Other than a alum from Ann Arbor, who would be disappointed with Michigan's loss on Saturday. A few college football pundits have classified Appalachian State's victory the biggest upset in the history of the sport. It might be in their eyes, but if they would have watched the Mountaineers for the past few seasons, if wouldn't be as shocking.

To me nothing is more exciting than watching a MAC (disclosure: Ball State alum) or WAC team knock off a BCS team. You could compare the Mountaineer's victory Saturday to that of Boise State's win over Oklahoma to a small degree. While Boise State is still D-I, they were once considered a patsy, catwalk opponent. You probably could say the same about Fresno State a number of years back. Not anymore, maybe this becomes a wake up call for the BCS to allow more teams into the system. 

While it was a monumental win for the public university in Boone, N.C., a quaint backwoods ski resort in the western tip of the state, the victory came as no surprise to me. I lived and worked less than two hours from the campus, and four of the current players on the ASU roster played football in our coverage area.

While I didn't see kicker Julian Rauch in high school, his lore at Ashbrook High in Gastonia, N.C., seemed to grow with each game-winning kick. I'm sure he'll be a member of the Green Wave Hall of Fame in the coming years (a list that includes Laker great James Worthy). His line-drive FG gave the Moutnaineers the 2-point cushion with under a minute left.

Winning back-to-back Division I-AA National Champions might seem small in the eyes of Bakersfield and all the Pac-10 football fanatics in the area, but the Mountaineers are better than the bottom half teams of some of the BCS conference teams. Appy could replace a number of ACC teams (Duke, and if not for a surprising 20006 turnaround Wake Forest), Big 12 (Baylor 13-43 since 1996, and a little irony coach Jerry Moore is an alum), Big Ten (Indiana hasn't had a winning season in since 1994 and a bowl berth since 1993), Big East (Cincinnati and Villanova, ummm DePaul and Marquette don't even have football teams), SEC (Kentucky) and the Pac-10 (Washington, just want a reaction from alum Mason Kelley).

You have to give coach Moore credit for recruiting the best second-tier players in the Southeast. Seems like once the Florida schools, then the SEC programs, then the top ACC programs, and finally UNC and South Carolina have picked over the recruiting class, then Appalachian State gets the best available players. Sometimes a Division I player falls in their laps but most of the time its the "highly-educated, easily coachable but not physically-gifted" players that end up in Boone. 

Those "non Division I -type" players just shocked the world. Well, except for the folks in Boone, N.C., and a sports guy here in Bakersfield.