Michigan's unthinkable loss to Appalachian State over the weekend should be a lesson to all Division-I teams: know your opponent, no matter how small of a threat they seem on the surface.
Scheduling the Mountaineers was a mistake for the Wolverines any way you cut it. Appalachian State runs the spread offense, lining up five wide receivers to stretch the field and using a mobile quarterback to buy time and harass the opposing secondary.
In Michigan's last two games of 2006, it gave up 316 yards and 391 yards passing against Ohio State and USC respectively, and in each game it was torched for four touchdowns through the air. And it obviously did nothing to shore up its pass defense in the off-season. They should have seen Appalachian State coming, at least to an extent.
They also set themselves up in a no-win situation by scheduling a Division I-AA opponent. If they had won, critics would have brushed it off as a cupcake victory and mocked the team for not taking on a greater challenge. And even worse, since they lost it goes down as one of the greatest upsets in college football history, not to mention kills any chance of Michigan reaching the national championship game.
Granted, it's always easy to make these assessments in hindsight. But now moving forward, college football's elite would be wise to take a closer look at their underdog early-season opponents if they want to avoid Michigan's fate.
