Best of 2007: The Boys from Boone Shock Michigan

The 2007 college football season was easily one of the most fun to watch in recent memory.

Much has been said about the BCS-busting upsets and the sensational finishes—and if you want to count strictly by the calendar, we can even include Boise State’s thrilling Fiesta Bowl win and the ensuing marriage proposal.

But the story that started us all wondering what we were in for, the one that made our jaws drop, seems to only get passing mention anymore.

One phrase keeps echoing in my mind when I think about sports, specifically college football, in 2007.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for this score...,” Autzen stadium announcer Don Essig said to over 50,000 people before he uttered the news.

No team from FCS (that’s politically correct NCAA-ese for Div. I-AA) had ever beaten a ranked FBS (Div. I-A) team before Appalachian State faced Michigan to open the season.

Sure, you can see now that the Wolverines were overrated, but they didn’t turn out as bad as many thought they would be.

And sure, you can say the Mountaineers are a special FCS team, and three-time national champions, but they aren’t some kind of mutant, super FCS team—they lost twice in the regular season.

Let’s not mince words: Nobody had thought that Don would be able to say what he was about to say. Fans of that school in western North Carolina probably dared to dream, but even then it was only a dream.

It was logically impossible for some lower-tier team, no matter how accomplished, to beat the home team in one of the largest sports stadiums in the world.

People who have never watched a college football game know who the Michigan Wolverines are. They can probably even describe the wing design on their helmets.

Before Sep. 1st 2007, most people couldn’t tell you what state Appalachian State University was in.

There's a reason Saturday Night Live has a skit called “Appalachian Emergency Room.”

Heck, the home of the school, “the brightest star in the constellation of towns in the mountains,” is called Boone. You know you're out of the way when by the name of the town you are, literally, out in the Boone-ies.

The country was, and still is, at war. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. People are dying and the planet is choking on pollution, and what happened in Ann Arbor didn’t change any of that.

But for one brief moment, college football fans could escape, and believe that anything could happen.

Nothing seemed to be beyond the realm of possibility when Don told all those fans that score that's now etched in our collective memory...

"Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32."