Cam's Classics: Week 5 - The Miracle in Michigan

Peyton Manning

Week 5:



2007 NCAA Week 1
(a.k.a The Miracle in Michigan)

Appalachian State @ #5 Michigan

Background

You'll often find in college football that on the opening weekend of the season, most big teams will schedule home games against lower division teams as a means of easing their way into the season.

This is what the number #5 ranked Michigan Wolverines - a national championship contender - decided to do when they played host to Appalachian State, a division 1-AA team. Led by seniors Chad Henne, Jake Long and Mike Hart, Michigan were 27 point favourites, and that was from the few bookies that did offer a market for this game (many of them didn't).

So it is with great regeret that I inform you that this week's Cam Classics features what should be a blowout victory for a heavy home favourite. I mean, a Division 1-AA FCS team had never beaten a ranked Division 1-A FBS team in the history of college football subdivisions. Appalachian State wouldn't stand a chance right? Right?

Well, let's just say it's not every Sunday a college football result features on the front page of the New York Times...

Note: Unfortunately this is not the game I tried to upload last week. After more than 15 hours of uploading, it failed. Never fear, I'll attempt it again this week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxpNgJyJZGU

Paully D

Cheers Cam, I'll give it a watch after El Clasico

Paully D

Just watched the 1st half and I'm falling asleep so thought I'd post my thoughts so far.

First of all, very good game so far. Once Michigan went 7-0 up straight away I bet everyone thought it was the start of the predicted rout, and it would have been so easy for Appalachian State to drop the heads, take the beating, and then go home, as the commentator said.

Once you get to around 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter you can start to feel the crowd, players and coaches thinking ''what the hell, this isn't supposed to happen'' :pac: It seems that the decision that really killed it though, the one that was the real turning point in the 1st half anyway, was the 4th down and 5 with about 5 minutes left in the half which was incomplete and gave great field position to AS.

I'm looking forward to the 2nd half whether I get to see it now or tomorrow remains to be seen :pac: but I can guess what happens

Out of interest, did any AS players from this team make to the NFL? Did they go on to have a successful season after this shock result? And how well did Michigan recover?

Also, the commentators refer to one of their players as having national championship rings, how is this possible with AS as I was under the impression they were a very small team with little chance of such victories, or do they play a separate national championship to the likes of the big teams?

Cheers

tallaghtoutlaws

Paully D wrote: »

Out of interest, did any AS players from this team make to the NFL? Did they go on to have a successful season after this shock result? And how well did Michigan recover?

Dexter Jackson the WR is on the Jets Practice squad I think. Their QB Armanti Edwards is with the Panthers as a WR. Corey Lynch Safety with the Buccs

Paully D

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

Dexter Jackson the WR is on the Jets Practice squad I think. Their QB Armanti Edwards is with the Panthers as a WR. Corey Lynch Safety with the Buccs

Nice one, cheers.

I was going to post that I was impressed with Jackson. Strange to see the QB Edwards is now a WR but he is very fast and seemed a much better runner than thrower so it does make sense.

I've got 10 minutes of the 4th quarter to watch now, but the boxing is coming on so I'll watch the rest tomorrow.

In terms of say ''soccer'' which I'd be much better at getting a comparison from, what would the equivalent of this result be? It seems like it's the equivalent of say a Premier League club like Manchester United losing to a League 2 club like say Bradford.

Peyton Manning

Paully D wrote: »

Also, the commentators refer to one of their players as having national championship rings, how is this possible with AS as I was under the impression they were a very small team with little chance of such victories, or do they play a separate national championship to the likes of the big teams?

Pretty much this, they have their own national championship, and Appalachian State were very successful during this period - they went on to win their 3rd title in a row at the end of the above season. But still, a division 1-AA team beating any division 1-A team is a big shock, let alone the #5 ranked team in the country (and Big 10 favourites/national championship contender). As mentioned above, this result was so unexpected that the New York times ran it as a front page story - that's huge considering the New York Times cares little for college football as there are really no "big" teams around the tri state area for them to report on. It's genuinely considered one of, if not THE biggest upset in American sports history.

Of course, James Madison went and beat #13 ranked Virginia Tech last year which was only the second time a 1-AA team beat a ranked 1-A team but the Appalachian State game would probably still rank as a bigger upset due to Michigan's #5 ranking.

Also, it was announced earlier this year that Michigan will open the 2014 season with a game against - you guessed it - Appalachian State in Michigan

Paully D

Peyton Manning wrote: »

Pretty much this, they have their own national championship, and Appalachian State were very successful during this period - they went on to win their 3rd title in a row at the end of the above season. But still, a division 1-AA team beating any division 1-A team is a big shock, let alone the #5 ranked team in the country (and Big 10 favourites/national championship contender). As mentioned above, this result was so unexpected that the New York times ran it as a front page story - that's huge considering the New York Times cares little for college football as there are really no "big" teams around the tri state area for them to report on. It's genuinely considered one of, if not THE biggest upset in American sports history.

Of course, James Madison went and beat #13 ranked Virginia Tech last year which was only the second time a 1-AA team beat a ranked 1-A team but the Appalachian State game would probably still rank as a bigger upset due to Michigan's #5 ranking.

Also, it was announced earlier this year that Michigan will open the 2014 season with a game against - you guessed it - Appalachian State in Michigan

Class stuff. It really was a great game to watch.

Even though the end result was pretty obvious, up until the field goal was kicked at the end I was expecting Michigan to pull something out of the bag to win it :pac:

Do many players from the division that AS are in end up in the NFL or is it only the odd few?

Interesting to note that Mike Hart who the commentators continually talked about and who set records in Michigan, only played a couple of seasons with the Colts, and according to Wiki only ever really had 1 decent game in the NFL. Henne was talked about as being superb too and hasn't set the world alight at Miami, Long has done very well though.

Peyton Manning

Paully D wrote: »

Do many players from the division that AS are in end up in the NFL or is it only the odd few?

A few would, obviously not as many as 1-A produce seeing as if you go to a division 1-AA, you're deemed to have been not good enough for the top colleges. A completely unresearched guess I'd hazard would be maybe between a dozen and 15 players from these schools would get drafted (and practically always in the last couple of rounds of the draft in recent years) and maybe slightly less than half of them would make a roster spot. The standout guys would be given a chance, and any of them that really impress during the combine and workouts. A good few would also be picked up as undrafted free agents and given a closer look in training camps.

Some notable players off the top of my head to come from lower divisions would be Jerry Rice, Walter Peyton, Steve McNair and Brian Westbrook. Current players like Tony Romo, Joe Flacco, Vincent Jackson and London Fletcher. It's always fun to pick out a few guys from the lower divisions each year and follow their quest to get a roster spot in the NFL. I know there's quite a few of us waiting for Ramses Barden to make his mark!

LuckyLloyd

Biggest betting line shock of the decade.

JaMarcus Hustle

Revelations this weekend reveal that this may not have been the miracle we thought it was. Apparently a lot of the Michigan players thought it would be hilarious to get high a couple of hours before the game and see how badly they could beat AS while stoned.

http://www.chatsports.com/michigan-wolverines/a/Former-Michigan-player-Nearly-half-the-team-was-stoned-during-Appalachian-State-loss-10-2-3043

johnmcdnl

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

Revelations this weekend reveal that this may not have been the miracle we thought it was. Apparently a lot of the Michigan players thought it would be hilarious to get high a couple of hours before the game and see how badly they could beat AS while stoned.

http://www.chatsports.com/michigan-wolverines/a/Former-Michigan-player-Nearly-half-the-team-was-stoned-during-Appalachian-State-loss-10-2-3043

I haven't actually gotten round to watching this game despite meaning to - guess who I'm going to be trying to pick out during the game

LuckyLloyd

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

Revelations this weekend reveal that this may not have been the miracle we thought it was. Apparently a lot of the Michigan players thought it would be hilarious to get high a couple of hours before the game and see how badly they could beat AS while stoned.

http://www.chatsports.com/michigan-wolverines/a/Former-Michigan-player-Nearly-half-the-team-was-stoned-during-Appalachian-State-loss-10-2-3043

Even if you take that at face value, these are the telling points imo:

According to this source, the 2007 spring and summer was one big party for the Michigan football team, with very little participation in voluntary off-season workouts, a big change from the prior season when nearly the entire team worked out together and stayed away from the summer party scene. “There was a perception that we were going to be so good in ’07 that everyone kind of thought the entire season was going to be a breeze, we would go undefeated for sure” said the former player.

The week following Appalachian State, Michigan was destroyed by Oregon 39-7, giving up 32 straight points after briefly leading 7-3.

The entire culture was wrong. The Head Coach was going through the motions and the players believed the hype. They were liable to get turned over by any decent side during the first couple of weeks, and App State were decent Div 1. Mid Major level at the time.

In any case, I don't think either narrative cheapens the significant of the win. Upsets are often a product of the favourite's arrogance (Buster Douglas; Rahman knocking out Lewis). 'Oh we were stoned' is irrelevant.

If Michigan had prepared differently and worked a ton harder for the 2007 season of course their results would have been better - but that is true of any team ever.