(CSTV U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb. — In the wake of the Big 12 Conference’s opening weekend of football, in which every Big 12 school was opening its season, the biggest topic was the result of a football game a time zone away.
Appalachian State’s 34-32 road victory over perennial college football powerhouse Michigan was the hot topic in the Big 12’s weekly coaches’ teleconference on Monday.
Appalachian State’s victory brought forth many different perspectives from coaches within the conference, including some with former ties to the school.
One such perspective belongs to Kansas State coach Ron Prince. Prince, who played college football at Appalachian State, said he was not surprised by what many consider the Mountaineers’ biggest win in school history and perhaps the biggest upset ever in college football.
One of the reasons Prince isn’t surprised stems from what Appalachian State wants from its players on a weekly basis: Speed.
“I can see what they’re trying to do,” Prince said. “They’re trying to play with fast kids.”
Prince remembers his first game at Appalachian State in 1990, against another highly ranked team.
“My very first game at Appalachian State, we went and played Clemson in 1990; they were the No. 1 team in the nation,” he said. “We didn’t win the game, but he (ASU coach Jerry Moore, who still coaches at the school) expected us to. Shoot, we played N.C. State and Wake Forest that year.”
Prince noted that Appalachian State is the winningest program in the Carolinas. They are also the only university in North Carolina to win any kind of NCAA football championship.
Texas coach Mack Brown has emotional ties to Appalachian State as well.
Brown served as head coach of the Mountaineers near the start of his coaching career in 1983, finishing the season 6-5. Brown also served as North Carolina’s head coach in the early to mid-1990s, so he’s quite familiar with the Mountaineer program.
Brown said that when he coached at Appalachian State, he often heard the name of the school mispronounced by fans and media alike.
“They even mispronounced it on Saturday (during the game),” Brown said.
“It was an emotional game for me,” he said, “because I’m a huge (Michigan coach) Lloyd Carr fan, and it’s the same with Jerry Moore.”
Brown said it shows that anyone can win on any given Saturday, that this is what makes the season fun for fans as well as hard on the players and coaches.
Iowa State coach Gene Chizik said there’s not a whole lot to gain from playing an opponent such as Appalachian State, which is in Division I’s Championship Subdivision, formerly called Division I-AA.
“Appalachian State is certainly top of the market in Division I-AA football,” Chizik said, “and Northern Iowa (Iowa State’s opponent Saturday) is the same way.”
For his part, Chizik said his team should be focused on the task at hand, mainly because his Cyclone team was defeated by Kent State on Thursday in Ames, Iowa. But the result in Michigan on Saturday should get his team’s attention as well.
Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said he wouldn’t shirk those kinds of games simply because of the possible fallout of losing. Hawkins also noted that his team lost to Montana State last year and he said every coach should know those kind of upsets can happen.
“I’m a guy that’s into taking a risk,” Hawkins said.