BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Two moments from the University of Wisconsin football team's game against Purdue last week sum up what it's like in offensive lineman John Moffitt's world.

Moffitt made friends with a 5-year-old boy during an autograph session at Family Fun Day and got him tickets to the game.

"The (boy's) dad came up (to John) and said, 'I wanted to meet you, my son is such a big fan,' " recalled Dave Moffitt, John's father. "John said, 'Being a fan of an O-lineman is like adopting a highway; there is no return on your investment, but at least you know you did some charity work.' ''

Dave Moffitt could only shake his head while laughing. "Where do you come up with that stuff," he asked his son.

Where, indeed?

One of the features of UW home games, called "Ask the Badgers," plays on the video replay board and has players giving responses to a question posed by a fan. Last week, they were asked what they would do if they found money lying on the ground.

The best response is saved for last and this time -- no surprise -- it was Moffitt, who said he would probably eat it, like everything he finds on the ground. The Camp Randall Stadium crowd roared.

"After the game, there must have been 40 people who came up to him and commented on that," Dave Moffitt said.

With his unique observations on life, the media are drawn to Moffitt, a junior from Guilford, Conn., like moths to a flame. His popularity exploded last year when the athletic department's Web site, uwbadgers.com, gave him a blog.

"That kind of made me a little more media-friendly and I got used to talking to you guys," Moffitt said. "I got used to having a constant opinion on things. That was just a springboard, maybe, gave me a little more media attention. We got into a groove.

"It was like we started going out, we started seeing each other, me and the media -- and it was going good. We've been going steady ever since."

The only thing to get in the way of the courtship was UW coach Bret Bielema, who did not allow Moffitt to talk to reporters before the Iowa game. Moffitt struggled initially with the move from center to left guard, after returning from a pulled chest muscle. He was coming off a poor game against Ohio State the week before and Bielema didn't like all the interview requests Moffitt had that week.

"This is all it was," Bielema later told reporters. "I was going through the interview list and I saw he had like nine names after (his), that all you guys had requested him, and I knew you weren't requesting him to figure out how well he was going to play at guard.

"To me, a player should be interviewed because of what he's done on the field. I understand where you're coming from, but I wanted to make him aware that I knew he could play better and I needed him to play better."

Moffitt has done that the last two games, going into today's game at Indiana. He is part of a resurgent offensive line that has overcome injuries and the poor showing against Ohio State and pushed around the Boilermakers in a 37-0 win.

But it hasn't been a smooth year for Moffitt, who was in the best shape of his life as summer workouts came to a close, before getting injured on his final bench press.

"I mean, it was just devastating," Bielema said. "Moffitt's bright, intelligent and full of energy. For him to sit back and watch was difficult."

Moffitt missed the first two games and a week after he returned, he was moved to left guard with no warning. That was the position he played as a redshirt freshman in 2007, before moving to center last year.

When UW offensive line coach Bob Bostad was asked if Moffitt's move to left guard was a bigger adjustment than people realized, he said, "Obviously."

It was done because redshirt freshman Peter Konz was playing well at center and the coaches wanted to take advantage of Moffitt's ability to pull, which is a strength.

"I'd say the move from guard to center was smoother than moving from center back to guard," Moffitt said. "I felt like I got into a real groove at center, just got used to the way things are done at center. Now, run-block and pass-block are a little different. But I'm working on it. I enjoy playing guard, I really do."

As much as Moffitt loves to joke around off the field, he's all business when it comes to practices and games. That's a side to him that sometimes gets lost in the humor.

"He's got a core that's very, very solid," Dave Moffitt said. "He cares deeply. He loves the game."

That was evident two years ago, when Moffitt thought he had earned the starting job at left guard, but lost out to Andy Kemp. Moffitt was devastated.

"I knew he was ripped up," Dave Moffitt said. "I said, 'You're off tomorrow, right?' You can cry tonight, but after that you go out there like a warrior. What could happen is in two or three weeks, somebody goes down and you're in. If you belly ache, you're not going to be ready.' ''

Moffitt took his dad's advice. When Kemp was injured, Moffitt started three games at left guard, including against top-ranked Ohio State. He played well enough that when Kemp returned, he moved to right guard and Moffitt started the last six games, including the 2008 Outback Bowl against Tennessee.

Last season, Moffitt became the starting center and things took off, especially with the blog, which he used to mostly poke fun at himself and a few people around him. He was so good at it, he wrote a story for SI.com in November about how to blog.

"To blog successfully, you need to leave your pride at the door," Moffitt wrote. "We have a student-manager that sits by the door as you walk into the locker room and I always give him my pride (he thinks I'm just giving him a handful of clothes). I do remember a couple of times this year that I've forgotten my pride at home after waking up, and on those days I feel naked and then feel even worse for the manager because I have nothing to give him."

The blog might have become too popular. Despite the overwhelmingly favorable response, Moffitt said it was a mutual decision not to continue it this year.

"It was a lot of fun," Moffitt said. "You know what, though? I don't know what I'd (write) about anymore. I don't know if you noticed toward the end, it was getting to the point where it was like, 'Are you even going to mention anything relevant?' ''

Moffitt went to great pains not to let the blog interfere with anything he did on the field.

"I don't joke around on the field," he said. "I'm usually either angry or really ticked off at something on the field."

Still, there were not-so-subtle hints from Bielema that Moffitt needed to focus on football, which he was happy to do. That's how Moffitt took his one-week hiatus from the media.

"I think coach just wanted me to focus," Moffitt said. "I didn't take it personally or anything like that. I think coach is big on eliminating distractions when you can."

Bielema said he has been pushing Moffitt since last spring to be as good as he can be. That was something Bielema emphasized in a card he left in Moffitt's locker on his 23rd birthday, the Thursday before the Purdue game.

"One of the things I really stressed to him was, 'Hey, I need you to be a guy that can take the forefront here this week and carry us through the last half of the season,' '' Bielema said.

Even without the blog, Moffitt has no shortage of ways to express his opinions. Like several of his teammates, he posts on Twitter.com. In some ways, the blog might have been too restricting, since Moffitt has always been about more than just football.

"I like messing around with Twitter," he said. "I don't tell people where I'm going, I don't tell people what I'm doing. I just like to throw a thought out there, or an idea or my opinion. It's fun."

His latest claim to fame is being a roommate of quarterback Scott Tolzien, along with backup guard Bill Nagy.

"I live with (Tolzien), which is a goal of mine, to say (in) every interview," Moffitt said. "That's how I'm trying to crawl to the top."

The straight-laced Tolzien is a perfect foil for Moffitt's barbs.

"I'll make fun of Scott, but he's a good sport, he can take it," Moffitt said.

If anything, being a part of Moffitt's world keeps Tolzien loose. It's hard to be around Moffitt without laughing.

"If he sees me being real serious, he knows exactly how to get me," Tolzien said. "He's probably the funniest person I've ever met, so he's always got something for me that can loosen up the situation."

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