FanHouse AppalachianStateFootball

After last season's mildly noticeable upset of Michigan by Appalachian State, media and football enthusiasts alike were eager to figure out where this year's Week 1 Bombshell would come from. Would it be Appalachian State again? (Hint: NO)

As it turns out, those of you who bubbled in D) None of the above were correct, as Division I-A simply demolished their lower-level counterparts. In 32 inter-division games, I-A went 31-1, the lone loss coming in a 2-point Cal Poly win over basement dweller San Diego State. That was an "upset" the way Crocs are "shoes" or Rhetoric teachers are "professors": only in terms of classification, not reality.

The rest of the games were slightly more skewed toward the superior conference, as I-A won the other 30 games by an average of over 31 points. Sure, there was Maryland squeaking by Delaware 14-7, but only two other games were even within two scores, and most were laughers by halftime.

Even after Appalachian State's victory in the Big House last year, of course, nobody was going to suggest that Division I-AA could reliably compete with their big brothers. Except, uh, that's what everybody wanted to think (I plead guilty). If anything, this institutional pistol-whipping reinforces what was immediately apparent only 52 weeks ago: Last year's upset was ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS.

More adventures in iffy scheduling. As for the culprit, where else but a school down south lightening the load.

Florida State has begun recent football seasons against the likes of Miami and Clemson, but because of an academic fraud scandal that will leave Coach Bobby Bowden's team short-handed, the Seminoles will open their 2008 season against two of the weaker teams they've played in recent memory.

FSU on Friday released its 2008 schedule, which features season-opening games at home against Division I-AA teams Western Carolina, on Sept. 6, and Chattanooga on Sept. 13.

I'm all for free enterprise so I'm not here to demand a banning of the whole scheduling of I-AA opponents thing. However, I am here to shame schools like Florida State and LSU who try, no matter their reasons. Money talks and a suitable opponent could have been found.

As made clear in the article, Western Carolina and Chattanooga are a helplessly impoverished man's Appalachian State. They combined to go just 3-21 last year in I-AA. To be fair, the Seminoles do face Colorado in Jacksonville this year after having tripped out to Boulder to play the Buffs last year.

Also: Miami fans already hold a grudge over Florida's general unwillingness to play them. Now Florida State's off the schedule. Not good. What has happened to the state of football in Florida when these schools can't get together? This is the stuff that creates real opportunity for UCF, Florida International and USF to emerge from the shadows. Retracted, amended . . . I know.
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Wow.

The Associated Press said Thursday that lower-division schools - that means you, [Appalachian State] Mountaineers - are now eligible for its 71-year-old poll. [snip]

Several AP voters expressed interest in putting Appalachian State on their ballots after a shocking 34-32 upset at then-No. 5 Michigan last weekend. But the poll guidelines, which mirrored the coaches' rankings conducted by USA Today, limited eligibility to teams competing in the former NCAA Division I-A, now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Any such appearance from lower-division teams will be rare, but at least the pre-eminent poll has allowed all comers to be eligible. So long as there's cross-pollination between divisions, I say why not.

The AP decided to make the change because schools that show they can compete with big-time teams on the field should have a chance to be recognized with them in the top 25, Sports Editor Terry Taylor said.

"Why not? The poll was always intended to measure teams that compete against each other, regardless of division, based solely on on-field performance," she said. "It was that way long before Division I was divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978."

I wouldn't have voted for Appalachian State after last weekend, but this affords voters the right to follow the dictates of their conscience. Bravo, AP! Unlike the NCAA, the AP as an organization has shown 1)a conscience and 2)flexibility.

Aside from Michigan fans, everyone else can't get enough of Michigan losing to Appalachian State. There wasn't much in the way of Big Ten unity on that day (and apparently a fair amount of video cameras at the games). Ohio State fans, predictably, were enjoying the spectacle at Ohio Stadium and elsewhere. Michigan State had the PA announcer at Spartan Stadium make the announcement over top of the band's postgame performance . Penn State fans at Beaver Stadium really were fired up. Right down to chants of A-S-U.


Well at least the Michigan coaches can show the players a video montage of what everyone else thought of that game.Sorry, No Photos

If you're one of the approximately 99% of Americans who didn't get to see the Michigan/Appalachian State game this weekend, you're in luck.

Appalachian State's 34-32 upset victory over Michigan on Saturday, which was seen only by viewers of the new Big Ten Network, will be replayed tonight on 13 Fox Sports Net affiliates around the country. In the New York area, the game will be seen on Fox Sports New York from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., and will be augmented by an interview with Jerry Moore, the head coach of Appalachian State.

Score! I'm scanning my programming guide and not seeing any such game listed tonight (grr), but maybe it's just not listed ... yet. Hopefully FoxSports comes through. Praise goes to FoxSports for making this possible. This is fairly unprecedented, as the only other recent game to be replayed nationally like this was Reggie Bush's magical night against Fresno State in 2005 because 99% of the college football public was already in bed when that thing kicked off.

This also confirms the general suck that is the Big Ten Network for those of us outside the Midwest.

Although they weren't the best games, I had become accustomed to ESPN and ESPN2 offering early afternoon Big Ten games on Saturdays. The BTN gobbled most of those up, leaving me in the dark about Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan and Co. last weekend.

Real world costs to such exclusivity: I covered the Michigan upset at FanHouse Saturday on the strength of freaking GameTracker. The great Bruce Ciskie fortunately had BTN and helped fill in the confusing gaps over AIM and he deserves my thanks.

So feast on all these angry missives from FanHouse to the Big Ten Network and Comcast, with love while you wait for the replay of Saturday's game.

How Dumb Does Comcast Think We Are?
Big Ten Network Launches. Sorta.
Ohioans Turning To Satellite as BTN-Cable Impasse Continues
Comcast Posing as Big Ten Fans in Anti-BTN Astroturfing Campaign
Nevermind, Big Ten Network to be Total Fiasco

(H/T: John Ness)
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The Debriefing is a column that runs every weekday at 9:00 a.m. here on FanHouse. It goes deep into one issue and then bounces around to a plethora of smaller ones ... and does it all in a way that will make you feel like the prettiest girl at the cotillion. Bookmark this page, and visit daily.



My preference in sports has always been for the professionals over the amateurs. Give me the NFL over College Football, the NBA over college basketball, the Premiership over MLS, the AFC over NFC, etc. All other things being equal, I'd just assume watch the very best athletes and the very best teams.

But the events of Saturday, particularly the ones in Ann Arbor, were a beautiful, beautiful reminder that amateurs bring things to the table that professionals can't touch.

(Also at the bottom: ... Phil Mickelson shows us why the FedEx Cup could be awesome, and then shows us why it isn't ... Florida State's new offensive coordinator failed to fix everything ... and do you see what happens, Larry? Do you see what happens, Larry? Do you see what happens, Larry, when you draft a player who's already been taken?)

I still can't wrap my mind around what happened. And I can't stop watching this:

Unbelievable.

(Hat Tip: FanIQ)

The meters are spinning at Technorati as blogs are reacting to Michigan's stunning defeat at the hands of Appalachian State.

EDSBS: Hot! Hot! Hot! Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32

Screw Ohio State and Michigan. The Mountaineers should have gotten the title shot against Florida last season

Watch that YouTube video to get the joke. The school with the worst promotional video ever just beat the school that ran with "Space, Bitches. Space".

SMQB: This shakes the foundations.

"The upset of the year!" suggests one of my friends on the phone. "This reminds me of Miami Ohio's upset over LSU in 1986," texts another. No. No. They lack understanding. A I-AA team beat Michigan. This shakes the foundation of my comprehension of the world to such a vastly greater extent than any upset, sighting, conspiracy theory, apparition, miracle or act of nature I could possibly cite. This is frogs raining from heaven. This is physically impossible.

The great MGoBlog: we'll get back to you later.

The commenters at MGoBlog are having a field day, calling for the head of Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.

But would Michigan ever pull the trigger? If you ask our resident Wolverine Brian Cook, I gotta believe he'd vehemently say no. I'd say no, as well. But today's 34-32 home loss cannot help his cause in Ann Arbor.

Carr is expected to retire this season, but maybe a loss of this magnitude prompts a termination or early and unexpected resignation? Comment below with your thoughts.

Whatever your thoughts, this is simply one of the most stunning college football upsets in the last decade, if not the game's history.

On an otherwise quiet early afternoon of college football, D-IAA Appalachian State has stunned AP #4 Michigan 34-32 in Michigan Stadium. This is the first game between Appalachian State and a Big Ten team and boy did they make it count.

Today was supposed to be a breeze of an opening game to the 2007 season, a season which is widely anticipated to be coach Lloyd Carr's swan song as maestro of the men from Ann Arbor. After coming from behind to take the lead on a 54-yard Mike Hart touchdown run, the teams traded empty possessions before Appalachian State did the miraculous and drove nearly the length of the field before kicking a 24-yard field goal with just 0:30 left.

Michigan then answered all the way down the field before having the game-winning field goal blocked. This is Michigan's third straight loss, all of them heartbreaking and marked by the death of former coach Bo Schembechler.

34-32

It's a score that will live with Michigan football forever. Ohio State fans will let them know about it. Big Ten fans will let them know about it. The world will let them know about it. Appalachian State was the defending I-AA National Champion, but this is still inexcuseable for a top five team at home.

Additional Fact: Appalachian State is the first I-AA team to ever beat a ranked I-A team (H/T: Bruce Ciskie)