Game One: Michigan vs. Appalachian State (8/30/14)
SB Nation Teamsite By Zach Travis
August 27, 2014 5:43 PM
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Michigan looks to exorcise some demons on Saturday as Appalachian State comes to town for a rematch of the biggest upset in Michigan history.

This saturday the Michigan Wolverines face off against Appalachian State to kick off the 2014 season. Sadly there is no way to talk about Appalachian State without addressing the 7 ton Elephant in the room. 2007 happened. We all know it happened. We all wish it didn't happen. We all prayed Dave Brandon would do the wise thing and never schedule another FCS team again. Well guess what, Appalachian State is an FBS school now and they are coming to Ann Arbor and the only way to kill our demons is to face them head on, knock em down and bury em deep. So put on your brightest maize and deepest blues and charge into battle, but first here is everything you need to know about our opponent: The Appalachian State Mountaineers.

Appalachian State is located in Boone, North Carolina. Boone is named after Daniel Boone, a frontier explorer whose exploits led to establishment in common American football. This fact is neither relevant nor funny but it is interesting.
Boone (the town not the explorer) has a population of 17,186. Michigan Stadium officially holds six and half times the population of Boone.
The top three employers in Boone are Appalachian State University, Watauga County and Walmart. Yes. Walmart.
Robby Benson was born in Boone, North Carolina and is best known for almost being Luke Skywalker and for being Beast in Beauty and the Beast. Much like Daniel Boone's relation to the city, this fact is neither relevant nor funny, but it is interesting.
Appalachian State University has an endowment of $72.2 million. Michigan football would earn $72.2 million a year by charging each fan roughly $10.30 for football games. Michigan charges significantly more than $10.30 per fan.
Appalachian State University has about one third of the land the University of Michigan has. This does not include the branches in Flint and Dearborn.
The official slogan of Appalachian State University is "To be, rather than to seem." I file slogans like these under "I'm not entirely sure what it means... but it sounds good in Latin!"
Notable Alumni include Caitlin Upton, a beauty pageant winner. You may remember her as the one who said that many people cannot find the United States on a map because "people out there in our nation don't have maps"
Notable Alumni also include Detroit Lions punter Sam Martin. Martin has actually proved to be an above average NFL Punter, however his short punt did cost the Lions a game against Cincinnati last season.
Notable Alumni include Everett Withers, the head coach of James Madison University. Yet before his current post he was the defensive coordinator for the 2012 and 2013 Ohio Buckeyes. Remember how Michigan scored 0 points in the second half against Ohio two years ago? Thanks Appalachian State.
The official mascot of the Appalachian State Football Team is Yosef. The term "Yosef" is apparently mountain speak for "Yourself." The idea being that if you are a fan or alumni of Appalachian State you are a Yosef.
Appalachian State is entering its first year as an FBS team as a new member of the Sun Belt. The team previously shared a division with our old friend Wofford and posted a 4-8 record in 2013.
Appalachian State's biggest accomplishment was winning one game against an FBS opponent. Michigan has won 910 such games.

"Appalachian State's biggest accomplishment was winning one game against an FBS opponent. Michigan has won 910 such games."

No, our biggest accomplishment was winning three straight NCAA National Championships in football. Michigan has won 2 such games.

Fanboy tripe. I wonder if the kid even went to UM.

Caitlin Upton didn't even graduate from App (thankfully).

It didn't piss me off, it made me happy. hAPPy that the "little school in the mountains" that I went to can get under the skin of students, alums, and WalMart fans of Gerald Ford's UM. Ahh, it's great to be a Mountaineer!

Appftw wrote:Caitlin Upton didn't even graduate from App (thankfully).

Boy was she hot though. We spoke at Klondike once.

Gonzo wrote:

Appftw wrote:Caitlin Upton didn't even graduate from App (thankfully).

Boy was she hot though. We spoke at Klondike once.

You beat me to it. I don't care if she is dumb (which I doubt she is, she just said something dumb) she is a babe.

ASUMountaineer wrote:It didn't piss me off, it made me happy. hAPPy that the "little school in the mountains" that I went to can get under the skin of students, alums, and WalMart fans of Gerald Ford's UM. Ahh, it's great to be a Mountaineer!

And, no matter the outcome tomorrow that demon will always be there

MAD Doctor wrote:"Appalachian State's biggest accomplishment was winning one game against an FBS opponent. Michigan has won 910 such games."

No, our biggest accomplishment was winning three straight NCAA National Championships in football. Michigan has won 2 such games.

That's only our opinion but to everyone in FBS and anyone outside of App State he is right. We were never plastered all over ESPN for winning our 3 FCS titles or for Jerry Moore's win streaks, overall wins, or anything we did against FCS or I-AA competition. To the entire college football world it is the Michigan win. It's why we are known. It's why ESPN has been mentioning the game right now. We got more money, exposure, etc from the Michigan win than all of our FCS titles combined.

Look at it this way. That win was not only the top story on ESPN that Sunday but it was on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and even then anytime our name is mentioned the infamous Michigan game is quickly brought up. Sadly, the Michigan game is our biggest accomplishment to the FBS community. We are no longer in FCS so we have to get out of that mindset. We have gone from a powerhouse program to a very small program who is trying to build into one. We were picked 7th in the Sun Belt, a league that is like 9th or 10th in the pecking order in FBS. Welcome to FBS gentlemen. I'm glad to be here but now our sights are higher. A FCS national title sadly doesn't even equal a Sun Belt title in this world!

To me what he wrote even makes it more special, that we beat a school with unlimited resources. They had all the tools and still came up short.

All I would have to say to him is "Dummy, that's why they call it the biggest upset ever".

Nitpicking, but 17k is the indigenous population of Boone. Include students and it doubles.

The tone of the article was whiney and complacent. That sort of snobbery just makes us smile that much more for 2007.

appbio91 wrote:

Gonzo wrote:

Appftw wrote:Caitlin Upton didn't even graduate from App (thankfully).

Boy was she hot though. We spoke at Klondike once.

You beat me to it. I don't care if she is dumb (which I doubt she is, she just said something dumb) she is a babe.

No doubt. Caitlin Upton has serious stopping power. She looked great on TV but even better in person. She did, however, spread a disease on campus. I believe it was called "Doubletakeitus".

APPARJ wrote:

appbio91 wrote:

Gonzo wrote:

Appftw wrote:Caitlin Upton didn't even graduate from App (thankfully).

Boy was she hot though. We spoke at Klondike once.

You beat me to it. I don't care if she is dumb (which I doubt she is, she just said something dumb) she is a babe.

No doubt. Caitlin Upton has serious stopping power. She looked great on TV but even better in person. She did, however, spread a disease on campus. I believe it was called "Doubletakeitus".

But most people just call it the clap

Maddog1956 wrote:To me what he wrote even makes it more special, that we beat a school with unlimited resources. They had all the tools and still came up short.

All I would have to say to him is "Dummy, that's why they call it the biggest upset ever".

I thought the same thing...

She might not be MENSA material, but as my grandpappy used to say, "I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers."

First part of the article started out fine, then he became a smartA$$!!!!!!

Bottom line smartA$$, WE BEAT YOU IN 2007 WHEN YOU WERE #5 IN THE NATION !!

Biggest UPSET in college football HISTORY!!!!!