the incident with the dog? LaMARR WOODLEY: Like what's going on, I thought, maybe somebody had something on him or something happened. You know, I didn't know what happened. I just seen everybody putting their bag down so I just followed and put my bag down. After that, we just went in the locker room. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: I mean, we're going to meet up a little later on today. But yesterday, every guy came out to the field and just watching film, you know, on the team. But as far as me, we're going to meet a little bit today. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: No, we just focus on the team we're playing against. Like Indiana, we was not trying to overlook any one of those teams at all. Q. Chad talked about Coach Carr showing Cinderella Man, what did that mean to you? LaMARR WOODLEY: Oh, it means a lot. He was like, no one believed in him. No one believed that he still had it and that's like the same thing with us. Nobody believed that we had it. But now we're proving a lot of people wrong. We're not that same team from last year. We're still fighting to get to the top. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: Definitely they have a nice offensive line. They give Troy Smith enough time to throw passes and give the running back to do blocking and get the running game going, so they are definitely good up front. Q. Is that one of the best offenses you face in terms of they have so many weapons and how do you prepare for it? LaMARR WOODLEY: I think we get our best look every day in practice from our offense. Q. (No microphone.) LaMARR WOODLEY: I mean, it's kind of both. We're getting a lot of pressure from the four-man front and when you get pressure from the four-man front, there's no need to blitz. But then when we do blitz, we do get home, but we do a good job with the four-man front. Q. How important will it be in a four-man front or a blitz to put pressure on Smith? LaMARR WOODLEY: It's just guys, when you do blitz, or when you do get the four-man rush, just stay in your lane. You don't want to open up the gap too wide where they have an opportunity to run. Q. Do you have visions of Troy Smith running in your head? LaMARR WOODLEY: No. I don't know what you can vision, but come Saturday, we'll see what all takes place out there. We're not going to have many fans there, we're going to have a very small section, so it's just us against the whole stadium pretty much. We know it's going to be rowdy from the bus ride, it's always loud. You've got people yelling. You're getting on the bus, they are yelling. When you get off the bus, they are yelling. When you're on the field, they are yelling. When you leave the stadium, they are yelling. So it will be the same no matter what. Q. Some of the other players described Ohio Stadium as loud and unfriendly -- LaMARR WOODLEY: Oh, they are definitely unfriendly wherever you go. Some people give you the middle finger. You know, 'you suck'; you get everything. Whatever comes out of their mouth, they are going to say it and you just kind of sit back and laugh. Some of these people are just crazy. 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