The only thing better than an Ohio State victory to kick off the college football season....

....is a Michigan loss.

To Appalachian State.

A FORMER I-AA TEAM.

AT HOME!!!!

Of course, there's the underdog factor. But, for those who didn't know, outside of baseball (my biggest and fullest sports passion), I'm a big fan of THE Ohio State University (fuckin' Florida). I fully follow the bumper sticker common in Ohio - "My two favorite teams are Ohio State and whoever plays Michigan this weekend". But this loss is something else. As great as any Michigan loss is (I have been a guaranteed Oregon fan once a year for quite awhile, even before meeting Erik, and there is only one time a year I don't mind a Notre Dame victory), this is other-worldly. From an OSU fan, this is, to me, the best non-Ohio State Michigan loss that I can remember in my lifetime. Yes, it's great if Michigan gets killed in its bowl game (especially the Rose Bowl). But I can imagine Michigan getting killed in the Rose Bowl (as has happened recently).

What I never would have even imagined (before today, that is) is that Michigan undid the following fact: "No Division I-AA team had beaten a team ranked in The Associated Press poll from 1989-2006, and it's unlikely that it happened after Division-I subdivisions were created in 1978."

I have no major hopes for OSU this year, beyond some bowl game (I find it irrational to expect that a team that goes to the national title game the year before will be as good the following year). Thus, I hope that predictions about Michigan's dominance (as Chad Henne enters what feels like his 17th year as Michigan's quarterback) are greatly mistaken. But for Michigan to start off its season losing at home to a I-AA team exceeds my wildest imagination. Barring the weirdest college football season ever, Michigan's national-title hopes are already dead. This is, without doubt as a Michigan-hater, the greatest non-OSU Michigan loss in my lifetime. And that speaks volumes.

Oh, and the blocked kick proves it was God's will that Michigan lose.