Sunday College Football Hangover: Week One

Sunday College Football Hangover is a (hopefully) regular feature from a groggy FanHouse writer recovering from 16+ hours of watching as much college football as humanly possible.

The Big Story

What else but perhaps the greatest upset in college football (sports?) history. As our own Ryan Ferguson wrote, Appalachian State is a very good lower division football team. They're the defending I-AA national champs, in fact. But Michigan's loss is absolutely inexcuseable and mind-bending in its implications.

As SMQB wrote:

A I-AA team beat Michigan. This shakes the foundation of my comprehension of the world to such a vastly greater extent than any upset, sighting, conspiracy theory, apparition, miracle or act of nature I could possibly cite. This is frogs raining from heaven. This is physically impossible

Indeed. I don't know whether this is a good or a bad thing for the sport. On one hand, we have a celebration of the underdog and further proof of why style and scheme matters so much in college football. The NFL is a robotic operation with 32 teams all doing the same thing over and over again with people paying them hand over fist to see it. College football's got soul, though, and it's expressed in Appalachian State's defensive effort and utilization of overlooked athletes.

On the other hand, this is clearly the story of the season. How does college football come down from this? There is simply nothing that can happen in the next 14 or so weeks that will come close to matching this upset. Nothing. USC could lose nine times and yet the event everyone will first recall from this season is Appalachian State's upset of Michigan.

More after the jump.
Other Big Stories

Pac-10 Redemption: Cal earned its "redemption" win over Tennessee, steadily building, losing then preserving a lead in the second half. Both teams have their flaws (defense?), but I was impressed with both quarterbacks and Cal receiver/returnman DeSean Jackson had one of the year's best highlights one week in with his 77-yard punt return touchdown sprung by a video-game like sidestep of a Vol defender. The world was also introduced to Cal's freshman speedster back Jahvid Best.

Fun fact from that game - Tennessee has surrendered 45 or more points just five times since 1945. Alabama beat them 56-28 in 1986, Washington State beat them 52-24 in 1988, Alabama beat them 47-30 in 1989 and Florida crushed them 62-37 in 1995.

No Dominant Team (Yet): USC looked absolutely pedestrian in beating Idaho 38-10. LSU showed some cracks in the foundation in an otherwise easy 45-0 beating of Mississippi State on Thursday. West Virginia's leaky defense allowed 24 points to Western Michigan. Texas looked quite pedestrian in a 21-13 win over Arkansas State. And then there's Michigan.

It's early, but this year's shaping up to be a repeat of 2006 with no truly dominant team. Contrast that with 2005 when both USC and Texas looked like juggernauts and Ohio State wasn't far behind.

Notable Coaching Debuts:

Stanford's Jim Harbaugh suffered a 45-17 beatdown at the hands of UCLA, but for once the Cardinal showed some offensive spark. Michigan State's Mark Dantonio absolutely crushed UAB 55-18. Miami's Randy Shannon piloted a steady if unspectacular 31-3 victory over Marshall. North Carolina's Butch Davis cruised past James Madison 37-14. Alabama's Nick Saban crushed Western Carolina 52-6. Minnesota's Tim Brewster lost to Bowling Green 32-31 in overtime. Arizona State's Dennis Erickson crushed San Jose State 45-3 and Idaho's Robb Akey fought hard against USC before falling 38-10.

Pretty Pictures - As Paris Hilton would say, that's hot







FanHouse Best

News Flash, App State is a Good Team
Cal and the Pac-10 Earned My Respect
Notre Dame Suffering Death By Field Goal
What Went Wrong: Michigan
Down Goes Michigan
Virginia Tech is Ready for Some Football
LSU: Not as Good as Advertised
Surviing Miss St. vs. LSU: Postmortem

Beatdown of the Week

Hands-down: Oklahoma 79/North Texas 10

Honorable Mention - Louisville 73/Murray State 10, Georgia Tech 33, Notre Dame 3, Washington 42, Syracuse 10

Notable Debuts

Oklahoma State (R-FR) quarterback Sam Bradford, Cal tailback Jahvid Best, West Virginia tailback Noel Devine, Miami tailback Graig Cooper, Ohio State tailback Brandon Saine, USC tailback Joe McKnight, Oklahoma tailback DeMarco Murray, Washington quarterback Jake Locker.

I believe the children are the future.


Dot Dot Dot ...

... Marlon Freaking Lucky finally has arrived, pouring in 233 rush yards and another 33 through the air... The Gus Malzahn Experience is off and running at Tulsa. I thoroughly enjoyed watching freshman fullbacks run wheel routes in their debut games. Arkansas' loss ... Get to know Houston's Anthony Alridge. He scored two touchdowns and ran for 205 yards against Oregon (9.3 average) to go with 88 receiving yards and a 32-yard kickoff return ... Auburn's offense looks shaky ... Colt Brennan: 34/40 (.850) for 416 yards, 6 touchdowns and 0 interceptions ... Darren McFadden: 24 carries for 151 yards (6.3 average) and a touchdown to go with a 42-yard passing touchdown ... Wyoming 23, Virginia 3 ... Tim Tebow is most definitely a quarterback ... How did I know this was going to be a close game? Gee, I don't know (2002 to present) ... ESPN's coverage of the Virginia Tech story was well-meaning but 1)overkill and 2)poorly done ... I missed most of the Missouri/Illinois game, but it sounds like it was a wild affair ... First the first time in the Pete Carroll era, USC looked bored (they played Idaho). They treated Idaho like they were beneath them and Idaho responded by making USC run around all night chasing misdirection plays. Gotta love new Vandal coach Robb Akey ...

Random YouTube

You would never see this in an NFL stadium:


Looking Ahead

Thursday: Oregon State @ Cincinnati

Friday: Navy @ Rutgers

Saturday: Nebraska @ Wake Forest, Miami (FL) @ Oklahoma, North Carolina State @ Boston College, Oregon @ Michigan (!!!), Fresno State @ Texas A&M, Boise State @ Washington, South Carolina @ Georgia, Notre Dame @ Penn State, BYU @ UCLA, TCU @ Texas, San Jose State @ Kansas State, USF @ Auburn, Virginia Tech @ LSU.

Parting Shots

This weekend was fantastic, but remember that it's EARLY. The college football season is more sprint than marathon, but the first few weeks always deliver some unexpected performances. These are college kids we're talking about, who are limited to 20 hours of practice time a week and are handling classes and other issues. There is no preseason to smooth out issues and see what works against someone other than yourself. There is no dry run, just meaningful football that goes in the record books from the word go. That is both the beauty and the agony of college footall.

Michigan looks left for dead right now, but for all we know they can recover and put together a fine season. I'm not writing them off, nor should you.

Finally ...

We know you're going through a tough time, but we miss you our friend. See you Tuesday. I hope.