The Votes
By Apparently, Appalachian State is eligible for votes in the Top 25. This is kind of interesting, since I think that any team that beat a #5 team at home ought to receive strong consideration in the polls. The problem is, of course, that Appalachian State is quite likely to run the table against Div I-AA weaklings. Appalachian State, thus, represents an amplification of the Boise State problem, wherein we have an undefeated team that cannot reasonably be compared with any other I-A team. I suspect it probably would have been better if the AP had excluded Appalchian State from consideration.
Let us, however, not forget the biggest victim in this whole drama; the Oregon Ducks. If the Ducks win today, they’ll have beaten not the #5 team in the nation at home, but rather a laughing-stock unable to defend its home turf even from a pathetic Div I-AA pushover. If they lose, they’ll have been defeated by said laughing-stock instead of the #5 team. It’s a bad situation, and not one they expected when they signed to play the Michigan Wolverines.
UPDATE: Christ, Michigan looks terrible. Maybe they’ll turn it around in the second half, but right now it looks like they’re completely demoralized.