carlos spicywiener

August 6th, 2014 at 9:40 AM ^

I'm actually dreading game week because I don't want to see replays of Jason Gingell's blocked field goal. thank god i wasn't in the stadium that day, I was moving into the dorms.

MGoManBall

August 6th, 2014 at 9:51 AM ^

Don't you understand? It doesn't matter.. Michigan could very well beat Appy State  1,304,234 to -3 and the only thing you will hear is how Michigan is now 1-1 vs them or show the highlights from the 2007 game. If Michigan struggles and the game is close... well, hold me TomVH.

It's a no-win situation and they should have never scheduled them.

unWavering

August 6th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^

I disagree that it was the most embarrassing. We just paved the way for embarrassing losses to D1AA schools, unfortunately. A year or two after, Virginia Tech lost to James Madison, which wasn't nearly on the same level as App State.

Either way, it IS embarrassing, and we should be ashamed, but most embarrassing is questionable. It is just the one that everyone remembers most.

carlos spicywiener

August 6th, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^

Isn't "the one everyone remembers most" by definition, the "most embarassing?" Va Tech played an excellent game against Boise St. prior to that stinker. 

We came out #5 in the country with national championship aspirations, big storylines about how Henne, Long, Hart were back for one last shot, etc. ASU was a tune-up game. Supposed to be one.

crum

August 6th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^

I agree slightly. I think losing to Toledo was the worst loss ever for Michigan. At least Appy State had some athletes on it and was able to execute. Toledo was awful period

Now to counterpoint myself, Michigan had way too much talent in 07, it was a horrible loss but the opponent wasn't nearly as bad as Toledo.

wildbackdunesman

August 6th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^

The game that really never should have been scheduled was App State in 2007.  There was nothing advantageous for Michigan in that game, except a home game pay day.  If we won big people say you are suppose to beat them big and forget about it quickly.  If you win, but struggle, you look bad.  If you actually lose.......

Now that App State is in our FBS Division and has been asking for a 2nd game it isn't as bad to play them again as it was the first time.  I imagine we don't want to dodge their request.  But yes, this is another nothing to gain game except another home game pay day.  Nothing good can come from this game.

mGrowOld

August 6th, 2014 at 9:53 AM ^

No it wont.  Nothing can wash the stink of that game off the program.  I was there (unfortunately) and can safely say that ignominy of that game is just something we're going to have to live with forever.

What I remember most about it was that I had to travel to LA the following week so I thought I'd at least not have to deal with it out there.  But no - that was ALL everybody in Southern California wanted to talk about on the radio back then.

It was horrible.  Replaying the game and forcing everyone to have to go through that all over again is probably the dumbest thing Brandon has done as an AD.  

FreddieMercuryHayes

August 6th, 2014 at 10:05 AM ^

Disagree.  I mean The Horror won't ever be washed away, but if UM beats the crap out of Appy State, and more holistically, if UM gets back to an elite level (especially consistantly), then as time goes on, The Horror just becomes a blip, one of those crazy events that happens in sports which compells people to watch it.  But The Horror would lose a lot of the stigma it has right now as defining recent UM football.  But if UM struggles again...well, let's not think about that, eh?

mGrowOld

August 6th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^

No offense Freddie but I think you're dead wrong.  Google search "greatest upsets in SPORTS history" and there we are - standing alone representing all of college football - on the following lists:

ESPN

SI

The Top Ten

Business Insider

Bleacher Report

Comcast

We stand alongside the 1980 USSR hockey team, the 2007 NE Patriots, the 1969 Baltimore Colts and the 1985 Georgetown Hoyas as monumental favorites that somehow lost.  And we are the ONLY COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAM MENTIONED.

Forcing us all to have our collective noses rubbed in it, again, is something that Brandon needs to explain someday.  

FreddieMercuryHayes

August 6th, 2014 at 11:00 AM ^

It's a bigger upset to UM fans because it's personal and hurts.  What if was LSU or something getting upset by App St?  I think more UM fans would be all 'left brain' acknowledge that App St probably was a decent team that year, while Stanford was still a shit-show that year.  If someone aruges that App St is a bigger upset soley based on their status as an FCS school, well then, I don't think they understand sports very well.

wildbackdunesman

August 6th, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^

Is that a realistic perception though?  

The computer rankings before the game had App State ranked above a few Big Ten teams including Northwestern.  If Northwestern had beat us, would it have been Earth shattering?  No.  I think the loss is worse due to the perception that ALL FCS teams are worse than FBS teams, even FCS teams in the middle of back to back to back national titles.

Yes, it was a bad upset, worst college football upset ever?  Probably not.

mGrowOld

August 6th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^

No, on a purely factual basis it isnt.  But perception IS reality and trying to argue with the varioius media pundits who have declared that it was is pointless and makes us look silly IMO.  The ONLY way to make the damn thing go away is to not remind everybody of it and scheduling them again just gives fodder to the talking heads to relive the horror amping up the game.

I still remember an interview with USC's AD Pat Hayden the week after the game and that's all they wanted to discuss out in freaking LA of all places.  Hayden said "if you're going to schedule a DII program for God's sake don't schedule a GOOD one.  Nobody gives a damn if you win and God help you if you struggle or lose."

 

wildbackdunesman

August 6th, 2014 at 11:10 AM ^

All your points are fair and I believe accurate.

Just to illustrate the "fact" that this wasn't the biggest upset of all time.  Sagarin had App State finish the prior year (2006) essentially equal to Iowa and better than MSU, Purdue, Northwestern, Indiana and Illinois.  App State would have been projected to finish in the middle of the BigTen per the computers - for all 3 of their national title years.  A similar rated team in any major conference beating Michigan would not have even been news other than a scoreline with the mild use of the word upset.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/2006/conference/

HAIL 2 VICTORS

August 6th, 2014 at 11:01 AM ^

The difference being that Michigan had National Title aspirations and was ranked #5 pre-season.  Combined with being the winningest program in college history playing in front of 107,000 plus and what would become a nationally televised game in the second half and you have the recipie for the greatest upset in college football history.

FreddieMercuryHayes

August 6th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^

I guess we're just going to disagree on this.  Obviously it's one of the biggest upsets in sports history to most people.  But that's what happens in sports, teams get upset.  Play enough games, it will happen to you.  But putting our head in the sand and going "LALALACAN'THEARYOULALA" doesn't seem like a rational thing to do.  Face up to it.  Win more games.  Let it just become a bullet point on the list in the annals of history.  You didn't see the Patriots curl into a ball after their loss to the Giants.  I don't think Georgetown is.  Nor any team on that list.  But a lot of UM people seem to go so far out of the way to avoid The Horror that it has become the defining point of the recent UM football program.  I say face up to it head on, and move on with life.  Do I love re-scheduling Appy State?  No.  Do I hate it?  No.  I do hate Brandon's motivation which is 'networks are fighting over the rights to broadca$t'.  But that's just my opinon. 

The ironic part of The Horror was that it wasn't even the biggest upset in college football that season.  That honor would (should) be number 1 ranked USC losing at home as a 41 point favorite to crappy Stanford who unexpectely started a QB with three career pass attempts after their starting QB had a seizure.  And App St finished with 5 AP votes at the end of the season, the only FCS team to do so, which was 5 more than Stanford received.  But unfortunately for UM, the sigma associated with an FCS team plus week 1 when nothing else happened equaled more attention on the game.  But such is life.

saveferris

August 6th, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

Start winning again and nobody will care about App State.  The reason that The Horror still stings is because so little good has happened for Michigan since then.  If Hoke gets the program humming the way we all hope he will in the coming seasons, nobody will care about the App State game anymore.

Think about it, if by 2017, Michigan has a couple of conference championships and maybe even a National Title under their belt, are you going to give a shit if the haters try to zing you with The Horror?

We just need to get back to winning.