USA Today deemed it “unfathomable.”
According to Lindy’s 2008 College Football Preview, longtime contributor Dennis Dodd said “the biggest upset in history” was “David’s kid sister beating Goliath.”
And for the entire college football world, Appalachian State’s 2007 season-opening, 34-32 win at Michigan opened eyes.
In beating the Wolverines, at the time ranked No. 5 in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), the Mountaineers of the Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA) forced a rule change to allow FCS teams to receive votes in the Associated Press top-25 poll.
Consequently, FBS coaches no longer have to impress upon their players the capabilities of the supposedly less-talented FCS.
Cal Poly, ranked third in the FCS, is fully aware of that heading into its Saturday contest at FBS Wisconsin.
“It gives them a game to look at to kind of relate to,” Mustangs senior quarterback Jonathan Dally said. “They can say, ‘Hey, Michigan lost to App. State last year – don’t let it happen to us and our program.’ It’s made a big impact. For us, too, it’s a positive in that it’s possible that guys we compete with in the same (sub)division can compete on that level, too.”
When asked by a reporter during Tuesday’s Big Ten Conference teleconference call if he thought Cal Poly would be between the 60th-to- 70th-best FBS team, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said he’d “put them up a lot higher than that.”
In this week’s Jeff Sagarin NCAA football ratings, which rank all 245 Division I schools, James Madison led the FCS at No. 33. Eleven FCS teams later, Cal Poly checked in at No. 100 – well below No. 44 Wisconsin but ahead of 32 FBS counterparts.
“If (the Mustangs) were in a major conference or a BCS conference, with the way these players are playing, and the way the coaches have put them in a position, they would have, if not the same record, similar,” Bielema added.
FCS-over-FBS wins increased from two in 2005 to seven in 2006 to nine (against 68 losses) in 2007. But this year, the FCS is just 2-81 when crossing over.
Cal Poly accounted for one of the two wins when it edged San Diego State 29-27 Aug. 30. In the other, New Hampshire topped Army 28-10 Sept. 6.
Most of the FCS’ losses came in the first two weeks of the year.
“These games are typically played early in the season,” Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson pointed out. “Everybody has this preconceived idea of what’s supposed to happen when an FCS team plays a Big Ten team, but this isn’t the beginning of the season. We’ve all played 10 or 11 games. We know who we are.”
Are they capable of pulling off an Appalachian State-like upset?
“We’ve been in big games,” Ellerson said. “Have we been in a game like this? No. But I think we’ll be able to project ourselves in there.”
Cal Poly is 4-17 against the FBS since 1980. In addition to the San Diego State victories this season and in 2006, the Mustangs defeated UTEP 34-13 in 2003 and New Mexico State 38-35 in 1997.
The same season San Diego State lost 16-14 to the Mustangs in 2006, it fell to Wisconsin 14-0.
Although the Aztecs are 1-10 this season, they lost just 21-13 Sept. 6 at Notre Dame, which a week later prevailed 35-17 over Michigan, which two weeks later defeated Wisconsin 27-25.
Last year, Wisconsin was tied 21-21 at halftime with The Citadel of the FCS before winning 45-31.
Perhaps most encouraging for Cal Poly, FCS North Dakota State beat Minnesota 27-21 last season three weeks before needing a 19-point, fourth-quarter comeback to slip by the Mustangs 31-28.
“We feel like the difference between FCS and BCS is diminishing,” Dally added. “We feel if we play our game, we have a fighting chance.”