Stanford or App. State? Which upset is bigger?

The fact is, USC is not that team anymore. John David Booty is not Carson Palmer. And he's not Matt Leinart. Chauncey Washington is not Reggie Bush. And he's not LenDale White. These are NOT your 3-year-old older brother's Trojans, other than the number of high school All-Americans they have on their roster.

So to say that this Stanford loss should be weighted against the dominant USC teams of the past decade is a little deceiving, in my opinion. This team is like those in name only.

The Michigan team that Appy State beat has the same top quarterback, running back and wide receiver as did the teams that went to the last two Rose Bowls. If you want to talk about program strengths, let's talk about that.

 

Both were stunning. Both had tremendous impact. But Stanford is a Pac-10 school. It has beaten USC before (it was the last team to beat USC at home in fact), been to Rose Bowls, had All-Americans. When Appy State won, about 2 percent of people in America could even name what state it was in. This is apples and oranges here.

Yes, Stanford is a bad team. But you've heard of it before. It's been a player on the national stage before. Heck, it's only been eight years since it went to the Rose Bowl. Beating SC was a huge upset. But Appy State's win was a once in a lifetime upset.

 

Everyone's up in arms about I-AA, but a good one like App should be at least a coin flip if not an outright favorite with the bottom third of I-A, which includes Stanford. And I-AAs beating I-As isn't THAT uncommon. Northern Iowa beat Iowa State, New Hampshire beat Marshall a year after smacking around Northwestern, and Southern Illinois and Nichols State own wins over I-As.

App you could make a case for staying close with Michigan (and many did). Nobody outside the Buck/Cardinal Club thought Stanford was going to be anything other than throttled by USC.

I-AA over I-A sounds more 300-worthy than a Pac-10 team beating a conference rival, but looking at the matchups, Stanford is the bigger upset.

 

No reason to compare the two. Let USC lose a few more games, and then compare the upsets. App State's upset doesn't mean as much now because Michigan fell off after that. That makes it much easier to say Stanford had the bigger upset. If Michigan lost only that game, then there's a fair comparison.

 

Yes, Michigan has "fallen off" to a 4-2 record, their loss being to a Pac-10 team they've struggled with before, but then came a win over a then-Top 15 team and now four wins in a row heading into next week against Purdue. :

Stanford's upset happens almost every year. A bottom feeder in the SEC or Big Ten or Big 12 or Pac-10 is in the same league as the Floridas and Ohio States and Texases and USCs. Literally, and figuratively. Appy State is not.

Geez, y'all are talking like Michigan is some shitty program that isn't even comparable to USC's "dominance" this decade and that hasn't been to two Rose Bowls in a row before bringing back its entire offensive backfield and top receiver this season. Michigan was, and is, a pretty good fucking team -- and Appy State's upset was monu-fucking-mental. A top-5 team, the all-time winningest program in college football, lost at home in front of 100,000 people to a I-AA team.

The Stanford win is not even in the same fucking universe. Christ. The ESPNization of this shit is ridiculous.

 

No loss to a conference opponent even comes close to doing what Appalachian State did.

It's not even close and for announcers to suggest otherwise is idiotic...

App. State over Michigan is the biggest college football upset maybe ever...

Stanford over USC is a big upset, period...

 

However, there was a post on either the poll thread or the running week 6 thread that said if there was a line, it would be about 24.

 

After watching USC fall all over itself against Washington last week, I knew they wouldn't make it through the season unbeaten. I was about as surprised as Stanford's win as I was last season when Oregon State beat the Trojans.

Appy State's win over Michigan was just flat-out shocking. It just came out of nowhere. However, I have since wondered what the reactions would have been had Michigan not been as overrated as No. 5. It's clear they are not and were not a top 25 team, and I wonder if this would have been as shocking if Appy State beat an unranked Michigan team in the Big House to start the season.

The first polls really shouldn't come out until October.

 

I have never agreed more with something posted on this site than I do with this sentence. I've been an advocate of this for years, but I have no illusions of it happening again (they used to not come out until after three or four games).

 

Stanford and USC have played each other since Teddy Roosevelt was President. The idea that a game in their rivalry could be a bigger upset than a I-AA team winning at Michigan is simply part of the television that whatever happened today is the most amazing and astonishing thing of all time until tomorrow.
I also agree with the poster who USC didn't look that good in its wins. That vaunted defense is very mediocre as far as I can see.

 

I hate to resurrect this pissing match with you... but I don't trust you, because I went to UMass, and I know the quality of football there. This is a huge sticking point with me. Last year UMass lost to I-A Navy by a point (who made a bowl game), and this year, lost to No. 7 Boston College by 10 (and if not for 17 penalties, could have put a much bigger scare).

If you don't think the top tier of teams in I-AA could outright win the Sun Belt, and compete in several other conferences, you're simply wrong. This isn't opinion - you're wrong. UMass, for example, has made multiple attempts to join I-A, but can't, for FINANCIAL reasons. Not competitive reasons. I guarantee Appalachian State is in the same boat.

This is from the press release two weeks ago previewing UMass/BC:

You can add New Hampshire destroying I-A Marshall to this year's record, and there may be more, I'm not sure.

And you don't think Appy State could beat Stanford? Appalachian State beat Michigan! That's just idiotic.

Look, I'm not saying any I-AA would win a BCS conference. But to say Montana isn't on the same level with a lot of I-A programs, well, you clearly haven't watched them enough.

Back to the original topic, I agree with Mr. Gee. While if you had asked me prior to the season who had a better shot of winning those respective games -- Appy State or Stanford -- I would have said ASU. But given the absolute historic nature of what the Mountaineers did, I'll go with them.

 

Why would you give any credence to the morons on television?

I don't know who the two bozos were who called the USC-Stanford game, but when Stanford scored the game-winning touchdown it sounded like they didn't know what the score was and there was a question as to whether Stanford would go for one or two points on the extra point. Just absolutely freakin' clueless.