Coach Jerry Moore
September 1, 2007: One of the biggest upsets in college football history occurs.
Appalachian State University, located in Boone, North Carolina, had been successful in football at the "small college" level. In 1972, with the NCAA realigning into Divisions I-A, I-AA, II and III, they entered I-AA and joined the Southern Conference. As I-A became the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and I-AA became the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision), they made the Playoffs in I-AA/FCS many times, and won the National Championship in 2005 and 2006.
They opened the 2007 season away to the University of Michigan. The Wolverines had been one of the most successful programs in college football for over 100 years, and had gone 11-2 and finishing with the nation's Number 9 ranking the season before. They came into this game with the preseason ranking of Number 5 in FBS, while Appalachian State was ranked Number 1 in FCS.
But no team in Division I-AA/FCS had ever beaten a ranked team in Division I-A/FBS. Appalachian State had regularly scheduled games against FBS teams, but hadn't won such a game since beating nearby Wake Forest in their 2000 season opener.
This game was scheduled because each team had an open date, and ASU coach Jerry Moore and Michigan coach Lloyd Carr were friends. Moore told his school to accept any offer Michigan made, and an offer of $400,000 was accepted. Thus, this game, at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the 1st ever telecast on the new Big Ten Network, was an economic bonanza for the visitors, as "The Big House" drew 109,218 fans for the game; and was expected to be an easy win for the hosts, as Las Vegas sportsbooks refused to take bets on the game or to set a point spread.
The Wolverines got the ball first, and scored a touchdown on their 1st possession. But the Mountaineers came right back, and Armanti Edwards threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Dexter Jackson, tying the game at 7-7. Michigan scored again, and ended the 1st quarter on top, 14-7.
But as that quarter ended, Appalachian State were in the middle of a drive the resulted in another game-tying touchdown pass. After holding Michigan and forcing them to punt, the Mountaineers engineered another drive, resulting in a 3rd touchdown pass from Edwards, and a 21-14 Appalachian State lead. Michigan turned the ball over on downs, and Appalachian State scored another touchdown, this time on a 6-yard run by Edwards. The Mountaineers led, 28-14. Michigan kicked a field goal at the end of the half, and trailed, 28-17.
The teams traded field goals, to make it 31-20. Later in the 3rd quarter, the Mountaineers missed a field goal attempt, and the Wolverines took that opportunity and scored a touchdown, but failed in their 2-point conversion attempt, making it 31-26 Appalachian State at the end of the quarter.
Each team stiffened its defense in the 4th quarter until, with 4:34 left in regulation, Mike Hart ran 54 yards for a touchdown, giving Michigan the lead. The 2-point conversion was missed, but the Wolverines were on top, 32-31. Edwards was intercepted early on the Mountaineers' next drive, and the Wolverines attempted a field goal that was blocked. Still, there was 1:37 to go, and the Mountaineers had no timeouts.
But the game was not over, and Edwards drove his team on. He got them to the Wolverines' 7-yard line with 26 seconds left, setting up a 24-yard field goal attempt by Julian Rauch. It was good, and Appalachian State led, 34-32.
The game was still not over. A good kick return and a pass from Chad Henne to Mario Manningham got Michigan to a 37-yard field goal attempt by Jason Gingell. He had already connected from 22 and 42 yards out. But the kick was blocked, and Appalachian State had the upset win.
Appalachian State became the 1st FCS team to defeat a ranked FBS team. In the next Associated Press poll, Michigan dropped out of the Top 25 completely, marking the 1st time that this had happened to any Top 5 team. As a result of this result, the AP amended its polling policy to make FCS teams eligible for the AP Poll, which had previously been limited to FBS teams.
Appalachian State went 13-2, and won their 3rd straight FCS Championship. Michigan lost their next game as well, home to Oregon. Then they got off the deck, beat Notre Dame and Number 10 Penn State at home, and got back up to Number 13 on November 10, meaning they still had a chance at the Big Ten Conference Championship. Then they lost back-to-back games, away to Wisconsin and home to Ohio State. They ended the season 9-4, 2nd in the Big Ten, ranked Number 18, and beat Florida in the Capital One Bowl (formerly the Citrus Bowl) in Orlando.
In 2014, Appalachian State joined FBS, also joining the Sun Belt Conference. Again, they opened the season away to Michigan. There would be no upset this time: Michigan took care of business, and then some, winning 52-14.
From 2014 onward, a win by Appalachian State over an FBS team would not be seen as a big upset. But the 2007 win over Michigan remains one of the biggest, alongside such games as Carlisle over Army in 1912, Notre Dame over Army in 1913, Centre over Harvard in 1921, Holy Cross over Boston College in 1942, Columbia over Army in 1947, Rutgers over Tennessee in 1979, and Oregon State over Washington in 1985. Certainly, no other game in the 21st Century (so far) can match it for shock value.
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September 1, 2007 was a Saturday. The night before, Navy beat Temple, 30-19 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The night before that, Number 2 Louisiana State (LSU) beat Mississippi State, 45-0 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi; Number 10 Louisville beat Murray State, 73-10 at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville; and Number 16 Rutgers beat the University of Buffalo, 38-3 at the new Rutgers Stadium (now SHI Stadium) in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Among the other college football games played on September 1 were these:
* Number 1 Southern California (USC) beat Idaho, 38-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* Number 3 West Virginia beat Western Michigan, 62-24 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.
* Number 4 Texas beat Arkansas State, 21-13 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
* Number 6 Florida beat Western Kentucky, 49-3 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.
* Number 7 Wisconsin beat Washington State, 42-21 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
* Number 8 Oklahoma beat North Texas, 79-10 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.
* Number 9 Virginia Tech beat East Carolina, 17-7 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.
* Number 12 University of California beat Number 15 Tennessee, 45-31 at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.
* Among the other service academies, Army lost to the University of Akron, 22-14 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now FirstEnergy Stadium); and Air Force beat South Carolina State, 34-3 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* Alabama beat Western Carolina, 52-6 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. This was 1 of 5 games that 'Bama had to forfeit after the season due to various rule violations.
* And Colorado beat Colorado State, 31-28 at Invesco Field at Mile High (now Empower Field at Mile High) in Denver.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 9-6 at Yankee Stadium. Ian Kennedy was the winning pitcher. Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Derek Jeter went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Clay Buchholz pitched a no-hitter -- and, due to the Appalachian State upset, nobody outside New England noticed.
* The Washington Nationals beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.
* The Florida Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-6 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-0 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Paul Byrd pitched a 4-hit shutout.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 12-3 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-4 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 11-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies, 13-7 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-0 at Petco Park in San Diego. Jake Peavy pitched 7 innings of 2-hit ball, with 2 relievers finishing the 3-hit shutout.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 7-6 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* And the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-1 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).
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