Appalachian State needed quite a few things to go their way to pull off its upset win over Michigan last Saturday. Both field goals had to be blocked, Chad Henne had to absolutely suck, Mike Hart had to miss nearly two full quarters, etc. You get my point.
In reality, Appalachian State almost never even had a chance to play this game at all as Michigan was close to locking up a deal to play Hawaii and at another time Idaho to play in the season opener.
Appalachian State received $400,000 for its appearance but Frazier said Michigan had offered UH $600,000 when athletic director Bill Martin, whom he had known from Olympic days, brought up up the game.A loss to Hawaii definitely wouldn't hurt as much as the one we witnessed instead. But if you think about it, imagine the field day Colt Brennan would've had against Michigan's crappy secondary. You think the spread makes the defense look bad? Just imagine an offense that is a passing attack like Hawaii's going up against the inexperienced secondary. It would've been very ugly.
"He (Martin) contacted me first off about the game," Frazier said. Frazier said he initially had some questions about opening on the road in Ann Arbor "to be honest with you but after I talked to (head football coach) June Jones and Johnny (McNamara, associate athletic director) we said, 'let's go do it.' "
Frazier said, "My reasoning for wanting to go back there to play them and also my reason for talking to Indiana (which also didn't work out) was because I had spoken to members of the media on the East Coast and it would be good for our exposure because I knew it would help us in the long run if we were able to prevail." But Frazier said Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr ultimately shot down the game.
After finding out that a Hawaii-Michigan game wasn't going to happen, the Warriors actually tried to switch up their schedule to put Idaho in the season opening slot for Michigan.
Frazier said he made a counter offer to Michigan, suggesting a swap of opponents with Southern California. Frazier's plan would have sent Idaho to Ann Arbor and UH to Los Angeles to play. However, Idaho, which had initially wanted out of the USC game after its former head coach, Nick Holt, ended up back with the Trojans, balked. Frazier also said, "Pete Carroll (the USC coach) and the boys weren't too excited about that, either, but it never came close because Idaho said 'no.' "Idaho would've been much better. I wouldn't think the Vandals would pull off the upset, and even if they did, at least they're a I-A football team.
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4 comments:
I would like to see Bill Martin work closer with the head coach about negotiating these games that would be THE best fit for UM instead of signing with schools because of old friendships. I don't like the Notre Dame contract extension either however, I think it's because ND can provide a big pay day to UM when it goes there, so it's all about the money.
I'd also rather see UM schedule a game later in the year and be active for the voters to see when the other BCS schools are playing. Not playing when the other BCS are playing is what hurt UM last year. That allowed Florida to jump over Michigan. Even if Michigan was thumping on East Carolina Community College that week, would have helped UM stay in the number two spot.
All in all, we've got to do a better job with our scheduling and team selections.
Hal
UM needed quite a few things to go their way to even STAY in the game against Appalachian State. (Appalachian State had to throw 2 interceptions, miss a field goal that hit the uprights, have a dropped td pass by a wide receiver completely open, fumble the ball, etc.)
Also, (3-9) N.C. State handled Appalachian State pretty easily last year. (The score was 23-10, which is not a blowout by any means, but also remember NC State was in LAST place in their division, and they had the second worse conference record in the ACC conference.) In 2005, 7-5 Kansas destroyed Appalachian State 36-8!! Those were the two years App. St. won their national championships.
Appalachian State is a good team considering they are I-AA, but they are not half as good as some UM fans are making them out to be. Appalachian State would probably be a mediocre to above average MAC school at best. (They are probably a little better than the 5-7 Ball State team that hung around with UM last year, in which UM squeaked out with a 34-26 win.
Let's not kid ourselves, last week was an embarrassment and drastic changes must be made. The only scary part of firing Lloyd now is who would UM hire as interim coach? Ron English or Mike DeBoard would not do much better, in my opinion.
Realist UM Fan
If only UM would have taken the Hawaii game, they would still be in the top 25. I believe alot of team are afraid to play Warriors, who I think is the best team in the country.
lol
I think teams are more afraid of Hawaii's home-cooking officials than Hawaii's football team. Just ask Wisconsin, who demanded non-WAC officiating a few years ago.
Given fair officiating, Hawaii is barely a top 25 team. I would like to see how well their offense does in Michigan's weather come late October to mid November.
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