This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/2Pollaski2Furious on 2024-08-26 15:14:26+00:00.
Holy cow. Just blown away by the response to the first TJOTW vote. Thank you so much guys!
Now how about we finish this countdown?
3: MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (lost to Appalachian State 34-32) [2007]
On August 30, 2007, at 8:00pm eastern time, the world of college football changed forever. Black screens suddenly came to life as the world premier of Big Ten Tonight flashed across the airwaves, the birthing moments of the new Big Ten Network. While plagued with low subscriber amounts through its first few months, the BTN nonetheless was a landmark moment in college sports. No longer were lower-tier games relegated to regional channels or even pay-per-view. Now every Big Ten game was broadcast on national television for all eyes to watch. The network also changed the expansion game, with markets holding potentially more value than the teams that played in them, leading to the conference soon tapping Rutgers and Maryland to gain the New York and Washington DC markets, and much later, four West coast schools to create a true coast to coast media empire.
Just over forty-eight hours later, the first sporting event broadcast by the network began its transmission from Ann Arbor. And make no mistake- Appalachian State vs Michigan was the protytpical game that conference networks were made for- no national network would have much interest in carrying a team- even one with a following like Michigan’s- beating down some scrub that wasn’t even the FBS. The Woverines had gone 11-2 the previous season and came incredibly close to playing in the National Championship. With quarterback Chad Henne coming back for his senior year, Michigan was hoping to finally clear the Buckeye mountain and cruise to glory.
The thing is- Appalachian State wasn’t exactly your run of the mill FCS team. While generally decent under 19th year head coach Jerry Moore, the Mountaineers had exploded in the 2005 season, going from unranked preseason to winning the national championship, then followed it up in 2006 by going 14-1- that lone loss to NC State- going back-to-back. And they were favored to make it a three-peat, beginning the 2007 season ranked at top of the FCS polls. Still, the talent disparity between the top of FBS and FCS was enormous, and the Wolverines were 36-point favorites- if the sportsbooks would even take a bet at all, as many books at the time even refused to lay odds on interdivision games.
Michigan took the opening kickoff and immediately drove down the field, punching it in with a Mike Hart rush to take a 7-0 lead. It was at this point that everyone learned a horrifying truth- the Big Ten Network’s scorebug had SOUND EFFECTS. They heard it again a minute and a half later on a third and four, Mountaineer QB Armanti Edwards hit Dexter Jackson on an in route just at the sticks. Jackson secured the catch, then took off amidst a flurry of missed Wolverine tackles for a 68 yard touchdown to tie the game. Both teams went three and out on their next drive, then Henne worked his way back down the field with a series of precision passes, finally hitting Greg Matthews over the middle for a 10 yard touchdown to make it 14-7. App State turned to rushing the ball to move down the field, and a reverse involving Jackson moved the ball down to the Wolverine 4. Two plays later, Edwards found Hans Batichon for a touchdown to again tie the game, now early in the second quarter.
Michigan went three and out, and Jackson returned the ball to midfield, tacking on an extra fifteen thanks to a late hit. The Dexter Jackson show continued five plays later when Edwards found him on almost the same short in route he scored his first TD on and again he ran into the endzone untouched for a 20 yard score, and for the first time the Mountaineers had the lead. Michigan moved into Mountaineer territory, but stalled at the 35. Coach Lloyd Carr elected to go for it, but on 4th and 5, a Mountaineer blitzer burst through the line, forcing Henne into a bad throw that sailed out of bounds to turn the ball back over. App State went back to the run, moving inside the ten on an Edwards draw, and then scoring two plays later on another Edwards run to make it 28-14, and now concern truly began to spread that maybe this small school from Boone might have proven more trouble than it was worth. With time running out in the half, Henne again guided the Wolverines down the field, getting to the 11 on a beautiful pass to Greg Matthews. But the drive stalled out at the App 5, and kicker Jason Gingell came on to make a 22 yarder to end the half with Wolverines down 28-17.
Disaster struck almost immediately for App State when Edwards missed his receiver and threw directly to Morgan Trent at his own 39, but the Wolverines were forced to settle for a field goal when Henne couldn’t connect with Matthews over the middle on third down. Appalachian State nearly scored again on their next drive when Edwards found freshman Brian Quick right on the goal line, but Quick dropped the pass, and App State was forced to settle for their own field goal, returning the lead back to 11. Now it was Michigan’s turn for disaster to strike when Brandon Minor fumbled at his own 28 and App State recovered, but they couldn’t capitalize when kicker Julian Rauch banged his shot off the upright to keep the score at 31-20. App State’s next drive started well, but five plays in Edwards tried to escape pressure and the ball came loose, leading to a turnover at the 31. That set up a Michigan touchdown, with Hart again punching it in. Carr went for two, but Henne fumbled the snap, and the third quarter ended with the Wolverines closing in 31-26.
App State wnet three and out, and a short punt plus a facemask penalty set Michigan up in Mountaineer territory. But three plays later, Henne rolled out, and threw right into the arms of Leonard Love for an interception. But again the Mountaineers went three and out. Henne led the Wolverines back down the field in a 9-play drive, but on a third down he tried to run for the first and came up 5 yards short at the App State 33. Carr elected to go for it, but the pass to Massey was knocked away, and the only result of the drive was that nearly five minutes had been knocked off the clock- less than seven minutes now remained, and the Wolverines were still down by 5. But App State went three and out for their third consecutive drive, and this time, Michigan took care of everything ona single play when Hart literally danced around the entire Appalachian State defense for a 55 yard touchdown run, finally giving the Wolverines the lead with 4:36 left. Again Michigan went for two, and again, catastrophe struck, with Brandon Minor slipping on the handoff.
App State returned to the field, and this time they didn’t go three and out- Edwards led his receiver too far on the very first play and Brandent Englemon dove to make the interception, nearly extinguishing APp State’s upset hopes. Michigan turned to Mike Hart to put the game away, and he picked up one first down, but eventually the drive stalled and Michigan brought Gingell on to make it a five point lead- only for the field goal to be blocked. Out Edwards trotted with the rest of the Mountaineer offense, down 2 on their own 26 with 1:37 remaining.
Suddenly, the App State from the second quarter reappeared. On the first play, Edwards scrambled for an 18 yard gain. Then he found TJ Coleman along the sideline, who juked his defender and ran out after 20 yards as the clock ticked under a minute to go. A couple plays later, Edwards found CoCo Hilary over the middle, and Hilary finally was brought down at the Wolverine 5 with 30 seconds to go. The Wolverines called a time out to stop the clock, and for some reason Mountaineers coach Jerry Long decided to kick the field goal then and there- on first down with 30 seconds remaining. IT went up, and through, giving the Mountaineers the lead- albeit with 26 seconds and Michigan with one timeout.
Henne’s first pass fell incomplete, but on his second, he heaved it down field, finding Mario Manningham at the Appalachain State 20, sending the Big House into a frenzy at the prospect of salvation. Carr called timeout with six seconds left, and sent on Gingell to bail out his team for a 35-34 win. As Gingell went to kick, Corey Lynch came flying in from the edge, leaping in front of it, and getting every ounce of the ball as it went up. The ball flew back behind Gingell, and Lynch, curving his trajectory to get around the kicker and holder, picked the ball up on the run and sprinted down the field as announcer Thom Brennaman screamed “APPALACHIAN STATE HAS STUNNED THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL WORLD”- albeit far more restrained than the shrill exuberance coming from the App State radio booth. Lynch was brought down at the Michigan 6, but it hardly mattered. History had been made- for the first time ever, a ranked team had fallen to a lower division opponent.
At the time, only two cable companies actually carried the BTN, but the rest of the football world quickly became wise as updates began appearing on every television across the country. On ESPN, former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz was so worked up over the disaster he swore live on air while talking about the potential for Carr to lose the locker room. The end of the game had been shown in Columbus to fans who had remained behind after the Buckeye’s victory over Youngstown…
Content cut off. Read original on old.reddit.com/…/the_tank_job_100_brave_new_world…