I'm not so concerned with what happens to Michigan now, but what is an Iowa Hawkeyes fan to do with Appalachian St.'s shocking 34-32 win at Michigan today, the first time ever that a I-AA team has defeated a ranked I-A team? And not just any ranked I-A team, but the favored Big Ten champions and would-be national title contenders, the storied Wolverines.
As a Hawkeyes fan since I knew what a football was, there is no team that I despise more in sports than Michigan. I also enjoy rooting for the underdog and, as good as a I-AA team as Appalachian State is, they were still a huge underdog.
That said, if Michigan is the cream of the crop of the Big Ten, what this game says about the quality of the Big Ten--already critized for last year's Bowl losses by Michigan and Ohio St.--is not good. If Iowa ends up being a middle-of-the-road Big Ten team, as many predict, it's just not as impressive when the conference itself is middle-of-the-road. Michigan's title hopes are gone, but they could still win the Big Ten title, and that would be bad for the Big Ten.
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Speaking of Iowa, today's 16-3 win over Northern Illinois in Soldier Field was nice, but there are some obvious problems. First, the good: the young offensive line (no seniors; one junior) played well. Albert Young (144 yards) and Damian Sims (110 yards) had consistent holes to run through and QB Jake Christensen had plenty of time to throw. The defensive line played well, helping hold Northern Illinois to 21 yards rushing on 21 attempts and recording 3 sacks. Iowa also had 3 interceptions; Iowa's defense is going to have to create a lot of turnovers this year to help out the young offense. Iowa's offense protected the ball well.
There were two bad things that stood out: First, the passing, which had just 4.6 yards per pass, with Christensen completing just 12 of 29 passes. There were several dropped balls; Andy Brodell in particular should have had a better game than 2 receptions for 18 yards. (Brodell did have a nice 56 yard punt return.) Second, 10 penalties for 173 yards. That is just a huge amount of penalty yards.
