Monday, September 03, 2007

Very Happy Labor Day

Bloggers are a lazy bunch really, we seldom post on a weekend and never post on a holiday that is until something of the magnitude of this weekend occurs. If you were in a coma this weekend and just woke up, D1-AA Appalachian State beat #5 Michigan 34-32 in the Big House. I think I just had an orgasm typing those words. I was happily sitting in Beaver Stadium watching Penn State destroy one of college football's bottom feeders (a team that I can say with some certainty would lose to App State) when the stadium announcer gave the scores from other games. Like everyone else I thought 'yeah, they'll come back and win.' The longer it went though the more intrigued I was. Sometime in the third quarter I looked over at my partner in crime and said let's get the Hell out of here and get back to the tailgate to watch the end of the Michigan game. Boy was I glad we did. When Chad Henne completed the hail marry pass to set up an easy field goal like most people I thought 'well they came close,' then came the block heard round the world and yeah it was kinda like this.

(HT: Happy Hour Valley)

Appalachian State fans are… how can I put this… a tad on the happy side.


Without a doubt this IS the biggest upset in the history of college football. Way way way deep down inside I actually feel a small amount of sorrow for the Michigan bloggers (I think Brian has snapped) but mostly I'm just happy as a rich kid at Christmas. What did we learn from Saturday? Here's the 'Skinny'… -We thought Michigan's defense would be bad but really that bad? Sophomore QB Armanti Edwards was 17/23 for 227 yards and 3 td's. Not particularly eye-popping numbers but pretty damn good for a D1-AA QB. The Wolverines have some serious holes to fill on the defensive side of the ball.

-Pressure Chad Henne and he falls apart like a cheap Chinese-made leisure suit.

The Chad Henne suit – comfortable in the pocket but not made for travel

Lloyd Carr completely lost confidence in him. If you look at the 4th quarter Michigan refused to throw the ball at a time when they needed to. Sure Mike Hart was running wild but this is a supposed Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback. Michigan needed points and they needed them quick but they chose to grind it out.

-Michigan fans don't do their team justice. The Big House's reputation for being the Big Quiet House is well deserved. At a time when the Wolverines needed their fans support the most Michigan fans just weren't loud. App State had no trouble hearing the snap count or getting in an audible on their last scoring drive. Wolverine fans can do better.

So where does Michigan go from here? Mike thinks this loss reflects poorly on the Big Ten in general, but I disagree. This was simply a case of a team that wasn't prepared and didn't take their opponent seriously until it was too late. The season isn't over for Michigan just their national title hopes. I've always had the theory that a team does one of two things after an upset loss: come out fired up and play the best football of the season or wallow in self pity and play worse than they did the previous week. Only time will tell how Michigan responds but I wouldn't want to be in Oregon's shoes right now.

9 comments:

SHirko said...

Read the obituary for The Big House at http://enlightenedspartan.com.

Freaking LOVING IT! Maybe finally the arrogant nation realizes they are isolated as the most HATED team in America.

Anonymous said...

Not to nitpick, but ASU is D1-AA. (or D1 FCS if you buy the new classifications). Either way, not D2.

Pete the Streak said...

THEM had better figure some things out quickly. Oregon's got the same type of VERY fast QB that gave them fits Saturday.

The Ducks surely liked what they saw this weekend.

Galen said...

Thank you Anon, I've fixed my mistakes.

Nick said...

Galen, did you get my question submittals?

Galen said...

Nick,
Yes I did, thanks for doing my job for my yet again.

Anonymous said...

Most hated? Nah, I think that's still ND by a nose. But I know UM's up there.

Truth is, Michigan's had something like this coming for a few years now. Carr has never taken "lesser" opponents that seriously, instead seeming to think of those games as a glorified practice. Hopefully this is the huge slap in the face the program needs to organize a major shift in philosphy.

I have no idea what to expect now vs Oregon. The fact that Dennis Dixon is a better version of Armanti Edwards is not comforting.

Anonymous said...

BTW, please pound ND and that fat bastard Weis hard. I think that's one thing we can all agree on.

Galen said...

Brad,
without a doubt I want to kick the ever-loving shit out of ND and Jimmy Clausen and then I hope Michigan does the same. I don't root for Michigan too often but against ND, you better believe I'll be Maize and Blue all the way!