The athletic department announced that it is rounding out the 2007 football slate with Applachian State, the NCAA division I-AA national champion the past 2 seasons. The Mountaineers have taken on NC State, Kansas, and LSU in the past two seasons and got soundly beaten.
So, I’d like to say this is crap so I will. This is crap. I thought the Vanderbilt opener was outstanding: a lower level major conference team with some players, a great way to start the season. If you are going to schedule I-AA why not go with the best, but Bill Martin can do better and I don’t just mean loading down the schedule with MAC teams.
According to the folks on ESPN, the correct way to pronounce Appalachian is APPA-LATCH-IN. Not “APPA-LAY-SHIN”
5 Comments
Ralph
BTW, I-AA is obsolete and no longer correct terminology. It is FCS now, just like the Michigan press release said. Michigan faced four teams last year that also played an FCS squad. Michigan went 4-0, the FCS teams went 3-1. But don’t worry about that little old Appalachian State. Maybe Michigan can finally win the BCS for once?
BiggieMunn
Oooof. M is supposed to be a Top 5 team next year. Couldn’t this hurt their chances at the BCS title game?
Brandon
What do you expect? With the addition of a 12 game schedule, even lower-level teams have a chance to win six games to be bowl-eligible. Why would Vandy or similar teams want to play us and get their ass kicked when they can schedule 4 soft non-conference games and only have to win 2 league games to qualify for a bowl? The only reason we played Vandy last year was because ESPN televised the game. I agree that this sucks, but unless the NCAA starts eliminating bowl games this is going to happen more often.
bonus
weak. this trend of scheduling patsies on hoops and football is disturbing. doesnt martin know that sheltered children grow up to be pussies? i understand not wanting to blow your nut against multiple ranked non conference foes, but AA should be beneath the program. martin has many some seriosu tactical errors in my estimation. im half-expecting him to grant amaker a 5 year extension based on the michigan state hoops triumph last night….reminds me of an old SAE Rush adage: “Dorks Breed Dorks!”. not exactly correlary, but you get my point
mvictors
Good takes dudes. And yes I understand that I-AA is a retired classification but it sounds so much more relevant.