APPALLING! Wolverines suffer worst upset in their history

Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore is carried off the field at Michigan Stadium by Tony Robertson and teammates after upsetting No. 5 Michigan 34-32 in a college football game Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

APPALACHIAN STATE 34, NO. 5 MICHIGAN 32

September 2, 2007

BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG

DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Is it me, or is Appalachian State, like, REALLY good?

What? It is me?

Michigan players, fans and alumni all face the same "dastardly fate," as announcer Bob Ufer used to say. Wherever they go, whatever they do, people will say:

You lost to Appalachian State!

Michigan will not get over this for a long, long time. College football, more than any other sport, is a perception game. The championship-game matchup is decided, at least in part, by public opinion. People argue about the relative strength of their conferences long after the bartender asks them to leave.

And the perception is that Michigan just lost to the Washington Generals. There is no response to that. If you're Michigan, you simply cannot lose to Appalachian State.

The Wolverines woke up Saturday morning with dreams of a national championship. Well, dream on. As U-M running back Mike Hart said after the stunning 34-32 finish: "When you lose to a team like that, a Division I-AA team, how can you win the national championship in Division I?"

You can't. Never mind that Michigan was one play from escaping. Never mind that Appalachian State, which has won two straight Division I-AA championships, has the talent to compete in Division I-A, or whatever the NCAA is calling its divisions these days.



Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards dives over Michigan linebacker John Thompson (49) and cornerback Brandon Harrison to score their fourth touchdown of the game during the second quarter.

Never mind that this was a good matchup for the Mountaineers, who have speed on offense and a talented, shifty, quarterback, Armanti Edwards, to pick apart Michigan's inexperienced defense. (And Appalachian State knew it! As the Winston-Salem Journal reported last week, the Mountaineers practically begged U-M athletic director Bill Martin for the matchup.)

Never mind that Michigan was foolish to schedule Appalachian State. When you want a cupcake, eat a cupcake. Don't chew on glass and tell yourself it's a cupcake.

Never mind all that because ... hold on. I've got someone from East Lansing on the other line.

It's for you, Lloyd Carr.

You lost to Appalachian State!

This is a disaster for the Wolverines, and you know what? They are stuck. They can't shut people up by beating Oregon this Saturday, because it's not a great Oregon team. They can't change it by beating Notre Dame, because people will just use that as more evidence that Notre Dame is overrated for the 15th consecutive year.

And Michigan can't even change the perception by winning the Big Ten, because ... wait a second ... I think I hear somebody in Tuscaloosa:

Y'all call that a major conference? Your favorite lost to Appalach'n State!

The Wolverines can't do anything about the perception unless they win a BCS game against an elite team. Right now, they have to get over the humiliation of losing to Appalachian State and deal with why they lost.

Michigan's senior quarterback, Chad Henne, did not look like a senior quarterback. He overthrew a few receivers. On one fourth-and-five in the fourth quarter, he forced a pass to tight end Mike Massey instead of hitting an open Adrian Arrington underneath for a first down.

Then there was Henne's biggest mistake: one of those across-the-body passes into coverage with a twist and two lutzes that nobody has completed since John Elway retired. It was intercepted.

I don't know what went wrong for Henne, because he skipped postgame interviews. Quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler insisted, "He wasn't rattled at all."

What happened to Michigan's vaunted offensive talent? The right side of the offensive line, shaky to begin with, is now injury-ravaged, too. Mike Hart, who ran for 188 yards and what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown, missed a chunk of the game with a thigh injury.

Then there is Carr. He had two talk-radio decisions in this game -- the kind that people will debate for days. Both of his choices were defensible, but neither worked.

The first was when he went for two when his team pulled within 31-26 in the third quarter. The Wolverines blew the conversion on a bad snap. That forced them to try for two when they scored again, and they blew that when Brandon Minor stumbled.

With two more extra points, the Wolverines would have led, 34-31, in the final minutes, and maybe the game ends differently.

The other decision came late in the fourth quarter. Michigan led, 32-31, and faced fourth and six on the Appalachian State 26. Carr went for a 44-yard field goal instead of trying to seal the win with a first down. The kick was blocked.

You can blame Carr for making the wrong choices. Personally, I think that's silly. Instead, blame him for a team that blew critical snaps, missed blocking assignments, asked linebackers and safeties to cover speedy receivers and failed to adjust to Appalachian State's attack until the Mountaineers had scored 28 points.

"Losing -- that's bad enough," Carr said. "But to play the way we did, that's an even greater disappointment."

How disappointing?

Disappointing enough to bring Carr back in 2008?

It has been widely speculated -- by fans, media, and privately by some people at Michigan -- that this will be Carr's final season. The speculation has been repeated so often that some people take it as fact. But remember: the speculation is predicated on the fact that Carr has senior offensive talent, especially at quarterback, and faces Notre Dame and Ohio State at home.

People figured he would ride this team into the sunset. Well, if the sun is setting on the Wolverines in Orlando or Tampa or (gasp!) San Antonio at the end of the year, will Carr really retire?

(And no, he won't get fired. He was not in danger of getting fired Saturday morning, after three BCS berths in four years, and Michigan doesn't change its tune based on one loss, even one as humiliating as this.)

That is a question for another day. In the meantime, Michigan is now 0-1 with Oregon , Notre Dame and Penn State looming. The Wolverines can win all those games, and they can still go to the Rose Bowl, but ...

Hang on. Appalachian State linebacker Pierre Banks has something to say.

"We should go to the Rose Bowl!" Banks yelled.

Banks added, "I'm just kidding," which was classy but entirely unnecessary. The Mountaineers should crow about this forever.

Everybody else will.

Contact MICHAEL ROSENBERG at 313-222-6052 or mrosenberg@freepress.com.