Blocked field goal secures Appalachian State's upset of Michigan
Since 1978 when the NCAA began classifying I-A and I-AA, no I-AA team has ever beaten a ranked I-A team in the AP Poll.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Chances are, most of the 110,000 fans at the Big House had no idea exactly where Appalachian State is located.
Worlds Apart ... Until Saturday
They were two programs from two different universes until Saturday, when Appalachian State not only belonged in the Big House but did the unthinkable by upsetting No. 5 Michigan to start the season. A comparison of the programs' histories:
By the time they saw a blocked field goal in final seconds, this much was certain: The little Mountaineers pulled off one of the greatest upsets in college football history.
Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32.
The team from Boone, N.C., took the lead with 26 seconds left when Julian Rauch kicked a 24-yard field goal. Corey Lynch blocked a 37-yard try on the final play, and the Mountaineers sealed a jaw-dropping upset that might have no equal.
"It was David versus Goliath," Appalachian State receiver Dexter Jackson said.
Michigan's three stars on offense and its coach came back this season, putting the NFL and retirement on hold, with high hopes.
Big Ten title. National championship.
Looks like it might be time for Plan B.
Mike Hart, Chad Henne and Jake Long never envisioned stumbling this early in what was a promising year.
Neither did coach Lloyd Carr, who looked ashen as the upset unfolded.
It didn't take long to notice the second-tier power belonged on the same field because it made up for a slight size disadvantage with superior speed and, perhaps, more passion.
The two-time defending champions from former Division I-AA were ahead of the nation's winningest program 28-14 late in the second quarter, before their storybook afternoon seemed to unravel late in the fourth quarter.
Hart's 54-yard run with 4:36 left put the Wolverines ahead for the first time since early in the second quarter.
One snap after the go-ahead touchdown, Michigan's Brandent Englemon intercepted an errant pass, but the Wolverines couldn't capitalize and had their first of two field goals blocked.
Then Appalachian State drove 69 yards without a timeout in 1:11 to set up the go-ahead field goal.
"I've been dreaming about that kick every day," Rauch said.
Still, it wasn't over.
Henne threw a 46-yard pass to Mario Manningham, giving Michigan the ball at Appalachian State's 20 with 6 seconds left and putting the Wolverines in position to win it with a field goal.
Lynch blocked the kick and almost returned 52 yards to the 18 as the final seconds ticked off. His teammates rushed across the field to pile on as the coaching staff and cheerleaders jumped with joy.
"We're still sort of shocked," coach Jerry Moore said after being carried off the field by his players.
Appalachian State has won 15 straight games, the longest streak in the nation, and 27 of its last 31. The Mountaineers are favored to win the Football Championship Subdivision, but they weren't expected to put up much of a fight against a team picked to win the Big Ten and contend for the national title.
That's the beauty of college football.
No Division I-AA team had beaten a team ranked in The Associated Press poll between 1989 and 2006, and it's unlikely that it had ever happened before. The Division I subdivisions were created in 1978.
"It is one of the biggest losses ever, but give all the credit to Appalachian State," Hart said.
The Mountaineers are not eligible to receive votes in the AP Top 25 poll because they're not in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Mountaineers' win over Michigan was their first over a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent since their 20-10 win over Wake Forest in 2000.
Appalachian State's win does seem to trump the game second-tier programs used to regard as their crowning achievement -- The Citadel's season-opening win in 1992 over Arkansas that led to the firing of Razorbacks coach Jack Crowe after the game.
Carr will not get fired after this upset, but he might be wishing he had retired after last season when the Wolverines won 11 games before closing with losses to Ohio State and USC.
When it was over, he didn't second-guess decisions to go for 2-point conversions twice in the final 15-plus minutes, but did lament many mistakes, penalties and missed opportunities.
"We were not a well-prepared football team," Carr said. "That is my job, and I take full responsibility."
The Mountaineers improved to 7-36-1 against top-tier teams since 1978, the previous six victories all over Wake Forest, and took home a $400,000 check from Michigan to boot.
Armanti Edwards threw for 227 yards, three scores and two interceptions, and kept Michigan guessing with his mobility. He also ran for 62 yards. Jackson caught three passes for 92 yards, and scored twice, including his 68-yard reception that tied the game early and provided a glimpse of what was to come.
Hart, who went almost two quarters without a carry because of a thigh injury, ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns. Henne was 19-of-37 for 233 yards in a lackluster game that included a TD and an interception in Mountaineer territory.
Ordinarily those numbers should've been good enough for a win over a small school. Not on this day and not against Appalachian State.
"Someone said it might be one of the big victories in college football," Moore said. "It may be the biggest."
Pat Forde - In the wake of the most astonishing college football result I can remember, it's important to hail the victors before we rip the vanquished.
(And we will rip the vanquished. Just wait a few paragraphs.)
So hats off to Appalachian State, which completed a week like none in school history.
First came word via "The Today Show" of a recruiting coup for the little school in the North Carolina mountains. Caitlin Upton, the freshly famous Miss Teen South Carolina, whose dingbat answer to a beauty pageant question became an instant YouTube classic, told Matt Lauer she planned to attend Appalachian State. This might not have dazzled the academic folks on campus, but I guarantee the male students are stoked.
Including the football team, perhaps? Maybe Miss Upton's commitment was the final motivation for the Mountaineers to defrock college football's winningest program in America's largest stadium.
Remember the score: App. State 34, Michigan 32.
We'll still be talking about it a few decades from now. Especially in the locker rooms of every huge underdog, where they'll say, "If Appalachian State can beat Michigan, why can't we shock the world, too?"
These are the kinds of things that don't normally happen in college football, where the chasm between have and have-not is wider than in any other sport. In fact, as the preposterous partial scores from Ann Arbor kept rolling in, Labor Day weekend began to feel like March Madness. That charm is usually lost on the gridiron, but not Saturday.
You got the feeling everyone nationwide not wearing maize and blue was pulling for the underdog. Just like the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
This wasn't a No. 16 seed beating a No. 1 -- that would be an insult to the two-time champions of the Division Formerly Known As I-AA. More than anything else, Appalachian State proved Saturday that the best of the little fellers can play exceptional football. That they must be accorded respect. That they are not as far behind the big boys as we've always assumed.
But given the difference in stature between the two programs, this is still a Buster Douglas-beats-Mike Tyson upset. It's a 15 beating a 2, at least.
Since they dreamed up the partition of Division I back in 1978, no FCS (Football Championship Subdivision, the idiotic new NCAAese for I-AA) team has beaten a team ranked in the AP Top 25. And the Wolverines weren't just in the Top 25; they were in the top five and feeling cocky.
(I wish I had a dollar for every Michigan fan who wrote me this summer, full of outrage at my not including Wolverines quarterback Chad Henne among my top five QBs in the country. There was one quarterback in the Big House Saturday who deserves mention for postseason honors, and he didn't play for Michigan. Say hello to the Mountaineers' Armanti Edwards.)
Michigan has a long history of scuttling its lofty early rankings with an ugly September loss, but nothing this bad. This is off-the-charts bad.
Elite teams usually pick their teeth with the bones of smaller schools. Louisville and Boise State played FCS opponents Thursday night and won 73-10 and 56-7, respectively. Florida played first-year FBS call-up Western Kentucky and won 49-3 in a game terminated by bad weather with eight minutes still to play.
Michigan? Different story.
Here's the only good news for Lloyd Carr: His athletic director is Bill Martin, not Frank Broyles.
If it were Broyles, Carr could be Unemployed Lloyd by sunup Sunday. They'd be scraping his name off his office door right now. Remember 1992, when Arkansas lost its season opener 10-3 to I-AA The Citadel? Razorbacks AD Broyles trapdoored coach Jack Crowe the next day.
And that Arkansas team was not expected to contend for a national title, which this Michigan team was supposed to do.
The only certainties for the Wolverines now are these: They will see thousands of Appalachian State shirts and hats around the Big Ten this year, and Carr will face more fan dissatisfaction than any coach in the country.
The only thing that could make Michigan fans even begin to forgive and forget would be a Big Ten title, complete with a defeat of Ohio State along the way.
For a program trying to rinse the taste out of its mouth from a third straight 0-2 finish, this was an unmitigated disaster. The only thing that could make Michigan fans even begin to forgive and forget would be a Big Ten title, complete with a defeat of Ohio State along the way.
How many people right now want to put money on the Wolverines doing that? After this game, they'll be fortunate to get out of September (Oregon, Notre Dame, Penn State, at Northwestern) with a winning record.
(Side note: Has any matchup ever lost more luster in one day than the Sept. 15 Notre Dame-Michigan game? The Fighting Irish couldn't score a touchdown at home while losing by 30 to an unranked opponent. The Wolverines couldn't stop Appalachian State from scoring. National media members everywhere are canceling hotel rooms in Ann Arbor as we speak.)
The media are guilty of assuming Michigan would overcome the loss of 12 starters, including seven very good defensive players. We tend to accord those benefits of the doubt to the big-time programs while giving up on the likes of Boise State, which lost 11 starters after having a better 2006 season than the Wolverines.
Shame on us, voting for laundry.
The only possible downside to this seismic shift in the college football landscape is that teams might stop giving the likes of Appalachian State a chance. The Mounties have future games contracted with LSU, Florida and Georgia, and it would be a shame if those opportunities dried up.
Just in case, I called Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, who was grilling steaks after his Gators grilled Western Kentucky. He said his team will honor the contract.
The Gators will do more than honor the contract. They'll respect Appalachian State, as well.
The Mounties have earned that much.
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