Because if it's Sunday...
Before going through today's football stories, I highly recommend Phil Sheridan's column on why the Philadelphia Eagles' website should not be considered a legitimate news source.
Now for the college stuff. And as you might imagine, there's a lot of it. Shannon Ryan writes that Penn State did what Michigan did not, which is win your fluff home opener without much trouble.
(I'll come back to the Wolverines' loss to Appalachian State in a moment, but let me get through the local stuff first.)
Jeff McLane notes that redshirt sophomore Mickey Shuler replaced the suspended Anthony Quarless at tight end and caught his first ever touchdown pass. Bob Ford considers JoePa, who made it out of the tunnel without much trouble despite that not-quite-healed-yet leg.
Villanova hung around with Maryland for a while, but Joe Juliano reports that the 'Cats only ran 14 plays in the second half to Maryland's 43. The final score: 31-14.
Kevin Tatum considers the Temple-Navy game and relays coach Al Golden's belief that it was a "moral victory."
After the jump, the national scene.
On to the national scene, and of course we start in Ann Arbor. Detroit News columnist Bob Wojnowski calls Appalachian State's upset of No. 5 Michigan "bitter justice for U-M, which got exactly what it deserved, the most thorough humiliation in the program's long history," among other big pronouncements.
Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom says "the skinny guy kicked sand in the bully's face, grabbed his girlfriend and stole his car." That line might have just made me an Appalachian State fan for the rest of time.
Elsewhere in the Freep, Michael Rosenberg looks at just how much of a laughingstock Michigan is this morning.
The Charlotte Observer's Jim Utter writes about the celebrations on campus when the team's buses returned. That's right, the buses. As in, no charter planes or anything like that. By Google Maps, that 527-mile trip takes about 10 hours. Here's hoping that stat gets recorded along with all the other ones.
UPDATE:Yeah, I got that wrong. Very wrong. Of course it makes no sense to bus all the way from there if it's 10 hours. I was trying to make a point about what kinds of resources the I-AA schools have compared to I-A schools, especially those whose basketball programs aren't in a BCS conference either. It didn't work for obvious reasons.
The New York Times' Richard Sandomir laments that no one was able to watch the game because just about no one actually gets the Big Ten Network.
Out in Berkeley, they're celebrating Cal's 45-31 win over Tennessee. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto was mesmerized by the Golden Bears' offense, while the Knoxville News-Sentinel's John Adams writes that "this proud, card-carrying member of the SEC found itself playing Pac-10 football." Ouch.
Georgia Tech handed Notre Dame a 33-3 whuppin' that was the worst season-opening loss in Irish history. If the sports talk radio landscape seems a bit quieter this week, that might be why.
And finally, a non-football story: Jeff McLane profiles 15-year-old basketball player Dion Waiters, who already has a scholarship offer from Syracuse.
Comments (3)
Re App State and the buses.
I think you are making a gross and somewhat ridiculous comment.
If the buses returned to campus at 1106pm (as per the link to the Charlotte Observer) and if your google work is correct with the length of that trip, that means the buses probably left Ann Arbor in the 1pm time frame.
Gee, that makes the win even more impressive doesnt it? Leaving the game to get on the bus in the middle of the 2nd quarter? May have been the first quarter actually given the high score.
But you get my point. The ASU team did not bus from Ann Arbor to Boone.
Your attempt at humor (here's hoping that stat gets recorded) here totally
makes no sense and is completely out of line.
I would think (and I leave this to you to CONFIRM, rather than to SPECULATE) that ASU had a charter flight from either Ann Arbor or Detroit to Charlotte. And then, and only then, did the BUSES return the team to campus.
Think about it. Game ends at 4 or so. Media stuff for an hour or so. Maybe a little longer. Ride to airport. Flight maybe leaves at 700 give or take? The 2 hour flight gets you to 9pm, and then the 80 mile or so ride to Charlotte puts the arrival at 11pm. Just like the Observer said.
You can do better than this.
Fred
PS If a team gets $400,000 - they aint busing from Boone.
Posted by Fred | September 2, 2007 2:21 PM
Posted on September 2, 2007 14:21
Yes, you're right. I wrote a correction. I was trying to make a bigger point and obviously it wasn't going to work in that instance.
But would you agree that a lot of these I-AA schools don't have the resources to travel around the way UM and the big schools do, even if they get $400,000 for a game like that?
Posted by Jonathan Tannenwald | September 2, 2007 2:50 PM
Posted on September 2, 2007 14:50
I really dont think this is a big issue. To me, the issue is not which division, but simple geography.
App State flew to Ann Arbor.
But Villanova most likely took a bus to Maryland, James Madison probably took a bus to North Carolina, and Youngstown State probably took a bus to Ohio State. Ditto for Eastern Kentucky playing at UK in Lexington.
Thats not because they are I-AA schools, its merely because of distance.
Same way App State had to fly to get to Ann Arbor. Distance...
I dont know what you are getting at with this comment refering to "basketball programs not in BCS conferences".
I think thats another argument for another time, and I am not sure where you are going with that...
Put it to you this way -- Gonzaga (for example) isnt taking the bus when they play in Madison Square Garden.
Think about the numbers -- Its easier to transport a basketball team that an entire football traveling squad. Fewer players, fewer coaches. Simple economics, regardless of size of school.
So.. not only does your argument not make sense, your roundabout way of trying to justify this totally irrelevant issue, also doesnt make any sense.
I am not sure why you continue to pursue this infatuation with the "little guy" (i.e. Drexel not making the NCAAs and an overabundance of coverage of Ivy League athletics),
but this it is not the time or place for it.
Stick to the good coverage and providing links to stories. Dont try and promote a self-serving agenda.
Posted by Fred | September 2, 2007 10:38 PM
Posted on September 2, 2007 22:38