Today in College Football History (Sept. 1): Setting the Tone for a Wild Season

No season in the Bowl Championship Series era has been more wild, more unpredictable than the 2007 campaign. The first Saturday of that autumn set the tone for what would be a tumultuous and exciting time to follow college football. Specifically, I could only be referring to this epic match-up of BCS conference power and non-BCS foe:

OK, so the Oregon Duck pummeling the Houston Cougar was not actually the watershed moment that began ’07 on its topsy-turvy way. It was certainly the worst a visitor has ever been treated in Autzen Stadium, not counting Oklahoma the season before.

Of course, I refer to the Michigan-Appalachian State game. Yes, yes, you have read about this game ad nauseum, particularly with Appalachian State opening at Virginia Tech Saturday and Va. Tech coming off its own loss-to-an-FCS-opponent-while-ranked. Why, this very blog has examined the raucous finish magician/quarterback Armanti Edwards led and the fallout that ensued. But really, there is no over-emphasizing the importance of this game. Michigan went on to a disappointing season given its preseason expectations of a possible Big Ten title. The Wolverines’ year was only salvaged in a Capital One Bowl win over Florida. ASU drove the proverbial stake into Michigan’s heart and gave all FCS programs hope of doing the impossible. OK, not all FCS programs, but certainly the upper tier teams like ASU, much of the Colonial Athletic Association, Montana, Eastern Washington and so forth.

Of course, what separated ASU from many FCS teams playing BCS conference paycheck games was Edwards. Arguably the best player in Division I-AA/FCS history scored four touchdowns, three in the pivotal second quarter, and accrued nearly 300 yards of total offense on the Wolverines. The dual threat quarterback confounded UM to levels seen almost never in Ann Arbor before, and in the Greg Robinson era since. One almost has to wonder if Edwards’ warlock-like trickery helped along the decision to bring on its own option guru Rich Rodriguez the following season.