Response

After a very interesting first weekend of college football, it's time to dive in and analyze the biggest stories of the weekend, namely the two big powers that had games they should have and could have won, but let slip away.

Before we get into what went wrong for Michigan and Tennessee, I'd first like to say congratulations to both Appalachian State and Cal. App. State pulled off the biggest upset in college football history and the '07 App. State team's legacy will live forever. As for Cal; John Tedford has his signature win and the chance to show that he and his team are ready to be a big time program. The only thing missing? A state of the art practice facility...and until they get those hippies out of the trees, they still won't be in the top tier.

Michigan and Tennessee are two very similar programs. They are revered as two of the greatest in college football history. They have two of the largest stadiums. In 1997 they had players finish 1-2 in the Heisman balloting. Both schools are always near the top in recruiting wars. They won their most recent championships in back to back years. They also have teams on their schedule that their head coaches can't beat (Ohio State and Florida) and two coaches that fans and alumni consider to be on the hot seat regardless of what the administration says. Both schools are supposed to contend every year for conference titles and are expected to do so with anything less being a disappointment. This year, they both lost their opening games.

Michigan played at home, Tennessee on the road. They both had the challenge of the following: their opponents were going to be more fired up to play than they were. Anytime a smaller school gets the chance to play in a big time stadium their excitement runs high. Cal was destroyed last year playing at Tennessee and was looking for revenge. A revenge they had been waiting the entire year for. Neither team matched their opponents intesity on Saturday.

The difference is the scope of the loss. Michigan lost a game to an unranked former Division II team. Tennessee lost to a team ranked three spots higher than they did. Regardless of who it was, it's their response that matters.

Because Michigan was playing on the world renowned Big Ten Network, we didn't get to see the drama unfold. In fact, we didn't even get to see the highlights as they happened. But we did see a team that played their hearts out. This former Division II, now FCS power is a championship team. Do they have the talent of Michigan? I don't think so. But they know how to win and regardless of what level you are playing at, if you catch the right team on the right day, you have a shot. App. State played Michigan on the right day.

Tennessee scored 31 points. One would assume that a Tennessee team that scores 31 points without any big play threats on the offensive side of the ball, should win the game. With all of the talk about Tebow, Flynn and Stafford in the SEC, the veteran Erik Ainge wasn't discussed at all this off season until he broke his pinkie last week. Look around the country and with all things considered, try to find me a quarterback that played better than Ainge last week.

31 points is great. 45 is better. 14 of those points came on a punt return and a fumble recovery taken to the house. Why did Tennessee lose this game? Was Cal the better team? Saturday, yes they were. Did they have more talent? No. Did Cal have a better game plan? Of course. Did they put the right people on the field? Yes. Did they tackle? Yes. Were they ready to play? I'd say so.

There is no excuse for Lloyd Carr to have a job coaching at the University of Michigan this morning. If you don't have a .500+ record against your biggest rival, universities need to find some who does. Michigan has lost three games in a row including last seasons loss to formerly #1 Ohio State (surprise, surprise) and the thrashing in the Rose Bowl courtesy of USC. I can accept losing to those school in terms of talent level. Oh, but he's lost four straight bowl games and five of six including the '02 Citrus Bowl against Tennessee. D.II teams are unacceptable. Michigan will now always be remembered as the team that lost he biggest upset in college football history. They can win out, play for and win a National Title and still be the team that lost to App. State.

The only thing saving Phil Fulmer's career is his 1998 National Title. His record versus Florida is embarrassing. Mark Richt has a knack for throwing him around at home and Florida and Georgia are two teams that aren't rotating out of the schedule anytime soon pending a restructuring of the Southeastern Conference. When was his last SEC Title? BCS game? A buddy and I were talking about this the other day before seeing the Black Crowes. Difference between Urban Meyer and Phil Fulmer? Urban Meyer structures his playbook around his talent. Fulmer throws the playbook at his talent and says "Learn it." If they aren't ready to play according to their knowledge of the system, they don't. Meyer's system gets ready to play around his players. Last Saturday, Tennessee's two most talented offensive players sat on the bench until it was crunch time in the second half. There's a difference between being fresh and being cold and you can't expect Kenny O'Neal and Brent Vinson to get their first action in the 4th quarter and not be cold. Cold players are ineffective. So are untalented ones. Take your pick.

Michigan and Tennessee. Two teams that were out-coached this past weekend. Again, I am not comparing the devastation of the Vols loss to that of the Wolverines. Michigan's was much more embarrassing. But both teams again have a similarity. How do they respond? Michigan has Oregon this weekend. A team with more talent, size, and speed than their previous opponent. Tennessee has Southern Miss; the team picked to win their conference. Next weekend? Notre Dame and Florida. After big losses, how do these coaches who shouldn't have jobs in the first place respond? It's not on the players. There's enough talent at these schools to go around. It's how their coaches get them ready to play. How the players respond to their leaders. If the response isn't in a hurry, both of these teams will be 0-2 next Saturday. And then 0-3.

Then, maybe just then, Vol fans will see John Gruden in their orange.