ASU 34, Michigan 32
I’ve had 24 hours to think about this game and I’m still pretty upset by it, but I can at least think a bit more clearly than I could yesterday afternoon. Let me begin by congratulating the Appalachian State team. They played very well and clearly deserved yesterday’s win. Unfortunately, the Wolverines made so many bad plays when they had numerous chances to redeem themselves and pull ahead that it’s hard not to get angry over the loss.
I, for once, pretty much agreed with the Detroit News’ columnist Bob Wojnowski in his column today about the loss.
This was sweet justice for Appalachian State, which got exactly what it deserved Saturday, a 34-32 victory. This was bitter justice for U-M, which got exactly what it deserved, the most thorough humiliation in the program’s long history. …
Appalachian State had more time of possession and was better on third-down conversions. The Wolverines had two field-goal attempts blocked and botched a pair of two-point conversions. Carr should not have gone for the first one — with U-M trailing 31-26 late in the third quarter — and that compounded his need to go for the second one.
Admittedly, ASU played great. No one is denying that. But UM had plenty of opportunities that they just completely botched. I still don’t understand why they went for a two point conversion in the third. There was still plenty of time and they really needed that extra point.
Then they get not one, but two fricking field goal attempts blocked by ASU. Two! Since I was in the stands (row 53), I don’t have the benefit of seeing it up close or even watching a replay (and I still can’t muster the courage to watch ESPN’s Sportscenter) so I can’t tell you exactly where it went wrong but they should definitely have scored at least one of their two attemps. Seriously.
Numerous times, we saw a UM player drop the punt or kickoff return (they were always able to recover it), but shouldn’t special teams players be able to catch the fricking ball? I’m not expecting big yardage for a return, but to drop the ball multiple times? What the crap was that?
QB Chad Henne was a Heisman candidate. Well, he lost that sucker in the first game. Henne did not play like he was a senior returning for his fourth year as QB. He completed only 19 of his 37 throwing attempts including an interception when he was under pressure (why didn’t he just throw that ball away?).
During the game, I wondered why we didn’t see more of running back Mike Hart, who was clearly pulling his weight and playing well. According to the Associated Press, Hart suffered a thigh injury and that is why he went almost two quarters without a carry. Great, our one ray of hope has an injury.
I also have to completely agree with the following three paragraphs written by ESPN.com writer Pat Forde:
For a program trying to rinse the taste out of its mouth from a third straight 0-2 finish, this was an unmitigated disaster. The only thing that could make Michigan fans even begin to forgive and forget would be a Big Ten title, complete with a defeat of Ohio State along the way.
How many people right now want to put money on the Wolverines doing that? After this game, they’ll be fortunate to get out of September (Oregon, Notre Dame, Penn State, at Northwestern) with a winning record.
(Side note: Has any matchup ever lost more luster in one day than the Sept. 15 Notre Dame-Michigan game? The Fighting Irish couldn’t score a touchdown at home while losing by 30 to an unranked opponent. The Wolverines couldn’t stop Appalachian State from scoring. National media members everywhere are canceling hotel rooms in Ann Arbor as we speak.)
This season was lost before it ever really began. The best we can do is win the rest of our games to try to regain our dignity and possibly a Big Ten Championship. The more likely option is that we’ll lose a game or two or three and we could lose out on the Rose Bowl or another big name bowl game.
Yesterday’s game was a hard pill to swallow. As I mentioned in the previous post, the Big House was incredibly silent as fans and spectators excited the stadium. As I walked to 25 minutes to my apartment, I only heard people quietly talking to one another. Other groups didn’t say anything and just slowly trudged home. It was bad. Between my knee killing, my face and neck turning bright red from sunburn (despite wearing SPF 50), and the loss, yesterday was definitely not one of my better days.
UM students typically really enjoy the first game. It’s a lot of students first weekend back on campus (or first weekend ever on campus) and it’s a time for partying, tailgating, and celebration. Instead, students were treated to an incredibly disappointing and frustrating loss to a I-AA team who clearly outplayed the Wolverines. After victorious games, you will hear students chanting in the streets of downtown Ann Arbor, “It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine!” Yesterday, all we heard was silence. Except for the occasional guy who’d yell out, “At least we can drink our sorrows away tonight!”
I’m not a bandwagon football fan and have cheered for the Wolverines and Detroit Lions since I was a little girl. I will still watch my Wolverines play next week against Oregon at the Big House and I’ll still yell and cheer. But the hopes for this season have been trampled upon and my confidence in the team has been lost.
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2 Responses to “ASU 34, Michigan 32”
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September 2nd, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Sorry about your sunburn and the bad knee.
I don’t have any allegiance, since I have one sister each at MSU at UM (vet school and grad school in engineering), neither one of them caring much about football, but it’s too bad the first game of the season is such a disappointment. The rest of the season will be better, I’m sure.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Thanks for the sympathy
Hopefully this Saturday’s game won’t be so sad/frustrating!