I have some great news for Michigan fans: Appalachian State received all 88 first-place votes in the latest I-AA (I refuse to say “Football Championship Subdivision”) poll.
So at least the Wolverines can tell themselves this: They were beaten by the best.
Yeah, it can be fun to pile on a program such as Michigan’s, which is roundly considered arrogant, and a coach such as Lloyd Carr, who treats outsiders with respect but little warmth.
It’s the nature of college football fans to celebrate others’ misery as much as their own team’s accomplishment. Why else would the most popular recruiting Web site be called Rivals.com?
According to the Columbus Dispatch, the Ohio Stadium crowd roared at 3:45 p.m. Saturday when fans got wind of the shocking final score: Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32.
But Big Ten fans should not be celebrating. Michigan’s loss knocked the Wolverines out of the AP Top 25, an unprecedented — yet deserved — fall for a team that had been ranked fifth only four days ago.
(Before this, Notre Dame had taken the biggest tumble — from No. 9 to 25 — after losing to Northwestern in 1995.)
Michigan’s loss reflects terribly on the conference. That’s why every Big Ten coach who was asked about Appalachian State on Tuesday’s conference call sounded either somber or sympathetic.
What if Michigan rallies and beats Ohio State on Nov. 17? Then, by the beloved transitive property, Appalachian State is better than the Buckeyes. Chew on that, Brutus.
Or consider this: The Big Ten has only one top-10 team: Wisconsin, at No. 5, and just three teams in the Top 25 — Ohio State (12), Penn State (14). The only BCS conference with three lower-ranked teams is the ACC.
Granted, it’s early. The only rankings that actually matter, the ones that help determine who goes to what BCS bowls, come out in December. Heck, the AP poll isn’t even part of the formula.
But the rankings reflect popular sentiment.
And the early sentiment, thanks to Michigan’s woeful Week 1 display, is this: The Big Ten stinks.
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tgreenstein@tribune.com
