What Happened To Michigan.... Again?

Well the Big Blue held on to high hopes that perhaps their second game of the season would be the redemption they needed to resurrect their National Championship contention dreams. Needless to say, their hopes were squashed by Oregon, who handed them their second of two straight home losses to begin the season; the last time this happened was in 1959. In a 39-7 defeat, this past weekend's game was historical for two reasons:

1) The Wolverines suffered their most lopsided loss in 39 years; which was the season before their famed former coach, Bo Schembechler, debuted in Ann Arbor. And,

2) The Wolverines have not won a game since Coach Schembechler passed away on the day before the Ohio State game last year.

Hopefully Michigan hasn't incurred a “curse” like their sports counterparts the Boston Red Sox (the curse of the Babe) or the Chicago Cubs (the curse of the goat) that will keep them out of the National Championship for years to come, but all the fans who are superstitious might want to double check their rituals before this weekend's game against Notre Dame. Chad Henne, senior quarterback for Michigan, will not be available for the Notre Dame game due to a lower leg injury that kept him out the second half of the Oregon game. Notre Dame is also 0-2 for the season, but they have not scored an offensive touchdown in eight quarters, and have been outscored by 51 points in their first two losses. If Head Coach Lloyd Carr doesn't pull out a W for his Wolverines this weekend, his job security is little at best.

Be sure to keep track of your sports memorabilia through iTaggit.com!

So What Happened To Michigan?

If you have been living under a rock for the past 72 hours, then you have not heard about Michigan losing to Appalachian State. Why is this a big deal you wonder? Well other than the sheer embarrassment of losing on your home field, 109,000+ fans strong, with the critical eyes of the NCAA football community watching, or the many punchlines ESPN announcers will pull from it in years to come, the reasons are two fold:

1) There has never been a tumble as far off the charts as Michigan's since the Associated Press (AP) Poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989. The Wolverines were removed from their #5 seed and booted completely out of the Top 25, AND

2) Until this weekend, no Division I-AA team had beaten a ranked team in the AP Poll from 1989-2006, and it's unlikely that it happened after Division-I subdivisions were created in 1978.

But, the boys from Boone N.C. are not exactly nobodies. They have won 15 straight games, the longest streak alive in the nation, and they are also the two-time defending champions from former Division I-AA, now the Football Championship Subdivision. The Mountaineers have been favored to three-peat for the title again this year, and the win over Michigan gives them more fuel for their fire.

Word from Michigan State, and even Ohio State, who are both arch rivals of Michigan, is that people were leaving their opening season games to check out the unprecedented events occuring in "The Big House."

If you are a Michigan fan, I would hold onto that memorabilia for the time being and catalog it in iTaggit. Maybe they'll rise from the ashes and return triumphant at the end of the season. It is only one loss when stored in the records, and I know I always appreciate a good underdog story.