Scheduling Advice for Bill Martin

By Sean · Monday, September 3, 2007 · 12:55 AM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

Everyone cringed when news came out that Michigan was playing a Division I-AA team. Sure, Appalachian State was the two-time defending champions, but the label of I-AA just made the whole situation sound bad. In retrospect, this game should’ve never been played for one reason: there was nothing to gain but everything to lose.

Let’s go back to Saturday and imagine Michigan won. No matter what the score, people would simply say, “They beat a I-AA team, big deal.” If the field goal would’ve been good on the last play of the game, it would’ve still been a question of how it was so close, but this all would’ve gone away by now. Instead, the improbable happened and Appalachian State won. I give all the credit in the world to the Mountaineers because they fought their hearts out and deserved to win on Saturday.

Even though ASU is probably better than a good handful of I-A teams, people can’t seem to look past the label of I-AA. That is why this game shouldn’t have been scheduled. This isn’t an excuse or anything, but it simply is questioning why Bill Martin decided on Appalachian State. I know he was put in a rough situation when there wasn’t anyone to play and was forced to go to the ranks of I-AA, but why go for the top team? I imagine his thinking was that it would take peoples’ minds off the fact that it was a I-AA team coming to play Michigan, but it didn’t, as you have obviously seen from the monstrosity of this upset.

Listen Bill, if you ever have to schedule a I-AA team again, just find the worst and play them. It eliminates any chance of an upset and guarantees a blowout. Even with how bad Michigan played on Saturday, they still almost one, meaning that if you stuck one of I-AA’s worst in the game rather than ASU, it would’ve likely been a comfortable win. Than you can listen to people say things like, “Hey, they beat a I-AA team, big deal.”

By going out and scheduling a team that was actually good, and as I already said, better than many I-A teams, the worst happened. Appalachian State went into the Big House and did something that no one expected. By even risking this, Michigan has lost everything. The hopes of a national championship ended in Week 1. The season, no matter what happens down the road, has ended in Week 1. I couldn’t care less if U-M wins the next 12 games to finish 12-1, it will never erase what happened on Saturday.

The college football and sports world will never forget it either. Come January when the season is wrapping up, the highlights of this game will be brought up again as one of the most memorable things to happen in 2007. It won’t be memorable for all of us Michigan fans, but for everyone else it will be a big laugh.

I’m not blaming Bill Martin for Michigan losing because that’s got nothing to do with it. But think next time you are backed into a corner and have to schedule a I-AA team. Make it someone that has a 0% chance to win instead of a 1% chance. The difference is a football program. Instead of gaining nothing with a win, Michigan lost everything in this upset and may take years to heal from it. I’m not trying to be completely negative for the future, but it will take time to recover from this. You think recruiting was hard before? Imagine how easy it’ll be to fill a recruit’s head with the questions of why he would ever want to play for a team that lost to a I-AA school.

You can’t escape that label no matter how good the opponent is, and in reality, we never will escape this loss.

(And yes, I know I-AA is now called FCS, but I can’t stand that title and find it easier to call it by the original name)