Can you attribute the loss to Michigan's lack of focus....or did they just play a good football team?
2007-09-04 03:13:25 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Football (American)
Michigan has a horrible defense. It will get tested many more times this year. Also, don't schedule a Div 1 AA team that has won 2 consecutive national championships. While Michigan should have beaten them at home, there is way too much risk in scheduling a Div 1AA team that is good and could probably win 8 games in D-1 if they moved up.
2007-09-04 03:22:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
ASU is better than people thought, but its no excuse. Michigan's Defense has been crushed 3 straight games by the SAME GAME PLAN. Spread the field and throw to the middle. OSU, USC and now ASU did it. Lack of focus may have played into it, but I wouldn't let Michigan off the hook so easily. The coaching staff can't even make a simple adjustment ( Like put an LB in the center of the field) in 3 games. And all three teams said thats what they did after the game, so Michigan has to know thats where people are looking. I also saw someone say Michigan didn't play a bad game. WRONG. A blocked field goal is a highschool mistake. You have to make that mistake to give the defender a chance to make a play. Michigans DEFENSIVE CAPTAIN was the player who blocked the outside guy, rather than the inside. The team killed 4 drives inside the ASU 30 with penalties (false starts and illegal formations) The tackling was terrible and Henne missed open receivers from the word go. They also set up 2 ASU scoring drives with personal fouls that gave ASU starting field postion in U of M territory.
2007-09-04 11:34:21 · answer #2 · answered by Buy Sam a Drink 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I predicted this upset 6 months ago. Appalachian State is less than a half hour drive from my house. Appalachian State got shut out by LSU 24-0 2 years ago but won the National Championship that year and also the next year. I feel certain that the players and coaches at ASU wanted to make sure that they didn't lose again in the same manner. They have known for six months that they would be playing Michigan. They probably reviewed more films of Michigan than Michigan did. They looked for weaknesses in the films and figured out ways to use these weaknesses to their advantage. Michigan, on the other hand, felt it unneccesary to consider ASU a threat and likely looked past them to the rest of their schedule. I think Michigan was also over-rated to begin with. Appalachian State will win their national championship game for the third time in a row. I don't think ASU actually figured on winning but they wanted Michigan and the rest of the world to know they were there.
2007-09-04 10:40:04 · answer #3 · answered by Calill C 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Michigan did not play a bad game last week. Everyone knew they had a bad defense and Appalachian State played a great game and just exploited the Wolverine defense. I thought Michigan played a so-so game but the reason they lost was not because they played bad it was how good Appalachian State was. If Appalachian State was eligible I would put them right behind Hawaii and Boise State.
2007-09-04 11:03:39 · answer #4 · answered by Matt 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In my opinion, I think the Wolverines didn't take Appalachian St. as seriously as they should have and I blame that on the coaching staff. With that being said however, Michigan did not show team speed to match that of Appalachian St. As far as athleticism, Appalachian St. showed me more than Michigan. Appalachian St. earned that victory. It wasn't a fluke.
2007-09-04 11:39:31 · answer #5 · answered by Zinger 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A little bit of both. App State is a good team and U of M has a bad defense and wasn't on their game on offense for a lot of the game. Michigan got outplayed and lost.
2007-09-04 10:53:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Appy State is hands down the best small school football team in the country. In my estimation, if they would move up to the bowl division today, their talent level would translate into about the 50th best team in the country. I am using Marshall as a reference point here as I follow WV football and I paid close attention when they moved up. Marshall too was a perennial power in the smaller schools.
Michigan was over rated going into the season by about 10 slots. So in my estimation they are about the 15th best team in the land.
So to break it down the 50th (or so) best team played the 15th (or so) best team. Played a near perfect game, blocked two kicks including one in the final seconds to preserve a two point win.
That is basically what "the biggest upset in history" breaks down to.
No I'm not a Michigan fan...
2007-09-04 10:31:08 · answer #7 · answered by Riggo 44 (Joe DeForest is the worst DC in history) 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Everyone is talking about Michigan's defense, but what happened to their highly touted offense? Yeah, hats off to the execution of App. States offense, but there is no excuse for Michigan's offense, they are experienced and talented. Michigan should of been able to pound the ball and wear them down, then score at will on App. State.
2007-09-04 11:45:52 · answer #8 · answered by X 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Check the stats Michigan prevailed in every statistical category except the final score. It's just a matter of Murphy's law.
2007-09-04 12:23:56 · answer #9 · answered by Steel Rain 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋