Yes yes, its that time of year again. Take your Birthday, Christmas, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Vacation. Wrap them all up together and you'll get an idea of just how excited I am today. It's only been building up since January!
Technically the college football season started this past Thursday when Texas A&M upset South Carolina, but Saturday's during the season are more sacred. More special.
I awoke this morning at 6am. Not too early for me, but it was a day off and I had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep. My first thought was something along the lines of "fuck this, i'm going back to sleep", followed almost immediately by "IT'S FOOTBALL DAY!!!"
So I jumped out of bed and began the day. By getting up this early I could ensure that I could peruse the web, get some coffee in me, go over my picks for this week's games, clean up a bit, shit/shower/shave, and be ready at 9 am for College Game Day. The rest of the day will be spent in front of the boob toob watching college student atheletes playing the glorioust of glorious games;
FOOTBALL!!!!
Last season was a bit hard to watch. The Wolverines of Michigan didn't do so well. But that didn't dampen one little bit my excitement for watching as many games as I could. This season is full of questions for my fave team. Can Devin Gardner stay injury free and keep up the pace he had the last half of the season? Can they develop an offensive line that will look more like a wall rather than the sieve it did last year? Is there a running back that can do more than rack up negative yards? Can the defense gel and live up the expectations?
I can only hope. If there are to many 'no' answers here, then it might be another long soul crushing season. But if those answers are all yes... hey this might just be a special season in Ann Arbor!
I did want to talk about one game in particular. Today's game against Appalachian State. If you don't follow college football or sports in general you probably don't know why I get a nervous twitch whenever I type that name. Back in 2007 when Michigan was still considered a national title contender, they were tanked number 5 in the preseason polls. They had a veteran team in place and were expected to plow through their season. The first game of the season was a last minute addition; Appalachian State. Michigan had never scheduled an FCS team before but had to scramble when a previously scheduled team (I can't remember which one) canceled.
Instead they played like the two time (FCS) national title team they really were. They upset Michigan.
To this day Michigan is a laughing stock. It's still held up as the biggest upset in college football if not all sports. Ohio fans still bring it up. Michigan State fans still bring it up. All teams coming to The Big House bring it up. If App State can beat Michigan, then why can't any other team?
Seven years later, and they're back on the schedule. But you know what? I'm really proud of the University of Michigan for scheduling them. They're actually paying them one million dollars to come and play at The Big House this year. Now this isn't the same App State team that made the cover of SI. Sure, it's the same university but they are no longer two time national champions. Their coach is different. They went 4-8 last year. Michigan isn't exactly the giant they were (supposed to be) in 2007 either, but it's still a David vs Goliath matchup. I think the spread this year is 37 points.
But to me at least, this isn't about revenge. No coach or player is the same. Hell, both sports administrations have changed. This is about respect. Michigan could have taken the 'common' road and no scheduled App State. No one would have called Michigan 'chicken' for scheduling other teams. In fact, Michigan has almost no upside to this game. If Michigan beats them it will be 'as expected'. If Michigan doesn't match the point spread, they'll say Michigan isn't going to be good this year. If Michigan barely beats them, they'll say that Michigan sucks. And oh God in heaven if they lose....
But look at your television at Noon today... Michigan scheduled App State to open the 2014 season. I think it takes a great program to open themselves up to the kind of ridicule all over again for nothing but a show of respect. I've had to wade through weeks of "Hey let's all take a trip down memory lane and recall the biggest upset in sports history" stories.
You know... that's one of the reasons I'm a fan of Michigan Football. Even when they're down (and God knows they've been down for awhile now) they still display honor and respect and bring back David for round two!
GO BLUE!!!
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